OPPOSITION VIEWS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 135, 8 May 1940, Page 7

OPPOSITION VIEWS

STRONG LINE URGED. CONDUCT OF WAR. CRITICAL LEADERS. (United Press Association—By Electric 'J elegraph.—Copyright.) Received May 8, 11.50 a.m. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, May 7. The Leader of the Labour Opposition (Mr C. R. Attlee), after paying a tribute to the courage, skill, and devotion of the Allied forces in Norway, in the House of Commons, said that, although the withdrawal was a great feat of arms, it represented a setback. It was the duty of the House to examine the events which had occurred and, as regards the Finnish Expeditionary Force, he could not understand its rapid dispersal. if it was true that this force comprised 100,000 in March and the Government hud in mind laying mines off tlie coast of Norway, which was announced about May 8, Mr Attlee asked how it was that this force was not kept in being to meet a German counterstroke. The gravamen of the Opposition’s attack was that there did not seem to have been a thinking out of the plans beforehand, an intelligent anticipation or necessary concentration on the essential objectives.. He asked whether there was at any time delay and discussion when action was necessary. Mr Attlee said he was not in the least satisfied, in spite of what the Prime Minister had said, that the present War Cabinet was an efficient instrument for conducting the war. It was not through Norway alone, Mr Attlee continued. That had come as .the culmination of many other discontents. The people were saying that those who were mainly responsible for the conduct of affairs were men who all had an almost uninterrupted career of failure. He concluded: There is widespread feeling in the country, not that we will lose the war—we shall win it—but to win it we need ’different people at the helm from those who have led us into it. LIBERAL CRITICISM. The Liberal Leader (.Sir Archibald Sinclair) also joined in the tribute to the fighting forces. Ho said he did not wish to criticise the Government’s decision to evacuate Southern Norway when it was advised that the capture of Trondheim was impossible, but he would direct his criticism to the question of how the position arose in which defeat in Norway had been accepted. It was not a military disaster. The nation’s confidence was unshaken. Nothing had happened to deprive Britain of the use of her large resources vital for the future conduct of the war or which affect' - '! the British power or resolve to win. “But,” Sir Archibald added, “there is something it does suggest—that more energy, a stronger and more ruthless will to victory, is required in the conduct of the war effort.” He had no desire to exaggerate, but it was necessary not to bury their heads in the sand, and he suggested that neither the loss of materials nor the loss of supplies from Norway, Sweden, and Denmark was a negligible factor. Sir Archibald Sinclair, after giving revelations from men who had returned from Norway,- expressed doubt whether a Finnish force had ever, existed on the scale described by Mr Chamberlain. SWEDEN’S POSITION. Speaking .of Sweden, he said'Mr Chamberlain liad expressed concern about her situation, and hoped slie would preserve her strict neutrality. “Let us be fair to Sweden,” lie said. “She is now surrounded and the German pressure on her will increase. Shall we be ready to help her to resist Germany, and, if so, how? Are we prepared to send her military and air support?” Hitler, Sir Archibald concluded, had taken time by the beard and had struck quickly. We must show equal swiftness of action if we wanted to win tlio war. Parliament must see that we had done with half-measures and must insist upon and rally to the policy of a more vigorous prosecution of the war. INQUIRY URGED. Mr L. C. M. S. Amery asked who had countermanded the liaimnerblow against Trondheim. There was clearly no plan for meeting the Nonvegiau invasion. “The whole conduct of the war calls for a searching inquiry. (Cheers.) Nothing in Mr Chamberlain's speech has suggested Government foreknowledge or any clear decision after the German invasion, or consistent and swift action throughout the whole of the lamentable affair. We must, have ,a Supreme War Directorate of a handful of men free from administrative routine. Members of the Opposition must take a share in the responsibility. Somehow or other we must get a Government with a fighting spirit,” Mr Amery added.