HC Deb 23 July 1946 vol 425 cc1872-4
59. Mr. Arthur Lewis

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will consider proclaiming 1st May each year a national holiday as a tribute to the efforts of the workers during the war period.

Mr. Dalton

While they warmly sympathise with the motive behind my hon. Friend's suggestion, the Government do not think it desirable to add at present to the number of fixed holidays.

Mr. Lewis

Will the Chancellor bear that suggestion in mind in the future?

Mr. Dalton

Yes, Sir. Let us get output up and then we will think again.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

I should like to ask whether it is suggested that conscientious objectors of the last war, now serving in His Majesty's Government, should make speeches on this occasion?

Mr. Dalton

I do not understand the relevance of the question nor do I admire the tone behind it. It seems to me to be malicious and irrelevant, and I observe that it comes from a friend of an enemy of this country.

Mr. Quintin Hogg

On a point of Order. Did I hear the right hon. Gentleman say that the supplementary question asked by the hon. Member for Mid-Bedford (Mr. Lennox-Boyd) was malicious as well as irrelevant and that it came from a friend of an enemy of this country? I ask you, Mr. Speaker, under the Rules of Procedure, to have those words taken down so that the House can take note of them.

Mr. Speaker

It is, I believe, in the Standing Orders that words can be taken down, but I have never known that done. In fact, that Rule has fallen into disuse for some time.

Mr. Hogg

Further to that point of Order. Do we now understand that no protection is to be offered to Members of this side or of the other side of the House when it is said that what they are doing is malicious or friendly to enemies of this country? I ask for your protection.

Mr. Speaker

The hon. Gentleman did not ask me for my protection; he asked me to take the words down. I gave my answer to that. If the hon. Gentleman wants to know if the word "malicious" is out of Order, I do not think it is. I do not think there is anything in the word "malicious" which means an unworthy motive, but I must confess I was a little surprised when I heard the right hon. Gentleman use the phrase "a friend of an enemy of this country." [HON. MEMBERS:"Withdraw."] Hon. Members will please remember that if I want a thing withdrawn I will ask for it to be withdrawn. Hon. Members must not take my duties from me. I was going to suggest that I thought perhaps the right hon. Gentleman was over the borderline when he used the words "a friend of an enemy of this country." That is not what should be said by a Member of this House.

Mr. Dalton

Those who give must expect to get, but if it is judged that my riposte to the hon. Gentleman, whose support of General Franco's Government is notorious, was slightly over the borderline, I withdraw it.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

Further to that point of Order. As General Franco has never been declared a public enemy, think the original supplementary was not quite fair, but I am perfectly content to leave confidence in my loyalty in the hands of the House.

Squadron-Leader Sir Gifford Fox

On a point of Order. When my hon. Friend the Member for Oxford (Mr. Hogg) was putting his point of Order to you, Sir, the Chancellor of the Exchequer was nodding agreement. As, therefore, he agrees with what my hon. Friend says, can those words be taken down?

Mr. Speaker

It is no good trying to stir up the troubled waters any more. I think a satisfactory conclusion has been reached; let us leave it at that.