The Ministry of Information still baffles the understanding of Parliament
and the country. Perhaps the time has come for a radical reorganisation. Lord Perth, Lord Macmillan, Lord Camrose, Sir John Reith and others have come and gone. Scores of able younger men have seen the inside of the Ministry and are happier men outside. The failure of the Ministry, I suggest, raises a fundamental question. How far is our machinery of Government and House of Commons pro- cedure adapted for real war? If there runs through these lines today a querulous note, it is because prompt and proper action is still being obstructed by slow and slovenly methods and machinery. In one case it may be a laissez- faire attitude at the Treasury, in another crude and clumsy fingers at the War and Home Offices, in another lack of a clear objective at the Ministry of Information. The job of Parlia- ment is to concentrate informed criticism on every Department in turn so that the maximum war effort is realised. This will be done. To accomplish this task Parliament and Press must be free. The nation must feel that all personal and party affections are subservient to the supreme fight. We must so manage our affairs that confidence and unity are constantly renewed by every debate and by every leading article. These are the grave responsibilities which are laid by fighting men and workers on those who form and reflect opinion.
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