General Election, 23 October 1951
Home Park Football Ground
(Car Park)
PLYMOUTH.
SYNOPSIS OF PLYMOUTH SPEECH
Britain's three big tasks:-
1. To make her defences sure, and play proper
part in world organisation of peace.
2. To export enough to pay for the food and raw
materials our 50 million people must have.
3. To maintain our living standards and social
services.
All this calls for the encouragement of
enterprise. Unless we produce more we fail. The spirit
of adventure - Drake today would still by trying to get a
permit or a priority. He would be in the queue, not on the
latter.
Fortunately we are not alone. Importance of
Empire (See attached Note A.)
Special part that home agriculture can play
(see attached Note B.)
NOTE A.
EMPIRE
The surest hope for world peace and for our own
survival as a great Power lies in the unity, strength and
progress of the British Empire and Commonwealth of Nations.
We have unbounded faith in its destiny. A Conservative
Government will work to improve all the machinery for consult-
ation and action in our great family of nations. There are
within the Empire untapped economic resources which should be
developed for the good of all. We intend, should we be called
upon to form a Government, to invite both the Dominions and the
Colonies to an imperial economic conference. We will also
discuss with them better methods of co-operation in the military
sphere. Much would be gained by the establishment of a
Commonwealth Defence Council, a combined staff and the standard-
isation of equipment, organisation and training.
You will have seen that in our election manifesto
we pledged ourselves to retain Imperial Preference and uphold
the right to grant and receive such preferences as are mutually
agreed with Empire countries. It is our firm determination
that the Empire producer shall have a place in our home market
second only to the home producer.
Now I would like to say a word about the position of
our home producer. (see Note B on Agriculture).
NOTE B.
AGRICULTURE
If we are to close the yawning gap between what we
earn by our exports and the services we render, and what we have
to pay for our imports, we must at all costs increase the amount
of food we grow at home. A Conservative Government would aim
at raising home production from our soil to at least half as
much again as we produced before the war. The Socialist party
are taking to themselves all the credit for the present system
of guaranteed prices and assured markets for farmers, but these
were introduced during the War by a Conservative Minister of
Agriculture and their continuation in time of peace was agreed
to by all parties in the National Government, of which I was
the head, and which rested on a solid Conservative majority.
Of course a Conservative Government will continue this system
of guarantees. But a price guarantee loses much of its worth
when the value of money falls continually. Guaranteed prices are fixed
each Spring, but before the year is over many farmers find that
their costs have increased owing to rising prices. I am
told that already this year alone the farming industry is faced
with a £20 million bill because of the increases it has had to
pay for the things it needs to carry on. Farmers therefore in
common with the rest of the country will realise how important
it is to return to honest money. That is the first step that
a Conservative Government will take to help the farmers.
We shall also be concerned to restore fertility to
the idle acres on our hill and upland farms. We still have
much marginal land which could be brought into cultivation.
To help farmers to buy fertilisers would be a
good investment. We need more machinery on the land, and our
manufacturers would be able to do more to meet this need if
they were given an adequate allocation of steel.
In this part of the country you do not need me to
remind you of the importance of horticulture, an industry which
produces one-sixth of the total value of our home grown produce.
The Government have exhorted
urged horticulturists to increase their
output.
but they have left them in continual doubt as to whether
they would find the market flooded by foreign imports The
Conservative party will protect British horticulture
them from
foreign dumping.
We will do the same for the fishing industry. There
is room for improvement in our methods of marketing and distribut-
ing, but nationalisation, as we have seen everywhere it has been
tried, will not lead either to greater efficiency or to lower
prices. Much better results both for the grower and for the
consumer will be achieved if producers and merchants, encouraged
by the Government, work together to extend and improve the well-
tried system of voluntary and statutory marketing boards.
I would add one final word before I leave this
subject of farming. At the 1945 general election nationalisa-
tion of the land figured in the election manifesto of the
Socialist party. This time they are very careful to keep the
idea out of sight. But that does not mean that it has been
thrown overboard. It remains their intention, and I have no
doubt that it would be carried out by a Socialist Government
that was able to secure a working majority.
BALANCE OF PAYMENTS
We are now facing yet another balance of payments
crisis. These crises always follow the same pattern. First,
the Government say how splendidly we are doing and then figures
are published, and we find that we have spent abroad far more
then we have earned.
