Searchlight or Gas Jet?

For three days last week WinstonChurchill and his critics in Parliament had at each other. Then Parliament gave him the vote of confidence he asked for--464-to-1--but it was not confidence without qualifications.

The single opposition vote was cast by lank-haired, intense James Maxton, one of Parliament's three ultra-left Independent Laborites who represent Glasgow's shipyard workers.* More important, 67 of those present did not vote at all. And as far as a large part of Parliament was concerned, the vote was not wholehearted; it just seemed necessary. Afterward Winston Churchill's many critics went right on criticizing.

The vote seemed necessary because, whatever may be said against Churchill or the men around him, few Britons can imagine anyone else leading Britain through the war. Moreover, among those few are hard-shell Tories who abhor Britain's alliance with Russia and would like to restore post-war Britain as a Tory paradise. Most of Parliament was determined to give them no encouragement.

But, vote or no vote, Parliament took the Churchillian eloquence with many grains of salt.

The Opposition. Of his critics the Prime Minister said: "No one need be mealymouthed. . . . There are . . . people who talk and bear themselves as if they had prepared for this war with great armaments. . . . But we have only had two and a half years of fighting and we have only just managed to keep our heads above water. When I was called upon, nearly two years ago, to be Prime Minister there were not many applicants for the job. Since then perhaps the market has improved."

Russia. Despite Britain's own needs, said Winston Churchill, Stalin had been sent "exactly what he asked for."

North Africa. "I cannot tell what is waiting for us. ... We have a very daring and skillful opponent. . . . Whether you call it a victory or not, it must be dubbed ... a highly profitable transaction. . . ."

Second Front. "Imagine what would have happened had we yielded to this vehement temptation [to open a second front]! Every ton of our shipping, every flotilla, every airplane, the whole strength of our Army would have been committed and fighting for life, and these troubles of the Far East and of the Middle East might have sunk into insignificance compared with the question of another and far worse Dunkirk."

The Far East. The Prime Minister declared that the sunken warships Prince of Wales and Repulse had been sent to Singapore in the hope of deterring Japan from war. No aircraft carriers had been sent with them, for a very good reason: all but one British carrier had been undergoing repairs.

He looked for a "great deal more" Far Eastern trouble, explained: "While facing Germany and Italy here and in the Nile Valley we have never had any power to provide effectively for the defense of the Far East. . . . Sixty thousand men were indeed concentrated at Singapore, but the priority . . . was accorded to the Nile Valley. For this decision, in its broad strategic aspects and also in its diplomatic policy toward Russia, I take the fullest possible responsibility. . . ."

Personnel. "Why, therefore, should I be called upon to pick out scapegoats and throw the blame upon generals and sacrifice my loyal and trusted colleagues and friends? . . . While I take full responsibility for the broad, strategic dispositions, that does not mean that scandals, inefficiency or misbehavior . . . will not be probed."

Production. "Our munitions output is gigantic . . . and it is bounding up in a most remarkable manner. . . . We are producing more than twice as many far more complicated guns every month as we did in the peak of the 1917-18 war period."

The U.S. "During the three weeks I spent in President Roosevelt's home and with his family I established with him relations not only of comradeship but of friendship. We can say anything to each other, however painful."

Changes. The Prime Minister promised to appoint a Minister of Production, corresponding to Donald Nelson of the U.S., and to give the Dominions voices in the high war councils.

When Winston Churchill finished, his critics reflected that he had given no convincing answer to charges that Britain's war councils, both productive and military, are rotten with dead wood and cluttered with red tape, that production could be 40% greater. Although he was doubtless right that Britain had been unable to reinforce Malaya, he did not explain away the fact that the British high command had mistakenly believed that Malaya could successfully repel any attack. His skillful apologies for the military past were little assurance for the future.

Of those who had debated against the Prime Minister, one was Conservative Sir John Wardlaw-Milne, who said: "In its desire and determination to win the war this Government as a whole is to me a great and shining light, a beam like a searchlight over the horizon, and that is why I shall support it. But when it comes to other matters I am afraid the light does not shine anything like so brightly. Sometimes it is no better than a gas jet, and I am afraid that in their determination not to change any system that we have been working on for years ... it seems little more nor less than a farthing dip. . . ."

*The others, John ("Jock") McGovern and Campbell Stephen, were tellers, could not vote.

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