25 APRIL 1941, Page 3

The Week in Parliament

Our Parliamentary correspondent writes : —News from the Balkans and the Mediterranean overshadowed the meeting of Parliament after the recess. Everyone was glad to see Mr. Speaker recovered from his illness, but on every other matter there was uneasiness, restlessness, and for the first time acute division of opinion. The whole House sympathises with the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary, and is not disposed to criticise them just because things are going badly. But they want more information about Spain, about Iraq, about the battle of the Atlantic, and now about Samothrace and the Dardanelles. Those who have taken the unpopular course of initiating debates on shipping, on man-power and production, and on agriculture, are entitled to ask now whether their strictures and criticisms were not justified. There may be a few who doubt the wisdom of various strategic moves, but that is a highly technical question. If, however, shortage of equip- ment or misdirection of man-power or lack of propaganda are in any. way responsible for the present set-backs, then the House is entitled to know in Secret Session the whole story.