BRITAIN WILL NOT DISARM TO PLEASE RUSSIA

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 22852, 24 January 1949, Page 5

BRITAIN WILL NOT DISARM TO PLEASE RUSSIA

(9 a.m.) LONDON, Jan. 23. “Russia would like this country completely disarmed. It would make their job so much easier. Therefore, they use their friends in this country to run this propaganda in the hope that this Government will reduce armaments, but it will not,” the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Stafford Cripps, told Communist hecklers at a meeting in Bristol.

Asked why Britain was trading with Spain, Sir Stafford asked: “We want steel and food, don’t we?” He continued: “I know enough about Russia not to want to ape Russian policy, but you have never had a Government which has done more to introduce true socialism than this one.”

Answering a questioner who objected to the expenditure on the monarchy, Sir Stafford said: “Our monarchy is probably the cheapest form of titular head of any Government. If you have a president it is just as expensive, only in a different way whether it was in Russia or anywhere. Personally, I prefer constitutional monarchy to politically elected presidents." Sir Stafford issued a warning that in Britain’s present economic situation too many people adopted a “soup kitchen outlook —what can I get out of it?” He said that in the next four years there was no prospect of Britain not having to export as much as now, but the tremendous strides made in the last years showed that “we are adopting the right policies.” 'He continued: “If we continue these policies we have every chance in three or four years of reaching complete independence.”