§ 2.43 p.m.
§ LORD VANSITTARTMy Lords, I beg to ask the second question standing in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The question was as follows:
§ To ask His Majesty's Government whether they authorised the statement made on October 27 by General Sir Brian Robertson in regard to the evacuation of Germany; and whether this House may rest assured that no such evacuation will be contemplated so long as the certainty remains that it would be utilised for the forcible communisation of Germany.]
§ LORD HENDERSONMy Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for giving me the opportunity to reaffirm the position of His Majesty's Government in this matter. His Majesty's Government did not authorise the statement made by General Sir Brian Robertson in regard to the possible evacuation of Germany. The Military Governor was replying to a specific question put to him at a Press conference. As he emphasised at the beginning of his remarks, he had not consulted His Majesty's Government and was expressing a personal opinion in answer 273 to a hypothetical question. I can certainly give the assurance asked for by the noble Lord in the second part of his question.
§ LORD VANSITTARTIn thanking the noble Lord for his reassuring reply, perhaps I might ask him to remember that some of us who are not ill-qualified to judge would regard any policy based on evacuation or over-centralisation as a policy of suicide while the balance of the mind was temporarily deranged.