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THIS DOCUMENT IS T H E PROPERTY OF H I S BRITANNIC M A J E S T V S
Printed
for the War Cabinet.
GOVERNMENT
December 1 9 4 1 .
SECRET.
Copy No.
W.M. (41) ,
126th Conclusions.
TO
BE
K E P T
U N D E R
LOCK
A N D
KEY.
It is requested that special care may be taken to
ensure the secrecy of this document.
W A R CABINET 126 ( 4 1 ) .
CONCLUSIONS
of a Meeting of the War Cabinet held at 1 0 Downing
S.W.1, on Wednesday, December 1 0 , 1 9 4 1 , at 6 P . M .
Street,
Present:
The Right Hon. W I N S T O N S. C H U R C H I L L , M.P., Prime Minister (in the Chair).
The Right Hon. C R. A T T L E E , M.P., The Right Hon. Sir J O H N A N D E R S O N ,
M.P., Lord President of the Council.
Lord Privy Seal.
The
Right Hon. L O R D B E A V E R B R O O K ,
The Right Hon. A . G R E E N W O O D , M.P.,
Minister
of Supply.
Minister without Portfolio.
The Right Hon. Sir K I N G S L E Y W O O D , The Right Hon. E R N E S T B E V I N , M.P.,
Minister of Labour and National
M.P., Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Service.
The following were also present:
The Right Hon. Sir E A R L E P A G E ,
Special Envoy from the Government
of the Commonwealth of Australia.
The Right Hon. H E R B E R T M O R R I S O N , The Right Hon. V I S C O U N T C R A N B O R N E ,
M.P., Secretary of State for the Home
Secretary of State for Dominion
Department and Minister of Home
Affairs.
Security.
The Right Hon. L . S. A M E R Y , M.P., The Right Hon. L O R D M O Y N E , SecreSecretary of State for India and
tary of State for the Colonies.
Secretary of State for Burma.
The Right Hon. A. V . A L E X A N D E R , Captain the Right Hon. H. D.
M.P., First Lord of the Admiralty.
M A R G E S S O N , M.P., Secretary of State
for War.
The Right Hon. Sir A R C H I B A L D The Right Hon. T H O M A S J O H N S T O N ,
SINCLAIR,
Bt., M.P., Secretary of
M.P., Secretary of State for Scotland
State for Air.
(Items 4 - 5 ) .
The Right Hon. R. S. H U D S O N , M.P., The Right Hon. L O R D L E A T H E R S ,
Minister
of
Agriculture and
Minister of Transport (Item 3 ) .
Fisheries (Items 4 - 5 ) .
The Right Hon. B R E N D A N B R A C K E N , The Right Hon. H U G H D A L T O N , M.P.,
Minister of Economic
Warfare
M.P., Minister of Information.
(item 3 ) .
Mr. R I C H A R D L A W , M.P., Parliamentary Sir O R M E S A R G E N T , Deputy Under­
Secretary of State, Foreign Office
Under-Secretary of State, Foreign
(Items 1 - 3 ) .
Office (Items 1 - 3 ) .
Secretariat.
Sir
Mr.
Mr.
[23251]
EDWARD
W.
L. F.
D.
BRIDGES.
WILKINSON.
BURGIS.
B
44
WAR CABINET 126 (41).
CONTENTS.
Minute
No.
Subject.
1
General Military Situation
2
The Far East ....
3
Shipping
Page.
215
....
....
....
215
215
S p a n i s h p r o p o s a l t o a c q u i r e 3 0 0 , 0 0 0 t o n s of F r e n c h s h i p p i n g .
4
Man-Power
....
....
....
....
....
....
....
216
....
....
216
C a l l - u p of a g r i c u l t u r a l w o r k e r s .
5
Parliament
....
....
....
P o s i t i o n of M . P . ' s u n d e r t h e N a t i o n a l S e r v i c e A c t s .
6
Ireland
217
7
Wages and Cost of Living ....
