Churchill Supports Suez Action By Britain

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28269, 6 May 1957, Page 13

Churchill Supports Suez Action By Britain

(Special Correspondent

LONDON, May 3. Sir Winston Churchill today criticised the United Nations for its attitude last year to the British and French action at Suez. In his first public speech for about a year, Sir Winston Churchill said: “I do not think the attitude then adopted by the United Nations has been helpful, either to the Free World or in the cause of peace and prosperity in the Middle East.”

He presided at the annual meeting in London of the Primrose League, a Conservative organisation.

Sir Winston Churchill said that Britain and the Conservative Party owed gratitude to Sir Anthony Eden for a lifetime of work upon the causes they all served. Revised Opinions

“Indeed, those who, at home and abroad, attacked the resolute action which, in company with our French allies, he took last autumn may now perhaps have reason to reconsider their opinions,” Sir Winston Churchill said. “I do not think that the attitude then adopted by the United Nations has been helpful either to the free world or to the cause of peace and prosperity in the Middle East. “However,' that cannot be helped. Events have moved on since those days, and we must not be discouraged from continuing to take our full share of leadership in world affairs.” The burden had fallen on the new Prime Minister, Mr Macmillan, “who would devote himself wholeheartedly and with imaginative vigour to the wellbeing of the country,” he said.

Condition of Britons He spoke of remarkable improvement in the condition of the British people since the formation of a Conservative administration. He said that Britons were now better fed and better housed. There was more to buy in the shops, and the nation was earning more with which to buy it- The burden of taxation, though still heavy, had begun to be relieved. But he was glad to see that the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr Peter Thorneycroft) had resisted the temptation to win easy votes in his Budget last month, he said. “Cheap popularity can prove itself very dearly bought,” he said. “The Chancellor distributed his reliefs not where they evoke the loudest cheers, but where they would do most good in expanding production and improving our competitive power in world markets. Conservative Support “He was right to do that, and he can count upon the full backing and support of all true Conservatives,” Sir Winston Churchill said. He recalled that in 1945 he had

ventured to give the newlyformed Socialist Government a word of advice—“that freedom and abundance must be our aims.”

“That was nearly 12 years ago,” he said. “My advice—as sometimes has been the case before in the course of my public life—was little heeded at the time, but I have been spared to see the policy adopted and some of its advantages reaped. “But we will never delude the country into believing that there are easy short cuts to prosperity—that all we have to do is help ourselves to bigger and better benefits. The Highest Skill

“In the keen international race before us, the prizes will go to the nation which has the highest skill of brain and hand. Where we are behind, we must catch up; where we lead we must stay ahead. “But man does not live by bread alone. Our aim must be men and women not only skilled and diligent in earning a living, but having access to those deep wells in which lie the secrets of the future,” he said.

“The world is changing fast. For good or ill, new and disturbing powers are falling into the hands of mankind. They may bring an unsurpassed blessing or a senseless and meaningless, wholesale destruction.

“We must hope that man’s wisdom will match his widening knowledge.”

Sir Winston Churchill, who is 82, was accompanied by Lady Churchill, and received a tremendous welcome from the audience. With a large bunch of primroses in his lapel, he walked to the platform preceded by officers of the league and young members dressed in white with sashes of primrose yellow.

He read his prepared speech slowly and carefully, with few hesitations.