The Conservative Party in the House of Commons
warned the Government that the relief afforded by devaluation
could by only temporary and that if any permanent advantage
was to come of it, they must cut
control Government expenditure, and
make a determined attack on inflation. Now we are facing a
balance of payments deficit which even at the most optimistic estimate
cannot now be less that £400 million for the year 1951. The
Government appear to think that the crisis will solve itself
while they make speeches, but only a complete reversal of the
financial and economic policies of the last six years can save
us. We have tried restrictions on imports, exchange control,
devaluation. What about trying, for a change, economy in
Government expenditure and a new releasing
e of the productive energies
of the British people?
General Election - Plymouth. 23.10.51.
Home Park Football Ground
Car park
I am always glad to come to the West Country
and here we hv the candidates for
Totnes, Tavistock, Bodmin, Sutton,
and as you will understand
last but not least to me
Devonport.
The H/C will be the richer
for the return or arrival
of these capable, earnest
and patriotic members.
Let us ram them all home with a run.
We can do it if we try.
The P.M in his Broadcast
dilated upon the increase
of industrial production
and improvements in National Health
tt hv taken place
in the 6 years since the War.
"The health of the Nation is better,"
he says,
"than ever before.
"People are living longer.
"Many fewer babies are dying
than ever before."
He claims tt the credit for this
is due to the action of his Govt.
But this is not ture
true.
The advance in productivity
and in physical conditions
is not due to socialism;
it is Science not socialism
tt has the honour
of whatever has bn achieved.
Every day seince
science
is bestowing in an ever widening flow
upon mankind
more material benefits
than in any other period
ever known.
All the machinery and electric power
and improved methods of production
tt are at work,
are not the results of politics.
It was not the Soc Pty
tt discovered Penicillin.
M and B
- that marvellous healer -
does not stand for Morrison and Bevan.
It was not the Socs
who made possible the tireless advance
in medicine and surgery.
On the contrary
it wd be more true to say
tt the dose we hv had of Socialism
has hampered and restricted
the progress of science,
and reduced the benefits
wh the whole Nation might hv gained
fm the tremendous conquest
of natural forces
wh is now being made
all over the world,
and wh,
if world peace can be maintained,
and I believe it can, be,
may open to the whole human race
an age of prosperity
beyond their brightest hopes.
One fifth of our industries
hv bn nationalized.
This is the part
which is lagging behind.
Our export trade
by which we live,
and the vast mass of our production
which pays its way,
is made by the other four-fifths
on which Socialism has not yet laid
its clumsy partisan and rigid grip.
The free enterprise four-fifths
pays for the Soc. errors
and yet has enough so far
to keep us going
by a narrow margin alive
The Socs hv no more right
to claim the credit
for the technical advance
of this age of science
than they hv
for maintaining employment.
Both are the result
of world causes,
and 2,000 million pounds in gifts and loans
fm the capitalist U.S.
A far richer harvest
wd hv bn reaped
by our hard-working people
if they had not bn hampered
by doctrinaire experiments,
misguided planning,
and astonishing financial mismanagement
and waste.
Of course everyone can say
especially at election time,
how much better we shd hv done it
than the other chaps.
But if the electors take a calm and sober view
of how and where we stand this afternoon
at home and in the world,
surely there wd be vy few who wd not feel
tt things wd be much better
in Persia and Egypt
if Mr. Eden had bn at the F.O.
for the last 2
few years;
and I think the housewives
and the Old Age Pensioners
and others living on fixed incomes,
might well feel the pressure upon them
was a good deal less
if Lord Woolton
had bn looking after our food supplies
and if some check had bn imposed
upon the wild extravagance
w wh our limited finances
hv bn dispersed.
The Cons and Nat. Libs
come before the electors
as a united Party.
In fact we are at once
the least rigidly
formally disciplined
and the only united Party.
We seek to preserve
the old dignity of a member of the H of C
wh Edmund Burke asserts
ed
in his former
famous speeches.
For 16 years
my friend, Mr Eden, and I,
whether in or out of office,
hv worked together in close accord
and on all the gt and changing issues
of the foreign situation,
whether before, during or since the war.
We hv measured the Brit position
in relation alike
to our Allies and other countries
w the same sense of values
and the same guiding purpose.
As I said at the Albert Hall a year ago,
"Mr Eden will carry on the torch
of Tory democracy
when other and older hands
hv let it fall"
Mr Eden's recent visit to the U.S.
was most helpful to our country.
It did a lot
to repair the damage
to Anglo-American harmony
wh had bn caused
and is being caused
by the constant attacks and criticisms
of Mr. Bevan and Mr. Harold Wilson,
the Dribergs, the Silvermans and
the Foots -
I hope that is grammar!
Nothing cd be worse for our country
and nothing cd be more injurious
to the cause of world peace
than for Mr Attlee to be returned,
dependent upon a sham reconciliation
betw the main body of the Soc Pty
and the powerful and turbulent
Left-Wing forces
whom Mr. Bevan represents,
and who,
as he says
are looking forward
to the "luxury of a quarrel".