217
General
Military
Situation.
- 1. The Prime Minister referred to the grievous loss which we
had sustained by the sinking of H.M.S. Prince of Wales afldf
H.M.S. Repulse.
The loss of these two ships; coming on the top of the disaster
which the Americans had sustained at Pearl Harbour, entirely;
changed the balance of naval forces in the Pacific. Until the
position could be brought round, we should have to suffer considbr^
able inconveniences; our shipping would be exposed td enemy
attack, and we might have to take a lot of punishment in this area.
There-Were Other important developments in the general war
situation. First, the United States was now in the war with us.
Secondly^ there Was no doubt that the German armies had suffered
a serious defeat on the Russian f r o n t - a defeat which, if the
Russians Were able to exploit it, might have very important conse­
quences. Thirdly, so far as the battle in Libya was concerned, we
could now say that the tide had definitely turned in our favour and
that Tobruk had been relieved. These developments far outweighed
the immediate consequences of the position in the Far East, serious
as they were.
The Prime Minister said that he proposed to make a statement
in Parliament on the general situation on the following day, in the
course of Which he would announce the change which had been made
in the Command of the Eighth Army in the Western Desert.
s
1
(Previous Bef erence: W ; M . (41) 125th Conclusions, M i n u t e 3.) The War Cabinet took note of these statements.
The Far East.
(Previous
Reference:
W . M . (41) 1 2 5 t h
Conclusions,
M i n u t e 1.)
2. Further discussion took place on certain aspects of the
situation in the Far East, and is recorded in the Secretary's
Standard File of War Cabinet Conclusions.
Shipping.
3 The War Cabinet had before them a Memorandum by the
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (W.P. (41) 295) setting out
the conditions on which, in the view of the Ministers concerned,
British approval might be given to a scheme for the transfer to the
Spanish flag of 300,000 tons of French shipping now idle in the
Mediterranean. It was most unlikely that the Spanish and Vichy
French authorities would agree to all these conditions. The
Spaniards had, however, asked for our views, and a draft telegram
to His Majesty s Ambassador at Madrid was annexed to the
Memorandum.
Spanish pro­
posal t o acquire
3 0 0 , 0 0 0 t o n s of
French ,
shipping.
1
The War C a b i n e t ­
(1) Approved the despatch of the draft telegram annexed to
W.P. (41)295.
(2) Authorised the Ministers concerned to agree to some
measure of modification in the conditions proposed, at
their discretion, provided that they were fully satisfied
that the resulting deal would be ih our interest;
[23251] Man-Power.
C a l l - u p of
Agricultural
Workers.
(Previous
Reference:
W . M . (41) 2 l s t
Conclusions,
M i n u t e 5.)
4. The War Cabinet had before them Memoranda by the Lord
President of the Council (W.P. (G) (41) 147) and the Minister of
Supply (W.P. (G) (41) 146).
The question at issue was whether 7,000 agricultural workers
should now be called up for service in the Armed Forces. These
formed part of a total of 22,000 men whom it had been agreed
should be taken from agriculture into the Services during 1941, but
whose call-up had been deferred.
In discussion, the following points were made :—
(i) The Minister of Agriculture andFisheries referred to the
large number of men which agriculture had already
contributed to the Armed Forces. How could the
industry be expected to give increased production in
1942 with fewer men ?
m
e
n
(ii) The Secretary of State for Scotland said that Scottish
agriculture was already short of 4,000 skilled men. It
was impossible to make another 1,500 men available for
the forces and at the same time bring under cultivation
another 200,000 acres.
(iii) The Minister of Labour and National Service asked the
War Cabinet not to disturb the balance of the man­
power plan, which had been devised with great difficulty.
Agriculture had retained more men under 25 than any
other industry in proportion to its numbers.
(iv) The Prime Minister thought that the 7,000 men ought to
be called up. This was not a large contribution. But
its withholding would expose the agricultural industry
to reproach that it had held back its young men in the
hour of their country's direst need.
