The Week in Parliament Our Parliamentary Correspondent writes :—The issues
raised by the White Paper on Defence have been almost the sole topic of conversation in the lobbies since its publication on Tuesday morning. It is being attacked as was inevitable, from two sides ; by those who regard the rearmament programme as insufficient for the needs of the situation and by those who complain that only lip-service is paid to collective security and that the proposals reveal, in the minds of the Cabinet, an isola- tionist mentality. The general view is that the docu- ment was drafted primarily for foreign consumption. There is clear evidence, when comparison is made with the White Paper issued a year ago, that the Government is, on this occasion, most anxious to say nothing that would give any cause of offence in Germany. That may have been wise in view of Herr Hitler's recent olive branch, but it is likely to result in weakening the case in the eyes of our own people for this great expansion of armaments. Nothing is said in the White Paper, for instance, of the menace of Dictatorship, winch, by the stifling of Parliamentary institutions, the suppression of all criticism in the newspapers, and absolute control over broadcasting, has given to Governments a power Of creating an atmosphere favourable to war never possessed by the Emperors. It is the view of centre opinion in the House that a far more formidable case could have been made out for rearmament and that this, coupled with definite measures to strengthen collective security, might well have produced something approaching a united front on rearmament.
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