The whole process
of growing unity and confidence
betw us and the gt Republic
across the Atlantic Ocean
wd be weakened.
and our power to influence
the course of American policy
might be seriously impaired.
I do not hesitate to say
tt such a situation
wd be prejudicial to the growing hopes
of reaching a good working arrangement
w Soviet Russia,
by negotiation
based upon the patient growing strength
and living concord
of the free world.
This is not the time
when we can afford
either to weaken American comradeship
or still more
to lose our influence upon American thought
based upon confidence and goodwill.
I must now refer to a personal issue.
The Socialists somewhat shamefacedly,
and the Communists brazenly,
make the charge
tt I am a war monger.
and tt shd the Cons. Pty
gain a majority on Thursday
the chances of a World War
will be increased.
This is a cruel
and ungrateful accusation.
It is the opposite of the truth.
If I remain in public life
at this juncture
it is because,
rightly or wrongly, but sincerely,
I believe tt I may be able
to make an important contribution
to the prevention of a Third World War,
and to the bringing nearer
tt lasting peace settlement
wh the masses of the people of ev race
and in ev land
fervently desire.
I pray indeed
tt I may hv this opportunity.
It is the last prize I hv
seek to win.
I hv bn blessed
w so much good fortune
throughout my long life,
and I am treated
w so much kindn
by my fellow countrymen
far outside the ranks of Pty.
and indeed also in the United.States. and in Europe,
tt all the daydreams of my youth
are satisfied
have been surpassed.
It is therefore
w a single purpose
and a strong sense of duty
tt I remain at my post
as Leader of the Cons. Pty
through these baffling
and anxious years.
I applied the word "ungrateful"
a moment ago
to the slander
by wh some of our opponents
hope to gain advantage.
I think it is the right word to use.
It is quite true
tt at a very dark moment in our history
I was called upon
to take the lead
for more than 5 years of awful war,
and tt I did my best
until victory was won.
But tt tt shd be made the ground
as Mr. Shinwell suggests for saying
tt I want to hv a Third World War
to show off my talents,
is base and
shabby and mean beyond compare.
Trusting as I do
to the sense of justice and fairplay
which inspires the Brit. race,
I am sure tt these taunts and insults
will recoil upon the heads
of those who make them.
We shall not hv very much longer
to wait
before we shall see what is
the Brit. answer to tt
is to all that.
Now I leave the personal question
and am only sorry
to hv had to burden you w it.
But the charge is also made
tt the expected return
of a Cons. Govt on Thursday next
will increase the likelihood
of a world war.
This is also false,
and also ungrateful.
Mr Attlee's Govt
in their 6 years of power
hv taken many grave steps
for national and international defence.
They hv introduced conscription
in time of peace.
They hv taken part
in a whole system of alliances
to resist a possible aggression
by Soviet Russia.
They now call upon us
to spend 5,000 millions
in 3 years,
on rearmament upon a vast scale.
In all this
the Cons Pty hv given them
their effective support.
We now know
what were the adverse forces at work
inside the Soc Pty.
They came into the light of day
when Mr. Bevan and his colleagues resigned,
and received much prominence
by the election of Mr. Bevan
and his supporters
to the head of the Soc. Executive
at the Scarborough Conference.
Is it not ungrateful as well as untruthful
to turn upon those
upon whose aid the Govt. hv depended,
and accuse them of
wishing to bring about another war?
But there is one particular instance
to which I must draw your attention.
Mr. Attlee's Govt.
hv agreed to the establishment
of an enormous American air base
in our Eastern Counties,
which cd hv no other purpose
than to bring home the threat
of atomic war,
as a deterrent to Russian aggression.
Again we supported them.
I must however say
tt no more formidable step
has bn taken in time of peace
by any Govt. tt I can remember,
nor one tt wd be more certain
to put us in the front line
shd war come.
Is it not disgraceful
tt they shd accuse us
of being war-minded
because we hv supported them in this
as in other measures of defence
on patriotic grounds?
We can easily see
what they wd hv done
had the positions bn reversed
and we bn responsible
for proposing such measures.
We hv only to look at Mr. Attlee's
and Mr. Morrison's conduct
before the late war
in resisting every measure of
rearmament
and even in voting agst conscription
a few months before the outbreak.
And then they talked
spoke of Mr Chamberlain just as
about "Guilty men"!
We ought to be proud
tt our Pty record
bears no such stain.