(v) Reference was made to the difficulties experienced in
getting in the harvest owing to shortage of labour and
to the fact that certain crops (e.g., sugar-beet) had not
yet all been lifted. It was agreed that, subject to the
exigencies of the military situation, the Army authori­
ties would have to give help on a big scale at harvest
time.
After further discussion, the War Cabinet—
Agreed that the 7,000 men should be called up, without
further deferment.
Parliament.
P o s i t i o n of
M.P.'s under
t h e National
S e r v i c e A c t s .
(Previous
References:
W . M . (39) 2 8 t h
Conclusions,
M i n u t e 12, a n d
W . M . (40) 1 9 0 t h
Conclusions,' '
M i n u t e 3.) ,
5. The War Cabinet were informed that the position of
Members of Parliament under the National Service Acts had been
raised in the House of Commons that afternoon.
The Minister of Labour and National Service said that he had
informed the House that the position of M.P.'s under the National
Service Bill (No. 2) was precisely the same as under the existing
National Service Acts. He had been asked to give a firm under­
taking that he would not use his powers to give directions to M.P.'s.
He had replied that he thought the matter should be dealt with
independently of this Bill (which did not change the position in this
matter) and should be raised with the Prime Minister. Two new
Clauses dealing with this matter had been put down and would
probably be discussed when consideration of the Bill was resumed
in the House on the following day.
The Prime Minister referred to the decisions on this matter
which had been reached in the last war and at the beginning of the
present war, and which had been reaffirmed rather more than a year
217
W.M. 126 (41)'.
ago. The principle governing the practice in this matter should,
he thought, be that M.P.'s were liable under the National Service
Acts and that it would be undesirable to confer statutory exemp­
tion. But every M.P., besides his duties as a citizen, owed service
to the Legislature It must be left to each Member to settle whether
he would devote himself wholly to service as a Member of the
Legislature, or whether he would undertake some other form of
National Service. Furthermore, if an M.P. decided that he would
take service in the Armed Forces of the Crown, he should be
allowed, if he so desired, at a later date to change his option and to
be released from further military service, provided, of course, that
reasonable notice was given.
The War C a b i n e t Expressed general agreement with these views, and took
note that the Prime Minister would deal with the matter
on the following day, in answer to a Private Notice
Question. *
Iceland.
(Previous
Eef erence:
W . M . (41) 1 2 5 t h
Conclusions,
M i n u t e 2.)
6. The War Cabinet were informed that a telegram had now
been received from our High Commissioner in Dublin stating that
Mr. de Valera invited the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs
to pay a visit to Dublin. The visit should be attended with,as little
publicity as possible.
,
The Secretary of State for Dominion, Affairs said that from
the terms of the telegram it appeared that what Mr. de Valera had
to tell him was not of some change in Eire's attitude, but rather the
reasons why he did not see his way to make any change at the
present time.
The War C a b i n e t Thought that it was nevertheless desirable that the
Dominions Secretary should accept this invitation, and
authorised him to proceed accordingly.
7. The War Cabinet had before them a Memorandum by the
Wages and
Cost of Living. Lord President of the Council (W.P. (G) (41) 149).
This Memorandum explained that the policy of price stabili­
sation set out in the White Paper (Cmd. 2694) had hitherto been
maintained. But, besides the award! made by the Agricultural
Wages Board of a national minimum wage of 60s. a week to
agricultural workers, claims for substantial wage increases by the
engineers and shipbuilders were now being heard by the National
Arbitration Tribunal. Negotiations were also proceeding on a
claim by the railwaymen. If these claims resulted in substantial
increases in wage rates over a wide field, the policy of price
stabilisation would be seriously jeopardised. Nevertheless, the
Lord Presidents Committee had been satisfied that it would be
difficult for the Government to make any new declaration of policy
while applications to the Arbitration Tribunal were still sub judice.
