§ LORD SNELLMy Lords, I beg to ask whether the Leader of the House desires to make any statement with regard to the speech which he is reported in many organs of the Press to have made at Portsmouth last night.
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE ADMIRALTY (EARL STANHOPE)My Lords, I am obliged to the noble Lord for giving me the opportunity to make this statement. I should like to explain to the House the circumstances in which I made my remarks in the "Ark Royal" at Portsmouth last night. The occasion was the initiation of a new scheme inaugurating the Royal Naval Film Corporation, a scheme by which, thanks to the great generosity of the cinema industry and others, the best and most modern films are made available to the ships of His Majesty's Fleet at home and abroad. It was an occasion on which our guests, who were there to receive the Navy's thanks, would expect every seat to be occupied. I ventured therefore to explain that the reason why there was not a full attendance was because some of the crews were retained on board their own ships in readiness to man their guns as had been the normal practice in time of tension. No other orders had been given by the Admiralty than that this practice should not be relaxed even on so special an occasion.
I may add that I had not prepared my speech beforehand, and that it is quite 590 untrue that I asked the Press to give special prominence to it. I have never been anxious to call for the spotlight on myself. I understand that when my remarks reached London they were treated as sensational matter, and the Prime Minister asked the Press, as I should have done had I known it, not to publish my speech, or, if they did publish it, not to ascribe to it any particular importance. I can only express my keen regret that any remarks of mine, emphasizing the readiness of the Navy to meet all eventualities, even when, as now, Easter leave is being given, should have added to the work of the Prime Minister or caused concern to anyone else.