But the fact
tt because we hv acted fairly by them
in these gt matters of national safety,
and tt they shd new seek
to make shameful capital
out of our support,
reaches a lower level
than anything so far recorded
in the public life
of modern times.
India
There is one subject
w wh I must deal
though it is not in any way
an issue at this election.
Several Soc. speakers hv suggested
tt if I had bn returned
at the 1945 Election
we shd hv bn involved in War
w the peoples of India.
This is quite untrue.
I and my Cons. colleagues
were all pledged
to the granting to India
of Dominion status
carrying w it
the right to secede
fm the Brit. Emp. and Commonwealth.
The only question open
was how this transference of power
was to be made.
Mr. Attlee so conducted the process
tt 5 hundred thousand innocent human beings
were slaughtered in the Punjab alone
and at least 2 or 3 hundred thousand more
in other parts of the vast Indian
peninsula.
There is to say
3 or 4 times as many lives
were destroyed
by violent and avoidable butchery in India
than were lost by the whole
Brit. Emp. in the Second World War.
Im
I am astonished tt this shd be treated
as a mere incident
in the progress of Oriental
liberation and self-Government.
I am sure tt it wd hv bn possible
to maintain law and order in India
as we did in the face of the armed revolt
of the Congress Pty
at the time of the threat
attempted
of Japanese invasion
without any serious diffi-
culty;
or bloodshed
and tt a c
Constituent a
Assembly
far more representative
of all the real forces of Indian life
than the Congress Pty
cd hv shaped an Indian constitution
and transfered the power
to the new rulers of India.
in an orderly manner
without any serious loss of human life.
This I count is arguable,
but statements to the contrary
are mere assertions.
The vast human tragedy
which occurred in the process
of handing over
is a fact for which I thank God
I had no responsibility.
I cannot leave this question
without saying
tt what has bn done in Idia India
is irrevocable.
It can no more be reversed
than we can bring back fm the grave
the myriads who hv perished.
The Cons. Pty wishes
the new India, Pakistan and Ceylon
all success in their future,
and will
we shall show them
all friendship and goodwill.
But the burden wh rests
upon the Soc. Govt.
for the frightful catastrophe of slaughter
is one wh only history can measure.
The Soc Govt's responsibility
is not tt of a criminal
who throws a train off the line
by sabotage,
but rather that of a signalman
who has pulled the levers
in the wrong way
or in the wrong order,
and thus caused the disaster.
While we debate and brawl
demonstrate & argue among ourselves here at home
events are moving all over the world.
One must not suppose
tt resistance to lawless outrages
contrary to Treaty or other obligations
by Powers morally and physically
not in the first rank,
raise the issues of a World War.
A Third World War cd only come
if the Soviet Govt
calculated or miscalculated their chances
of an ultimate victory
and fell upon us all
in violent
in ferocious aggression.
That is why
I am hopeful about the future.
If I were a Soviet Commissar
in the Kremlin tonight
looking at the scene
fm their point of view
I think I shd be inclined
to hv a friendly talk
w the leaders of the free world
and see if something cd not be arranged
wh enables us all to live together
quietly
for another generation.
Who can look beyond that?
However
I hv not been chosen
as a Soviet Commissar, -
nor for any other office tt I can think of!
There or here!
But what I cannot understand
is how any of the leaders
of Soviet Russia or the United States
or here in Britain or France
or in United Europe or anywhere else
cd possibly imagine
tt their interests cd be bettered
by having an unlimited series
of frightful immeasurable explosions.
For another World War
wd not be like the Crusades
or the dramatic
romantic struggles
we hv known in the past
read about in former centuries.
It wd be nothing less
than a wholesale massacre of human beings
whether in uniform or out of uniform
by the hideous forces of perverted science.
Science,
wh now offers us a Golden Age, with mankind
offers at the same time
w the other hand
the doom of all tt we hv built up
inch by inch
since the Stone Age.
My faith is in the high progressive destiny
of man.
I do not believe we are to be flung back
into abyssmal darkness
by those gleaming
fearsome discoveries
wh human genius has made.
Let us make sure
tt they are our servants
but not our masters.
Let us hold fast to the three supreme purposes.
The freedom of the individual man
in an ordered society;
a world organization
to prevent bloody quarrels betw nations
by the rule of law;
and for ourselves
who hv played so gt a part
in what I called 'our finest hour',
to keep our own50 millions alive in a small
island
at the high level of progressive civilization
wh they hv attained.
Those are the 3 goals.
To reach them
we hv first to regain our independence
financially, economically and morally.
If we are to play our part
in the greater affairs
of the free world
we hv to gather around us
our Empire and the states of the Brit.
Commonwealth
and bind them
ever more closely together.
