• An answer in the House of Commons which has
hardly been given sufficient attention was that in which Lord Cranborne stated the number of•international agreements which the Government is pledged to uphold if necessary . by armed force. They are worthy of detailed study, for . they impressively indicate the enormous extent of Great - Britain's - commitments. Unfortunately, though the answer was given on Monday afternoon it had no appreciable effect on the attitude of the Labour Party in the subsequent debates on the Navy and Air estimates. Mr. Alexander, who led the attack, sternly demanded to know from the Government against whom they were re-arming and then answered his own question by making a plea for collective security. There was no indication throughout the debate that the Opposition realised that Great Britain might be called upon to fulfil her obligations in two corners of the world simultaneously. Attacks on the air estimates were equally lacking in realism. -The main Labour amendment contained a demand for " an immediate and sustained effort to secure the abolition of military and naval air forces and the international control of civil aviation." A simple motion for the introduction of the millennium " this day six months " would have been scarcely less imprac- ticable, for even a Western air pact for the limitation of air armaments has proved far beyond the reach of European statesmanship.
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