§ Viscount Montgomery of Alameinasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they consider that Bletchley Park should become a national monument to wartime achievement.
§ Baroness TrumpingtonMy Lords, the Government recognise that Bletchley Park is of great historical importance to the nation. We hope that a way can be found to preserve the park as a monument to its wartime activities. I must declare an interest because I worked at Bletchley Park during the war and have been a friend of the trust since its inception.
§ Viscount Montgomery of AlameinMy Lords, I too must declare an interest, albeit a minor one and in no way comparable to the distinguished wartime service rendered by my noble friend during the war when she was a young girl. I am one of a number of honorary patrons of the Bletchley Park Trust.
If the Government appreciate the importance of the achievements of Bletchley in saving lives both on land and at sea and in the creation of the computer industry—it was there at its inception—should not resources be put behind a programme to create a museum which will enable young and old, both now and in the future, also to appreciate what was achieved?
§ Baroness TrumpingtonMy Lords, I greatly resented the Daily Telegraph for saying that I joined Bletchley when I was 22; in fact I was 18. In answer to my noble friend, there are already 2,500 museums in the UK. The Government can only provide direct funding for a limited number, such as the country's national museums and galleries.
§ Lord Dean of BeswickMy Lords, is the Minister aware that, in addition to herself working at Bletchley as a teenager, a number of other ladies at the other end of the Palace also worked there? Is it not a fact that some of the outstanding successes of the last war—such as the tracking and sinking of the "Bismarck" and later the "Scharnhorst"—can be laid at the door of ULTRA. While at the time Britain stood alone and was not able to deliver many victories, its use certainly gave enough warning to mitigate the worst of some of the German's successes. It is absolutely right that the noble Viscount, Lord Montgomery, asks this Question and the 1044 suggestion should be accepted by the Government. If Bletchley is destroyed, there is no record of what those people did.
§ Baroness TrumpingtonMy Lords, without the successes of Bletchley Park this nation could have starved to death. If I may be garrulous for one moment, perhaps I may read a letter I received from a Mrs. Morley. She said that she ended her service in the WRNS taking apart with tweezers and a screwdriver the very machines that helped us to end the war, thereby committing the secret of the bombs to oblivion. She continues,
I have read books and articles about the Enigma Miracle and the brilliant code breakers but I have seen very little indeed about the contribution made by hundreds of WRENS to this special war effort with eyes straining but devoted commitment to a boring job".I should like to pay tribute to and honour the Wrens and civilians who did the actual donkey work for the brilliant mathematicians.
§ Lord Jenkins of HillheadMy Lords, I was 23 rather than 18 when I was sent to Bletchley Park. It was a large establishment and to my great regret I did not have the honour of knowing the noble Baroness, Lady Trumpington, there. However, as it now seems to be generally appreciated that Bletchley Park was crucial, perhaps to a greater extent than those who were working there appreciated at the time, and as it has been vastly seminal from a computer point of view, it would be a great pity if it just became a built-over site on the outskirts of Milton Keynes. No expressions of goodwill can achieve that unless the Government are prepared to take a financial initiative and put some limited but necessary sums of money forward.
§ Baroness TrumpingtonMy Lords, when I went to Bletchley there were 400 people there; when I left there were 6,000. Had the noble Lord and I met then, think how different our lives might have been!
In answer to the noble Lord's Question, my right honourable friend the Secretary of State met representatives of the Bletchley Park Trust on 3rd March to hear their plans for a further lottery application. Their first application was turned down and the Heritage Lottery Fund provided the trust with detailed advice on how to submit a revised application and on how applicants can receive help with preparation of a business plan. It is up to the trust to submit a decent plan. It can then raise money and run the trust.
§ Baroness Park of MonmouthMy Lords, Bletchley Park has been so secret that people have not known enough about the amazing work it did. What terms have Her Majesty's Government and BT offered the Bletchley Park Trust for the transfer of the land in question?
§ Baroness TrumpingtonMy Lords, the site is currently owned by British Telecom and by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for the Environment. They have jointly agreed to terms under 1045 which the Bletchley Park Trust can be offered a permanent leasehold interest in the site, allowing the trust to acquire the majority of the museum land free of charge.
§ Lord DonoughueMy Lords, on the eve of what may be a political change, may I, with the permission of the House, say how much I have enjoyed working opposite and with the noble Baroness? Her openness, her warmth and her sense of fun have been a pleasure to us all. I did not know that she was one of the delectable band of maidens of Bletchley Park, assuming they were maidens. Is she aware that we on this side of the House wholly support the proposals that have been put forward? But will she confirm that in fact none of the original technology is still there? In that context, and bearing in mind that the first programmable computer, Colossus, was there, would it not be appropriate if the centre was also a museum for computer technology, which might attract support from private industry?
§ Baroness TrumpingtonMy Lords, I am sure the noble Lord is adept at bowling a maiden over. The noble Lord is perfectly correct with regard to the first part of his question. I am given to understand that Churchill for some reason decreed that all the machinery there should be destroyed at the end of the war. The letter I quoted gives the House an example. Some of it, like Colossus, has been rebuilt. Other machines are being rebuilt. But there will be no original machines in the museum. The trustees want to have a history of the computer because the two really major historical events of the 20th century that took place at Bletchley were the development during World War II of the science of cryptology and the first digital electronic computer.