We hv to give our hand
generously, wholeheartedly,
to our Allies across the Atlantic Ocean,
upon whose strength and wisdom
the salvation of the world
at this moment may well depend.
Joined w them in fraternal association,
drawn and held together
by our common language
and our joint inheritance
of literature and custom,
we may save ourselves
and save the world.
We support the Govt's belated policy
of firmness in Egypt.
If we become responsible
we sh go on w it
firmly and resolutely.
But if even 6 months ago
they had taken the advice
I gave in Parlt,
and approached the problems of the Mid. East
on the 3-Power or 4-Power basis,
as they hv now at last done,
how differently might all the Persian
and Egyptian situations
hv bn unravelled.
We are no longer strong enough ourselves alone
to protect the rule of law
in these important regions.
That was the reason
why I thought we shd much earlier
hv tried to bring the U.S.
into our Middle Eastern problems.
I hv used every channel open to me
to impress upon our American friends
how much more important
what is happening in the Middle East is
to the cause of world peace
even than the stern struggle
wh is still open
on the Peninsula
promontory of Korea.
I am sure tt if even 6 months ago
Britain, the U.S., and France,
w Turkey by all means,
had developed a united policy
in regard to Persia, Iraq, Egypt, Palestine and Syria,
none of the present unsolved embarrassments
wd hv arisen.
Without any question of world war
for the free nations,
no needless loss and humiliation
wd hv bn inflicted upon John Bull.
We readily admit
recognise the difficulties and tangles
of the Middle Eastern scene.
No doubt the murder of the Persian P.M.
was a disastrous surprise
for the Brit. Govt,
but a wider and more far-seeing view
wd hv brought into action
at an earlier stage
these larger groupings
wh now all are working for,
and through wh much better solutions for all,
including the Persians and the Egyptians,
might hv bn,
and may still be
achieved.
We are now at the final stage
in this fateful election.
Whatever happens on Thursday
we must all hope
tt we get a stable solid Govt
and get out of this exhausting
and distracting electioneering atmosphere,
where all the forces
of 2 gt Pty machines
hv to go on working
in every street
and in every village
week after week,
to try to range the Brit people
in opposing ranks.
This is indeed a crisis in our island story.
Never before in peace time
did we have so much need to judge policy
on the merits
and act in the true interests
of our country,
and of its Empire
and Commonwealth of Nations.
To go like we hv
for the last 2 years or so
20 months
w .....a Govt struggling
to keep its head above water
fm day to day
and thinking of its Party chances
and of an election
wh might
wh may come at any moment,
is to give
all tt is strong and noble and resurgent
in Britain
the heaviest load to carry
and the hardest battle to win.
It is not my fault,
nor indeed is it Mr. Attlee's entirely,
tt we hv had this prolonged period
of uncertainty.
He had a majority of 6
7 at the last election.
The burden fell on him and on his Party.
It is indeed remarkable
tt under these conditions
we hv not fallen lower
more.
But we hv only to go on indefinitely
absorbed in our Party quarrels
to use up so much of our vitality
and are
to be written down so low
much
in world repute.
tt our influence upon events
may well become almost negligible.
Terrible decisions
tt wd immediately affect
our whole lives
may be taken by others
at a time
when we seem to count
little more
than many of the smaller States of Europe
whom we liberated
after the gt struggle.
We cannot afford to go on like this.
Here now is the main point I make to you
and indeed to all Parties.
Bear in mind tt we ought to hv
a strong and stable Govt
resting on a majority
tt can uphold
the responsibilities and burdens of Britain
in the world
for 3 or 4 years at least.
The other point
wh I submit to you
for your judgement and your vote
is whether it is not time for a change?
Ought there not to be
an approach to world problems
and home problems
fm a new angle,
a new point of view?
The Govt is wearied and worn out.
Its leading Ministers
hv borne nearly 12 years of stress.
They hv no message to give.
Their principal figures,
the late Mr. Bevin and Sir Stafford Cripps,
are no longer on the scene.
Let me say how glad I am
to see the recovery of health
tt Sir S. Cripps is making.
And in this mood
let me tell you
how much I look forward to the time
when this loud clatter and turmoil
of Party strife
dies down for a spell
and gives us a good, long, steady period
in wh the opposing Parties
may be able to see
some of each other's virtues
instead of harping
on each other's faults.
The Brit people are good all through.
We face the same toils and perils.
We share many of the same desires and anxieties.
We are in many ways
more truly one nation
than can be found
the wide world over
o'er.
Let us rise to our full height
above class and party interests,
and guard w growing comradeship and
brotherhood
the land of hope and glory
we all love so well.