WAR DEBATE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 July 1942, Page 3

WAR DEBATE

OPENED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS .MR CHURCHILL OPPOSES DELAY. SIR J. WARDLAW-MILNE’S MOTION. LONDON, July 1. The debate on Sir John WardlawMilne’s no-confidence motion has opened in the House of Commons. Commander Stephen King-Hall asked if it would not be better to defer the debate till there was more news of the fighting in Egypt. Sir John Ward-law-Milne replied that he would have done so if the Government had made such a request, but it had not been forthcoming. Mr Churchill, who was cheered when he rose to intervene, said that as the subject had been debated all over the world, he considered the debate should go on. Though the people of Britain might have knowledge of the country’s stability, there were others who by no means held that opinion. The motion proposed by Sir J. Ward-law-Milne was:— “That this House, while paying tribute to the heroism and endurance of the armed forces of the Crown, in circumstances of exceptional difficulty, has no confidence in the central direction oif the war.” He first assured the House that he had tabled the motion for the sole purpose of assisting in winning the war in the shortest possible time. His attack was directed, not against officers in the field, but against the central direction in London, where he felt, lay the cause of the Libyan defeat. While paying the “warmest tribute to the personal qualities and the leadership of Mr Churchill, Sir John Ward-law-Milne suggested that it had been a vital mistake to combine the duties of Prime Minister with those of the Minister of Defence. What was needed was a strong full-time leadei and a Chief-of-Staff committee. Sir John Wardlaw-Milne said his motion implied a demand for an enquiry as to what had caused Biitain to be behind the enemy, what was wrong with our strategy and production. We were turning out vast quantities of munitions, aircraft and guns. What prevented us getting these things to the right place at the right time? He continued that he had not forgotten out assistance to Russia and entirely agieed as to its necessity. As regards the production of British tanks, though many of them were very good they were not good enough to compete with those of the Germans. Yet we know all along about the German Mark 4 tank, which-, had dominated the fighting in Libya, before Dunkirk and since. Most British tanks were made after Dunkirk. They should at least have been equal to the German. The new Churchill tank was probably the most formidable weapon ever built, but he asked: Where was it and how many of these were in Libya? Concluding, Sir John said he had no confidence in the central direction of the war for the reasons stated, but, if they were to make the necessaiy changes, the country’s stability was unimpaired, its will and determination for victory was supreme. Dark as the present situation might be, we could, if necessary, have changes made to win through to victory, freedom and peace.