They thought, however, that it should be our aim to be ready with
a new wages policy to arrest the inflationary process, and that this
should be applied as soon as the present wage cycle had! been
completed, and, in any event, before next year's Budget was
introduced.
In discussion, the view was expressed that there was no
certainty that there would be any clear dividing line'between the
end of one wage cycle and the beginning of another. It was
essential that the position should be tackled! before the inflationary
*' See Annex.
tendency got out of control. No room should be left for growth of
the feeling of discontent which already existed in the Forces at the
high rates of pay of munition workers.
The suggestion was made that the Government should at once
state publicly that they proposed to announce a new wages policy
as soon as the cases now being heard by the National Arbitration
Tribunal had been disposed of. The view was, however, expressed
that this step was premature until decisions had been reached as to
the new policy to be adopted. Emphasis was also laid on the
undesirability of taking action which would be interpreted as an
attempt to interfere with the hearing of the claims now before the
Tribunal.
After further discussion, the War Cabinet—,
Endorsed the Conclusions of the Lord Presidents Com­
mittee, on the understanding that proposals for dealing
with the matter would be submitted to the War Cabinet
as quickly as possible, with a view to a new statement of
policy being announced as soon as the cases now before the
Arbitration Tribunal had been disposed of.
Great George Street, S.W. 1,
December 10, 1941.
ANNEX.
House of Commons, December 11, 1941 (Hansard, Column 1696).
National Service
Acts.
(Members of Parliament.)
Sir P. Harris (by Private Notice) asked the Prime Minister whether he has
any statement to make about the position of Members of Parliament under the
National Service Acts ?
The Prime Minister (Mr. Churchill): Yes, Sir. I am glad to take this
opportunity of explaining the position of Members of Parliament under the
National Service Acts.
In the view of His Majesty's Government, it would not be appropriate to
confer on Members of Parliament a statutory exemption from the obligations
which they share in common with everyone else. Members of Parliament have,
however, also the high duty of service in the Legislature, and they must them­
selves be the judges of how that duty can best be performed. They are therefore
given a free choice by virtue of their position as Members of Parliament and not
as a favour. This was the position in the last war, and has always been
maintained in the present war. Furthermore, if a Member of Parliament joins
the Armed Forces of the Crown, and later decides that he wishes to devote his
whole time to Parliamentary duties, arrangements are made for his release from
military service for that purpose, provided, of course, that reasonable notice is
given to arrange for his relief.
Considering the very large number of Members serving with the Forces, and
the many questions that may arise in the combining and reconciling of their
duties, it is very satisfactory that there has been so little difficulty in practice.
MfffT SECRET -
NO PECULATION.
W,M, ( 4 1 ) Igftth CONCLUSIONS.
(10th. December, 1 9 4 1 , 6 n.m.)
*
THE PRIME MINISTER s a i d t h a t h e had r e c e i v e d a
r e p l y from P r e s i d e n t R o o s e v e l t about h i s p r o p o s e d
v i s i t t o the United S t a t e s , suggesting that he
s h o u l d go e a r l y i n January and s h o u l d meet him a t
one o f
t h e West I n d i a n i s l a n d s .
M i n i s t e r ) was n o t s a t i s f i e d ,
He ( t h e Prime
and t h o u g h t t h a t
it
was important t h a t t h e v i s i t s h o u l d t a k e p l a c e a t a
much s o o n e r d a t e , a l t h o u g h i t was i m m a t e r i a l t o him
where t h e v i s i t took p l a c e .
in this
He had s e n t a message
sense.
SIR EARLE PAGE s a i d t h a t , i f t h e v i s i t was
p o s t p o n e d , i t might b e d e s i r a b l e t h a t t h e F i r s t
Sea Lord s h o u l d go a t o n c e t o t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s
i n o r d e r t o c o n c e r t an a g r e e d s t r a t e g i c p o l i c y w i t h
t h e Americans .
