§ 1. Mrs. Cazalet Keirasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, whether in view of the announcement of the new terms and conditions of the diplomatic and consular services, he will now set up the committee referred to in the White Paper to consider the admission of women to this service in order that the scheme may be completed at the end of the war?
§ The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Eden)I see no reason to alter the decision expressed in the relevant paragraph 33 of the White Paper. The question should be reviewed in the light of conditions after, not during, the war.
§ Mrs. KeirDoes not my right hon. Friend think that it would be in the best interests of the new foreign service to recruit at the outset from the widest possible field, and surely this cannot be achieved by leaving out of account rather more than half the population?
§ Mr. EdenI am a little surprised at my hon. Friend's question, because I had the privilege of meeting a large and representative and very agreeable assembly of women's organisations in this country, and I thought that the arrangement to which we then came, which is set out in the White Paper, was satisfactory to them.
Miss WardIf we are planning the post-war world in every other service now, why should we not plan it in the diplomatic service as well?