§ Mr. Grovesasked the Secretary of State for War what arrangements are made for serving officers or soldiers who desire to be candidates at future Parliamentary general elections; and whether they should, if now serving overseas, give intimation to their commanding officer of their desire and so enable arrangements to be made for their arrival here and their appearance before the electorate a reasonable time before any election day.
§ Sir J. GriggAs I pointed out in the course of the Debate on this year's Army and Air Force (Annual) Bill, every reasonable facility is already given to serving officers and men to be adopted as prospective candidates and candidates for constituencies either at by-elections or general elections. An officer or soldier who wishes to stand for Parliament, and to take the steps necessary to that end, should inform his Commanding Officer, in order that any application he may make for special facilities may he recognised. Subject to the exigencies of the Service, he can be granted leave for the purpose of getting adopted as a prospective candidate or candidate, and is set free from his military duties for the whole 1213W period of the election. If an individual is serving overseas he naturally cannot be given short periods of leave to this country in order to attend Selection Committees and so on; nor can any guarantee be given that he will be able to return to the United Kingdom in time for an election at short notice. The local military situation, distance, and restricted transport facilities might make that impossible.