COMMUNISTS IN BRITAIN

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25447, 19 March 1948, Page 7

COMMUNISTS IN BRITAIN

42 LABOUR MEMBERS OBJECT TO PURGE (Rec. 8 p.m.) "LONDON, March 18. Forty-two Labour members of the House of Commons have revolted against the security purge of Communists and Fascists in Government departments. The political correspondent of the “Daily Express” says that they have tabled a motion in the House condemning the purge as “a departure from the principles of democracy and civil liberty,” and that they are pressing for an emergency debate.

Signatures are also being sought for a motion requiring the setting up of an appeal tribunal for displaced civil servants, but as Mr Attlee has promised to consider this point, the motion is not likely to be tabled. During the defence debate in the House of Lords, Lord Hankey suggested that Britain and the Dominions should study “the horrible disease of Communism” together. He said that friends from the Dominions had told him that Britain was fortunate to be less affected by Communism than the Dominions. Trie Minister of Civil Aviation (Lord Nathan) said that Brittain was building up her defence forces on conventional lines to meet any sudden threat, but the Government was ready to switch them to counter any development of scientific warfare.