§ 6. Sir Herbert Williamsasked the Minister of Labour why the Meeting at the Albert Hall on 28th September was paid for out of public funds; the total cost of the meeting; how the audience was selected; why 75 per cent. were women of the age group 45–50; and why the Press was excluded?
§ Mr. BevinThis meeting was organised by the Government, and the invitations to attend were issued by me on behalf of the Government. It was therefore in accordance with precedent and proper practice that the expenses, including reasonable sums for travelling and subsistence allowances, should be paid out of public funds. About 6,000 persons attended, and the estimated total cost is about £17,000. The invitations were issued through national voluntary organisations representing women in the home, in industry, in the professions and in the many forms of voluntary service, and the persons attending were those selected by those organisations. As regards the ages of those who attended, my hon. Friend evidently has access to sources of information which are not open to me; I have no information whatever on this subject. The meeting was confidential and therefore not open to the Press.
§ Sir H. WilliamsHaving regard to the fact that the only news of the meeting is that which was officially circulated, can the right hon. Gentleman explain why one Press report stated that 75 per cent. of the audience was between 45 and 50, and is there any precedent for a meeting of this kind in which confidential information is disclosed by a Minister other than to Members of Parliament?
§ Mr. BevinWith regard to precedent, this meeting follows precisely the precedents in the case of docks, shipbuilding, aircraft production, coalmining and other trades in the promotion of the war effort. As to what the Press said or imagined, I am not responsible.
§ Sir H. WilliamsAs the only official reports made were those issued by the 1026 right hon. Gentleman's Department to the Press, is he not responsible for the Press reports?
§ Mr. BevinI have not seen the statement anywhere that the Press said the ages were between 45 and 50. That was not issued by my Department.
§ Mr. ShinwellIn view of the inspired statements in the Press, can Members now be furnished with a copy of the proceedings?
§ Mr. BevinIt was done in precisely the same way as the statement about the miners' meeting was published. This Conference was called to promote the war effort in the fifth winter of the war, and I am satisfied that it is one of the best steps that have been taken.
§ Sir Joseph LambDid the other meetings referred to cost the same amount as this?
§ Mr. DribergWhen the right hon. Gentleman says that the meeting was confidential, is he seriously suggesting that secrets of a security nature were disclosed to a meeting of 6,000 people? Further, is it correct, as reported, that he said on this occasion that he did not trust the Press?
§ Mr. BevinThat is another piece of imagination by the Press, of which my hon. Friend is very well aware and at which he is an expert. It is a piece of sheer imagination. I am not going to satisfy the Press as to what I said at the meeting except to deny that I ever made that statement. As to the question of secrecy, we followed exactly the precedent followed in the other cases. There were no secrets in the sense of official secrets revealed at all. These Conferences have served a better purpose handled in this way than merely turning them into ordinary public assemblies.
§ Mr. ShinwellCould my right hon. Friend's views about the Press be communicated to his new colleague Lord Beaverbrook?
§ Mr. BevinI do not think there is any need to communicate them. He knew my views about it long before I was a Minister.
§ Mr. DribergOn a point of Order. Is the right hon. Gentleman entitled to blacken my character in the way he did by suggesting that I was an expert at imagining things?
§ Dr. Edith SummerskillIs my right hon. Friend aware that this is the first occasion during the war that a mass meeting of women workers has been called in order that a Minister may pay a tribute to their work, and is he aware that the only criticism that can be levelled at the meeting is that it was long overdue?
§ Mr. DribergThen why have it in secret?
§ 17. Sir John Mellorasked the Minister of Labour what degree of privacy was attached to the meeting at the Albert Hall on 28th September and for what reasons?
§ Mr. BevinThe Government wished to meet representatives of the women of the country in private conference. A full report of the speeches of Ministers at the meeting was issued to the Press, and a report of the Conference is being circulated to those who attended.
§ Sir J. MellorAs the 6,000 women were intended to report to their organisations, was the Press excluded merely in order to give a sensation of intimacy?
§ Sir H. WilliamsWill this report also be made available to Members of Parliament?
§ Sir H. WilliamsWill it be made available?
§ Mr. MolsonWill the Minister say whether His Majesty's Government put up a good show in this brains trust?