LACK OF CONFIDENCE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 May 1940, Page 5

LACK OF CONFIDENCE

Mr Herbert Morrison (Labour) said ministers were open to censure for their conduct of affairs. The Prime Minister and Mr Oliver Stanley had shown in their speeches a lack of confidence. The Norwegian affair had badly damaged our prestige in the eyes of neutrals. Mr Morrison asked questions about strategic points and the troops sent to Norway. The Government, he said, should have anticipated events in Norway. A great many people in the country had a good deal of confidence in Mr Churchill, and believed he was being overworked. He called on Mr Chamberlain, Sir John Simon and Sir Samuel Hoare to resign. Mr Chamberlain said that as head of the Government he accepted the blame and responsibility for the action of the Government. He had no desire to hold office a moment longer than he held the confidence of the House. He accepted Mr Morrison's challenge and called on his friends to support him in the lobby that night. “CAMPAIGN MISHANDLED” A debate is proceeding in the House of Lords. Lord Strabolgi said there was a tendency to pretend that the recent engagement in Norway was of secondary importance. The Norwegian campaign had been badly mishandled. There was something wrong, he said, with the higher direction of the war. If the present Government was not capable of meeting the situation it should make way for others. The Marquis of Crewe, Liberal Leader of the House, said results in Norway could only have been achieved by infringing Norway’s neutral rights. Lord Hankey, Minister without portfolio, said the Government must depend on the expert advice of its naval military and air advisers. The Chiefs of Staff had all the facts of the situation at their command, which must ( be denied to those outside. He repudiated any suggestion that the staff , were not men of the highest quality. Norway and Denmark were not the • only neutrals threatened—there were . Holland, Belgium, Luxemburg and the Balkans as well.