§ Mr. SPEAKERAny further questions not on the Order Paper will have to stand over.
§ Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHYI have one Private Notice Question with respect to the broadcasting of the Cenotaph service on Armistice Day. The position is that the apparatus can be put up in 48 hours if the Home Secretary gives his consent. It will be too late if the question is put on the Paper. May I suggest that this is a question outside the purview of ordinary questions, and that it is one which, in the usual course of events, would be a question of urgency?
§ Mr. SPEAKERI will permit the hon. and gallant Member to ask his question.
§ Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHY(by Private Notice) asked the Home Secretary whether he has been approached for permission to broadcast the religious ceremony at the Cenotaph on Armistice Day; whether he has refused permission; and, if so, whether he will state the reason?
§ Sir W. JOYNSON-HICKSThe answer to the first two parts of the question is in the affirmative. I have already fully explained the reasons for my decision in a letter to the hon. and gallant Member for Fairfield (Major Cohen), which was published in the Press on 1st November. If the hon. and gallant Member so desires, I will be glad to send him a copy.
§ Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHYIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that the reasons which he gave, namely, that people could go to the various ceremonies in different parts of the country, do not apply to people who are detained at home by their work or who are ill and wish to hear the ceremony on the wireless? Will he reconsider it from that point of view?
§ Sir W. JOYNSON-HICKSI am quite satisfied, after very careful consideration, that the number of people who would be detained through illness would be very small, and the benefit to them would not be comparable to the change that would be made in the solemnity of the service.
§ Major COHENIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that he has never yet, either in his letter to me or otherwise, given any official reasons why the ceremony cannot be broadcast, and that it has been purely a personal expression of opinion? Is he aware that he has hurt the feelings of very many people who desire to join in this Armistice Day celebration? Is he also aware that this is the second occasion on which he has offended the susceptibilities of ex-service men, and can he promise, at any rate, that next year he will not repeat it?
§ Sir W. JOYNSON-HICKSAs regards the latter part of the question, I do not know to what the hon. and gallant Member is referring.
§ Major COHENThe wearing of the medals last year.
§ Sir W. JOYNSON-HICKSThe hon. and gallant Member is quite mistaken. The question of medals is not a matter for the Home Secretary, but for another Secretary of State. The arrangements made this year with the full concurrence of the Minister responsible for the arrangements for the service will give full satisfaction to all ex-service men and their relatives. With regard to the service itself, my hon. and gallant Friend knows that I would be the last person to use my personal view. The answer which I wrote to him was in every sense an official answer on behalf of His Majesty's Government.
§ Lieut. - Commander KENWORTHYThe right hon. Gentleman spoke of illness. There is another class of people, namely, those at a distance who cannot get to the various ceremonies, and those who are at work, who could hear the ceremony on the wireless.