The hon. Member for Stroud (Mr. Kershaw) ought to know better. He has been a Regular soldier—a privilege which was denied to the right hon. Gentleman.

Just before the war the Government never solved its problems. Reports show that we were 10,000 and more below strength until they lowered the standard. They formed special units—the first one was at Canterbury—where they introduced remedial operations—extra milk in order to raise the weight. They lowered the standard in order to build up the strength of the army, and it was from this that somebody in the Ministry of Defence got the idea. There is nothing new about the idea. It is an old gag. They lowered the standards, and the figures of wastage prove it.

The right hon. Gentleman knows this as well as I do. The wastage here is in the neighbourhood of 20 per cent. In fact, his rejection rate is 40 per cent. and before the war it was over 70 per cent. If the right hon. Gentleman tells me that the Army is not worried about the number of coloured soldiers in each unit, let me tell him for nothing that his Department has a rule that in no unit in the Army is the figure of coloured soldiers to rise above 3 per cent.

I am not complaining. It may be a result of policy. The point I am making in reply to the right hon. Gentleman—this is an important factor—is that the figure of 165,000 in the first instance was never the real figure. The figure of 165,000 was a political figure. As Viscount Head—he ought to know, he was Secretary of State for War and also Minister of Defence—once pointed out, the present Minister of Commonwealth Relations "cooked the books". He hit on a figure which his actuaries told him he would be able to recruit. The figure decided on was 165,000, but they did not declare it. The real figure was somewhere between 182,000 and 200,000. If the right hon. Gentleman wants to make a parade of this I do not mind. I mention it because I do not want to run away from the argument.

On the Monday of the Cuban crisis—I would remind the House—or on the Monday when President Kennedy made his speech and the world wondered what was going to happen and many people wondered what part our own country could play in avoiding extreme measures which it was considered might have to be taken, the Supreme Allied Commander came to this country. He was interviewed by the Press and he appeared on the television programme Panorama. What did he say? Did he extol the virtues of the British Army, or the decisive rôle which it played in the world? Did he extol the fact that the units were up to strength and able to withstand any attack made upon them? Not likely, he came here and he made a speech which he repeated in Paris a week ago. He complained about the strength of the British Army of the Rhine.