ADJOURNMENT: STATEMENT BY VISCOUNT BENNETT. (Hansard, 6 August 1942)

§ LORD SNELL
My Lords, I beg to move that the House do now adjourn.

§ VISCOUNT BENNETT
My Lords, before that Motion is put I should like to speak for a moment on a question of privilege. I was reported yesterday at column 220 of the Official Report as saying: There seems, however, to be some difficulty with regard to the question of what they are fighting for. I should therefore welcome a statement from the Government as to what we are fighting for, and it would be welcomed by the people who live in that part of the King's dominions in which I was born. The noble and learned Viscount on the Woolsack, in the concluding part of his speech, said he would stop there if it were not for one observation made by me. He went on: He thought … that there were many people perhaps in the Fighting Services, still asking what we are fighting for. Is it not plain that this world-wide conflict with all its horrors and sacrifices is being fought with the double purpose of delivering mankind from slavery and of establishing a better world hereafter? I was dealing entirely with post-war conditions and not with the causes of the war. I have made a good many speeches about the causes of war, and I dare say I shall continue to do so, but yesterday I was not asking why the war was being fought but what we were fighting for. I think the noble and learned Viscount unwittingly suggested that I had some doubt why the war was being fought. I can best illustrate my point by reciting to your Lordships a little incident that 263 occurred recently. A soldier, one of the volunteers from Canada, said to me that his father was killed in the last war, and he felt his duty to volunteer and come over and participate in this conflict, but he hoped that his child would not have to come twenty-five years hence to take part in another war of this character. He pointed out, what is perfectly true, that in the last war we spoke of a war to end war and a war to make the world safe for democracy. What I was suggesting yesterday was that it was desirable to indicate clearly, without any question, that we propose, as far as is in our power, to see to it that there are guarantees that conditions such as prevailed before cannot again prevail in this world. I mention this because the construction seems to have been put upon my remarks that there is doubt on the part of Service men as to what we are fighting for. There is no doubt in their minds that they are fighting for their homes and civilization itself; but the question was whether they understood the international implications, whether there would be guarantees for the safety of the people in the future.

§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR (VISCOUNT SIMON)
My Lords, I did not know that my noble friend was mentioning this. 264 Perhaps he will be good enough to tell me which is the column in which there is actually reported what he said.

§ VISCOUNT BENNETT
Column 220.

§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR
Oh yes. I see the noble Viscount explained the reason why he intervened, saying: There is no difficulty I find, when one talks, for instance, to Service men from the Dominions and to those in this country who are engaged in the great conflict, in determining what they are fighting against internationally. There seems, however, to be some difficulty with regard to the question of what they are fighting for. I happened to hear that remark, and I hope my noble friend thinks that the observations which I made, which were not at all of a critical character, did appropriately state what we were fighting for. At any rate, I made that as plain as ever I could, and I do not suppose that there is any difference between us.

§ VISCOUNT BENNETT
My Lords, I am bound to say that I do not think that it did make it clear that there was an international side to what we are fighting for—namely, to guarantee security against another war of this kind.