PRESS REACTIONS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 123, 26 May 1944, Page 5

PRESS REACTIONS

MR. CHURCHILL'S SPEECH

(Special P.A. Correspondent.) Rec. 11.15 a.m. . LONDON, May 25.

The reactions to Mr. Winston Churchill's speech on foreign policy in the House of Commons would appear to be rather mixed. "The Times," after reviewing with approval various points which the Prime Minister made, comments that it was "primarily European in scope— a restriction justified not only by the present critical hour in the European war, but also by the peculiar position which Europe must occupy in any future scheme of security." The "Daily Telegraph" says it "will do or ought to do two things, namely, show what is the touchstone of our relations with other countries and show our soldiers what they are fighting for." The "Daily- Express" is satisfied, saying, "No one can say, after his masterly survey, that Mr. Churchill lacks a policy," which it sees as (1) to win the war in such a thorough fashion that the military power of Germany and Japan will no longer be a constraint on the free expression of the will of mankind; (2) develop the British Empire from the core of the agreement revealed at the conference of its Prime Ministers; (3) set up a new world assembly purged of the weaknesses of the old League of Nations and based not on the balance of power, but on unity of power of the great nations. PRAISE OF FRANCO. The "News Chronicle" sees the speech as "a survey full of confidence" and says that Mr. Churchill had "some useful things to say on world organisation." It adds that several passages will require very critical scrutiny and that Mr. Churchill went a long way out of his way to praise General Franco. "He even deemed it worth his while to jibe twice at those who still have memories long enough to remember how that great Christian gentleman brought in hirelings of Fascism to use the bloody fields of Spain as a practice ground against the democratic Spanish people." It is on this question of General Franco that the "Daily Herald" fastened, saying: "The most remarkable feature of the speech was the flattering and almost fulsome tone of the references to the rulers of Spain. He talks of the Franco Government as if it had been for years past a warm and considerate friend of the United Nations, always on the Uook-out for some way of doing democracy a good turn. General Franco's blatant gestures of sympathy with Hitler are not to be forgotten." The "Daily Herald" finds "striking contradictions" in regard to Mr. Churchill's views on Spain and Italy, and asks why he made the strange remark, "As the war progresses it becomes less ideological in character." It also inquires, "Was it in order to influence those who find it hard to forget the ideological excesses of Franco, or was it the Premier's excuse for his hesitation to express in more than the vaguest outline a British view on the future shape of international organisation?" "CURIOUSLY UNSATISFACTORY." The "Manchester Guardian" says that the speech was "full of illumination and information, but for all that was curiously unsatisfactory. It threw important light on the British view of the future of world organisation, but so far as it exhibited an immediate policy it was one entirely of expediency. The ordinary man, it is to be feared, will scratch his head when he tries to find a common thread running through Mr. Churchill's references to Turkey, Spain, Greece, Yugoslavia, and Poland, and above all to France." On. Mr. Churchill's suggestion that the war has become less ideological, the "Guardian" says: "It would be interesting to have the thesis developed, for most of us would rather have thought the contrary to be true —that while Russia may have become more tolerant the rest of Europe has moved towards the Left, the results of which can be seen in Yugoslavia, in the Greek forces in Italy, and most clearly in France. But here a blind spot occurs; except in France, the Allies have not in the long run stood obstinately against the trend. Towards France apparently Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Hull dictate a policy of coldness which is not justified by the evidence and; is in itself politically dangerous. It is hard to believe that Mr. Churchill's heart was in the laboured phrases with which he attempted to justify our refusal to recognise the French National Committee as the provisional Government."

The "Daily Mail" thinks Mr. Churchill is taking a common-sense view with Spain, but that the reason for not recognising the provisional French Government is unconvincing, and says it is hard to see how any recognition of the committee would prejudice any subsequent wishes of the French people.