Mr Henry Strauss: I quite agree that he has, and if he said now that he would use it I should be quite content. I seriously suggest that if the only two categories are those which the Prime Minister has already given us, then if we receive a summons from Mr. Speaker it may look to observers in this country and abroad that something very serious has arisen, and that in itself may hamper the Prime Minister. If...
Mr Henry Strauss: I am sorry if the hon. Member thinks that I am saying what is unnecessary. I agree that if legislation were necessary the House would be recalled, as it would also be if a change of policy had to be announced by the Prime Minister, who has promised to recall the House in those circumstances. I want the Prime Minister to say one further thing, that he can imagine further circumstances in which...
Mr Henry Strauss: I wish to detain the House for only a few minutes, because most of the things I wished to say have been said far better than I could have said them by the hon. Member for Burslem (Mr. MacLaren). His speech seemed to introduce for the first time some atmosphere of reality into the Debate. The speech of the Lord Privy Seal dealt with two quite separate questions. In so far as he spoke of the...
Mr Henry Strauss: Some of them are accurate, I agree. On many days they are almost faultless. If that is the meaning of the hon. Member's interruption I thank him for it, but every now and then one hears one of the people whom I am describing. I heard such an announcer twice in a single day, and that sort of thing is in- excusable. They are doing an important war job and they should do it well. I beg the...
Mr Henry Strauss: In his interesting speech the hon. Member for South Shields (Mr. Ede) covered a great number of topics, and concluded by saying for his party what I am certain is true of the whole House, that the universal desire was for efficiency in air-raid precaution services. I only wish to raise one topic myself this evening, and it is not in a spirit of criticism for the past, but merely that it may...
Mr Henry Strauss: I was about to come to that. There are certain qualifications of course of character, intelligence and reliability. Under a system of inspection, whether conducted on behalf of the Minister or the right hon. Gentleman the Member for South Hackney, it is possible no doubt to put right any failures that show themselves. The particular matter which I want to put forward for the consideration of...
Mr Henry Strauss: Perhaps my right hon. Friend will deal with the suggestion that I made with regard to medical examination.
Mr Henry Strauss: The hon. Member for Shipley (Mr. Creech Jones) has spoken, with his usual sincerity, upon those matters which particularly interest him. I have no quarrel with one of his pleas—that is, that now might be a very good time for thinking. I am, however, bound to say that such thoughts as I have given, to the best of my ability, to the question of war and peace aims lead me to precisely the...
Mr Henry Strauss: I certainly do not differ from that. I entirely agree with what the hon. Member has just said, but that is not what the hon. Member for Bishop Auckland asked. I am referring to the passage in the speech of the hon. Member for Bishop Auckland when he talked about unofficial rumours, and he wanted the Government to give their views on this question. Why on earth should this Government declare...
Mr Henry Strauss: There are many points on which I agree with the views put from the benches opposite and many on which I disagree. I am therefore most anxious not to misrepresent the hon. Member in arty way, and if the hon. Member who has just intervened gives me an assurance that he thinks that that was the intention of the hon. Member for Bishop Auckland, of course, I shall accept it and I shall not pursue...
Mr Henry Strauss: —if we were right to take up that challenge and to go to war, then the only proper war aim is to defeat the enemy and to win the war. In fact, if you go on to have various positive war aims you may easily become guilty of the very thing that is generally condemned, namely, making war an instrument of national policy. The only legitimate object of war is to defeat the enemy and to win the...
Mr Henry Strauss: I know exactly what the hon. Member has in mind. They made an agreement as to what they would or would not do, but the hon. Member might just as well say that when he makes a contract with another man he is limiting his contractual capacity. He has not limited his ability to make contracts in his own name merely by the fact that he has agreed in a particular contract to do or not to do...
Mr Henry Strauss: He did not say that.
Mr Henry Strauss: In which you are allied with Germany.
Mr Henry Strauss: Is it not probable that they did so on the suggestion of the German Government?
Mr Henry Strauss: asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether, in view of the occupation of Denmark by the enemy, he can make any statement on the policy of His Majesty's Government regarding Danes resident in this country?
Mr Henry Strauss: asked the Home Secretary whether he has now completed his review of the question of additional powers for dealing with possible dangers from enemy agents or evilly disposed persons, and from organised attempts to weaken the resolution of the people to prosecute the war to a successful conclusion; and whether he has any statement to make?
Mr Henry Strauss: In framing these regulations did my right hon. Friend have in mind the experience recently suffered by other countries as a result of enemy action; and does he agree that the whole country is likely to support action which shows that a democracy which is defending itself must guard against the enemies in its midst?
Mr Henry Strauss: Every Member who has spoken has given his sincere good wishes to the new Minister in his great position. I wish to do that too and to congratulate him most heartily on the magnificent start he has made in his very difficult work. Allusion has already been made to some of the broadcasts he has made in very difficult circumstances; he had little time in which to prepare his speech for this...
Mr Henry Strauss: No, they were not all the facts, but they were the most relevant facts and were known or should have been known.