§ Sir H. Williamsasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he has any further statement to make as to the recent raid on Tobruk; and what is the reason for the delay between the publication of the enemy claims as to our losses and the statement of his Department in respect of those losses?
Mr. AlexanderI regret that I have no information to give about the raid on Tobruk other than that already published. With regard to the last part of the Question, it is the Admiralty policy not to announce the names of ships lost until next of-kin have been informed. As the hon. Member will appreciate, there are occasions when exceptions have to be made to this policy, and in view of the enemy claims it was felt that this was one of those occasions.