Two years ago the need for rearmament on a great
scale was still a matter of Parliamentary controversy. Now all that is changed. The only questions which appear to interest the House are concerning the pace, extent and efficiency of our warlike preparations. On Monday Mr. Churchill again returned to the subject of relative air strengths. He proved beyond any possible doubt that in 1934 Mr. Baldwin definitely adopted the criterion of first-line strength. Now this yardstick has been abandoned, and we are being invited to adopt an entirely new and vague standard. Once again Mr. Churchill was expressing the general mind of the House. Earlier in the day Mr. Wedgwood Benn had also pressed the Government on the subject of parity in the air. Lieut.-Col. Muirhead, Parliamentary Secretary to the Air Ministry, did not allay the general anxiety by repeating the Prime Minister's vague pronouncement of ten days ago to the effect that the Air Force is to be " of such a character and size as, having regard to all relevant circumstances, including the nature of our war problems and the extent and availability of our aggregated resources, will constitute an effective instrument for our purpose." Such a specimen of Ministerial English does not provide any answer to the simple question of how our resources in military aircraft compare with those at the disposal of Germany.
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