THE PRIME MINISTER p o i n t e d o u t t h a t Admiral
L i t t l e , our Naval R e p r e s e n t a t i v e o n t h e J o i n t
Staff
M i s s i o n , was i n c l o s e t o u c h w i t h Admiral S t a r k .
But i n any c a s e h e was h o p i n g t h a t h i s v i s i t would
take p l a c e i n the near f u t u r e .
COPY
1 0 Downing
Street.
7th February,
1942.
Dear Speed,
The P r i m e M i n i s t e r h a s b e e n c o n s u l t e d a s t o
w h e t h e r i t i s n e c e s s a r y Hiat a n y s t e p s s h o u l d b e t a k e n t o
make known - e . g . b y Q u e s t i o n a n d A n s w e r i n t h e House ­
t h e r u l i n g w h i c h h e g a v e i n t h e c a s e o f a Member o f
Parliament s e r v i n g i n the R.A,F.V.R., namely, that such
a n O f f i c e r s h o u l d n o t b e p o s t e d a b r o a d i f , i n h i s own
o p i n i o n , s e r v i c e o v e r s e a s would c o n f l i c t w i t h h i s duty
to h i s constituents.
The P r i m e M i n i s t e r ' s v i e w i s t h a t a Member's
f i r s t d u t y i s t o t h e H o u s e o f Commons, and e v e n t h o u g h
h e may h a v e e n t e r e d o n e o f t h e S e r v i c e s he may a p p l y f o r
r e l i e f and when t h i s c a n b e c o n v e n i e n t l y e f f e c t e d h e c a n
r e t u r n t o G r e a t B r i t a i n f o r h i s P a r l i a m e n t a r y work.
He w o u l d n o t t h e r e b y b e d e b a r r e d f r o m t a k i n g up o t h e r
work w i t h t h e F o r c e s , i f s u c h work w e r e t h o u g h t u s e f u l
t o the p u b l i c .
I t f o l l o w s f r o m t h i s t h a t i f a Member
who h a s b e e n d o i n g u s e f u l w o r k w i t h t h e F o r c e s a t home
and has combined t h i s work w i t h h i s P a r l i a m e n t a r y d u t i e s ,
b e l o n g s t o a u n i t w h i c h i s o r d e r e d a b r o a d , he s h o u l d b e
a l l o w e d t o t r a n s f e r and n o t b e f o r c e d t o r e s i g n u n l e s s
t h e r e i s no o t h e r u s e f u l w o r k t h a t he c o u l d do a t home.
These c a s e s , however, should be r a r e , and i t ought t o
be p o s s i b l e , i n the Prime M i n i s t e r ^ v i e w , to p r e v e n t
them r e a c h i n g a p o i n t a t w h i c h any d i f f i c u l t y a r i s e s
through a c o n f l i c t o f d u t i e s .
He t h e r e f o r e d o e s n o t
regard i t as n e c e s s a r y t h a t t h e r e should be any p u b l i c
announcement o f the r u l i n g g i v e n i n t h i s p a r t i c u l a r
case.
The o n l y a c t i o n w h i c h i s b e i n g t a k e n i s t o s e n d
c o p i e s o f t h i s n o t e t o the P r i v a t e S e c r e t a r i e s o f the
three Service Ministers.
Mr. C h u r c h i l l p r o p o s e s t h a t ,
i f t h e M i n i s t e r s h a v e no c o m m e n t s , t h e s c h e m e s h o u l d b e
operated forthwith.
C o u l d y o u p l e a s e l e t me know i f
your S e c r e t a r y o f S t a t e agrees?
E. B . B . S p e e d , E s q . ,
War O f f i c e .
Similar l e t t e r s
to:-
R.H. M e l v i l l e , E s q . ,
Air Ministry,
CS, Jarrett, Esq.,
ADMIRALTY.
M. C. ,
Yours
sincerely,
(Sgd.)
J.M. MARTIN.