THE LASKI EPISODE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21754, 2 July 1945, Page 3

THE LASKI EPISODE

BRITISH PREMIER

MR. ATTLEE’S POSITION (10 a.m.) LONDON. July 1. "This may be the last time I shall address you through this .medium as Prime Minister. That rests with you,” Mr. Winston Churchill told listeners when broadcasting last night from Chequers in the final speech of the series of political addresses. "I am convinced I can help you through the dangers and difficulties of the next few ( years with more advantage than others. I am ready to try my best and await your answer not with pride or thirst for power—for what have I to gain or lose, after all that has happened and all you have done for me? —I await your answer with confidence.”

Speaking of the Laski episode, Mr. Churchill said Professor Laski had shown himself the master of forces too strong for Mr. Attlee to challenge by effective counter-action.

“Professor Laski is still chairman of the Socialist executive. No vote of suspension, censure or even deprecation has yet been passed upon him,” he said. “It appears that thjs Socialist executive committee possesses power over-* the Socialist Ministers of a most far-reaching character, and that it would decide the action a Socialist Government must take on any particular question. This means, for instance, that in foreign affairs, when some difficult question has to be discussed, secrets might have to be divulged to this committee of 27 members.

“This might apply to any disputed question which arises in conjunction with the war against Japan. Such arrangements strike at the root of our Parliamentary institutions. If they continue unabated, they will mean one of the gravest changes in constitutional history of England.” Future Possibilities. Drawing attention to the possibility that Labour might become the largest party in the House of Commons but not have a working majority, Mr. Churchill pointed out that they would have to rely on the Sinclair Liberals, which meant a weak, unstable Government based on an unhealthy compromise between men whose overwhelming aim was to hold office. “Failure by Great Britain to produce a strong, coherent, resolute Government, supported toy a substantial and solid majority, would alter the entire balance not only of tortured Europe but of the whole world,” he added. “We, if the country dissolves into faction party politics, shall cease to fill the place won for us by our policy and victories. 1 The world, without our effective aid, may again go astray. Without our influence on other nations we should lose the confidence won during the war from the self-governing Dominions of our commonwealth. We might in an incredibly short space of time fall into the ranks of a secondary Power. I have confidence that Britain will believe in the instinctive wisdom of our welltried democracy. lam sure the country’s decision will vindicate the hopes of our friends in every land and enable us to march in the vanguard of the United Nations.”

Mr. Churchill told listeners he was profoundly moved by the kindness and confidence with which he was received during his recent tour. He praised the magnificent part British women had.played in the total war, and said a Royal Commission was at present sitting on equal pay for equal ft'ork between men and women. “I trust the new Parliament will establish in an effective manner the principle of complete equality of women in industry and before the law,” he said.

Up to Saturday night 61 tons of ?eneral election ballot papers had left Britain in ~ aircraft of the R.A.F< Transport Command for army, navy and air force units in all theatres of war, says the Air Ministry.