One D'd thing after another

THE PRESS DONALD McLACHLAN

Again, what possessed Mr Wilson's adviser to suggest thV the committee I have just men- tioned, which itself sends round D Notices point- ing out what is a secret that our enemies would like to know, should investigate whether existing D Notices covered the particular subject of the Pincher disclosure last Tuesday week? For one thing that this committee with its representatives from the Services, the BBC and Iry and the provincial newspapers cannot do is to sit in judgment on newspaper men. Only the Press Council can do that.

So, when the editor of the Daily Mirror announced on Friday his resignation from the committee, the reason given was that a meeting to discuss the dispute between Whitehall and the Daily Express would be in his opinion a 'gross abuse' of its functions. Coming from the redoubtable Mirror, the hooker in the Socialist pack, this was a real hack by Lee Howard on the shins of Harold Wilson. As it was, of course, this resignation greatly helped Mr Heath who had asked for, only to have it refused, a com- mittee of Privy Councillors. So by Friday night, Mr Wilson had changed his mind and was tell- ing the leader of the Opposition that he had asked Lord Radcliffe to chair a committee of the kind he had proposed. Mr Wilson had also, it is fair to point out, shifted his charge against the Express from 'inaccurate' and 'a clear breach of two D Notices' to 'a breach of the long- standing D Notice convention' and then to 'a breach of the whole D Notice procedure.'

Now we can sit back for a fortnight—or can we?—while the doyen of inquirers, assisted by two former Ministers of Defence. Lloyd and Shinwell, conduct their probe. They will pre- sumably be told whether Mr Pincher's infor- mant had any grounds for believing that security men were regularly vetting cables; why the Ministry of Defence did not simply deny Pincher's story when it was put to them (if it was indeed 'inaccurate'); whether the practice of forty years is still sound; and whether Whitehall is really worried about security—that is, about military secrets—or only about some adminis- trative irregularity which Parliament might make much of.

For this is what the press as a whole suspects: that nothing new has been told the enemy but that ministers have been caused embarrassment. Many readers probably think this whole affair is a storm in a teacup, the newspapers strik- ing attitudes, editors seeking martyrdom. They should think back a little to Profumo, Vassall, Crabbe and the other cases in which press and opposition took the cat-o'-nine-tails to the government and flayed and flayed. To put it crudely, the newspapers smell blood; and Mr Heath, just like Mr Crossman in the Profumo case, is playing it with quiet subtlety. When I heard that Lord Radcliffe had been asked to head the probe, I could hardly believe my ears: 'the word is like a knell.'

Let us not, however, be mealy-mouthed; let us see the Minister's point of view. The Express headline and reports that Tuesday morning were sensational; the suggestion that we are in dan- ger of becoming 'serfs' is ridiculous; the news- papers cannot afford to be quite so sancti- monious about the right to publish after their secretive handling of their own affairs. A government cannot operate without intelli- gence; and intelligence must sometimes be secured in devious ways. It is the purpose of the Defence Notices Committee to see that representative journalists understand this and help in drafting advice—it is no more than advice—to their colleagues. If any newspaper wantonly disregards this advice, it not only in- vites action under the Official Secrets Act but is making life difficult for other newspapers. This suggestion, implicit in Mr Wilson's original accusation in the House, is what the Daily Express wants to be cleared of.

The Express, which is making the most of the Affair, had the charming idea on Friday of ask- ing Mr Macmillan (whose back is scarred with the cat-o'-nine-tails aforesaid) for his comment: Note what he said, for it is a gem to be mounted

on black velvet: 'I suspect the Prime Minister has been a bit slippery on his one.'

After the debates and arguments of recent weeks, here are the newspaper advertising figures for last month. Shown first is the amount of advertising (in columns) in January; then the drop from the same month last year in columns; finally the percentage fall.

cols. minus

% fall Daily Telegraph 2,685

402 13

Daily Mirror 1,311

119 8 Daily Express 995 274

22

Guardian 1,058 206 16 Financial Times 1,242 (+3)

Daily Mail 941 256 21

The Times 1,076

67 6

Daily Sketch 631

171 21

Sun 496

153 24 I think they speak for themselves.