§ Commander Bower (Cleveland)I beg permission to make a personal statement in order to correct and clarify certain statements made by me in the speech on the Adjournment on 7th November, when my hon. Friend the Member for Ipswich (Mr. Stokes) raised the question of the evacuation of Narvik and the loss of H.M.S. "Glorious." At that time the chief burden of my criticism of the Admiralty and the conduct of those operations was that certain high commands and staffs, notably that of the R.A.F. Coastal Command, whose close co-operation was essential for the success of the operation, were not informed. I also stated that the Director of Operations at the Ad- 1987 miralty was not fully informed. I have now received a letter from Captain Harcourt, the Director of Operations at the Admiralty, in which he corroborates my main criticism by saying:
The facts were that it was necessary to observe the utmost secrecy in this operation, as is the case in all operations requiring a military withdrawal, and the Chiefs of Staff gave instructions that this operation was only to be made known to those who were actually concerned in the carrying of it out. For this reason Coastal Command were not informed, as you very rightly state.He also says:I as Director of Operations was fully informed of the operation comprising the evacuation of Narvik, and the other officers of my division who had to deal with this particular operation were similarly informed.I myself derived the impression that this officer was not fully informed from a telephone conversation with him at the time, but I wish to say that I fully, absolutely and unreservedly accept his version of the incident, and I therefore beg leave to withdraw the statement that he was not fully informed. In so doing I think I ought to pay a tribute to the high sense of duty shown by this officer who, in the interest of fairness and accuracy, has asked me publicly to associate his name with this very unfortunately-conducted affair. In this connection it is only fair to point out that the decision not to inform the R.A.F. Coastal Command and other Commands was a Chiefs-of-Staff decision, and, therefore, no blame can be laid at Captain Harcourt's door.
§ Mr. SpeakerThe hon. and gallant Member must not make comments. He rose to correct an error.
§ Commander BowerIt was only with a desire to clear the name of this officer from any suspicion of blame in the matter. Secondly, Captain Harcourt and his deputy, Captain Edwards, feel that certain words of mine in which I said that had been approached by officers holding responsible positions in the Operations Division at the Admiralty were and could be, in view of the context, applied to them. My words in this connection were most carefully drafted in order to avoid any such implications, and having reread them I do not think that construction could fairly be put upon them; but at the same time I do want to make it clear that my contact with these officers 1988 was of a purely service character. I am only slightly acquainted with them and their conduct in this matter was always most formal and of the most orthodox character, and in no way was either of those two officers implicated.