§ 45. Rear-Admiral Beamishasked the Prime Minister whether he has any arrangements in view whereby the lessons and successes of the combined staff in co-ordinating the nation's fighting and de-fence services can be permanently established, interlocked and finally carried into peace-time procedure; and will he consider the introduction of the Estimates in this Session by means of a comprehensive Debate on Imperial and National Defence far the promotion and preservation of international security?
§ The Deputy Prime Minister (Mr. Attlee)The improvement of the system for co-ordinating and combining the planning and operational activities of the 1542 Defence Services is a continuous process, and the Government have no intention of allowing it to come to a standstill. It is too early to say what the exact peacetime procedure will be, but the lessons learnt during the war, and the progress made, will certainly be applied to our peace-time arrangements. I do not think it is necessary—and it would certainly be difficult—to hold any Debate on these matters before the Defence Estimates for 1944 are considered. If there is a general desire for a Debate later in the Session, the Government will arrange an opportunity through the usual channels.
§ Rear-Admiral BeamishWhile thanking the right hon. Gentleman for his courteous and somewhat colourless reply, might I ask him to convey to the War Cabinet the fact that unless something of this sort is done we shall return to the condition of comparative disunity which brought us to the verge of disaster before the war?
§ Mr. AttleeI think my hon. and gallant Friend will realise that my answer, however colourless, gave a perfectly clear indication that we had no intention of returning to the pre-war position.