I EMPHASISE the word that is the theme of my remarks,
namely, deterrent.' In the most impressive speech he has made for many a day. Sir Winston Churchill saw two results from the invention of the H-bomb : that Britain depends for her safety on its deterrent power; and that the possession of this power spells 'by a process of sublime irony' not only horror With Sir Winston's view there has turned out to be a remark- ably wide range of agreement. The Opposition censure motion concentrated upon the need for a reorganisation of the con- ventional defence forces : on the nuclear implications of the Government's policy, despite Mr. Bevan's anxiety and the fifty-seven Labour abstentions, there was little dispute.
The disagreement that remains concerns conventional weapons; and although Sir Winston very properly stressed the need for them, to counter an Opposition whim that we can now rely on nuclear power alone, his justification of past con- ventional-weapon policy was the least convincing part of his speech. It is hard to understand why the Government should set so much store upon keeping face in this matter. If it is granted that conventional weapons are necessary—and we believe that they are—it is also necessary that they, should be effective. Merely to pretend that they are effective could be justified only if the pretence were calculated to delude enemies and to comfort friends; but this would depend upon the Government's ability to keep the cupboard-full of military skeletons (the 'Swift' is the latest addition to them) locked.
It has not been kept locked. Fighters whose guns cannot be fired, aircraft carriers without strike aircraft—these stories are common property; and everybody knows that Civil Defence has been a painful joke. The right way to still criticism is not to keep up the pretence, not to continue to make silly claims, but frankly to admit past deficiencies, and to explain what is being done to remedy them. to an enemy as a squad of Fred Karno's Army. If a con- ventional weapon policy is still needed—and, for reasons that should be too obvious to require restatement, it is—it must be. realistic.
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