“PUT THE LID ON IT”

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20826, 3 July 1942, Page 5

“PUT THE LID ON IT”

MEMBER’S SUGGESTION DUKE AS ARMY HEAD (3 p.m.) LONDON, July 1. Sir John Wardlaw-Milne, in the House of Commons, in asking for. the co-ordination of the three services tinder a single commander, added: “I think it would be a most desirable move, if the King and His Royal Highness agree, that the Duke of Gloucester ' should be appointed commander-in-chief of the British Army.”' This raised an enormous outburst of laughter, amid which an Opposition mfeniber shouted: ‘That has put the lid on it.” Sir John tried to continue, but was not heard amid the continued laughter and jeering. , The Speaker finally restored order. , Sir John added that it was clear /that' the serious disasters of the last few months and the last few years were due to the fundamental difficulty in the central administration of the war. The man claiming credit for the successes, if any, must bear the responsibility for the defeats. “What is wrong with our plane strategy and production which places us in this inferior position?” he asked. “Two years ago it could rightly be said that we had no equipment because the nation had not prepared, but the excuse will not hold water to-day because the country is turning out great quantities of munitions and aeroplanes and a great range of guns.”