Outcry over Poland
Headline: Today in Parliament - there was an outcry in the House of Commons this evening when Mr Greenwood asked the Prime Minister why Britain was not standing by Poland.
The Commons began an emergency sitting at 3.00pm when a full house of members and ministers attended this special session on the crisis. It was not until a 7.45pm that the Prime Minister entered the chamber to loud cheering.
'... bound to take action unless German forces are withdrawn ...'
Anxiously awaiting news of the developments since yesterday, members were told by Mr Chamberlain that the warning message read to the House yesterday was delivered to Herr von Ribbentrop at 9.30pm last night. There has still been no reply.
Mr Chamberlain assured the House that His Majesty's Government would be bound to take action unless German forces are withdrawn from Polish territory. He also drew attention to the vital question of the time limit to be observed within which the German forces would be allowed to withdraw from Poland. The Government, he said, were in communication with the French Government over this.
'If the German Government should agree to withdraw their forces, then His Majesty's Government would be willing to regard the position as being the same as it was before the German forces crossed the Polish frontier.'
Mr Chamberlain went on to announce that yesterday the Reichstag passed a law reuniting Danzig with the Reich. His Majesty's Government, he said, refused to recognise this act which was a flagrant violation of the League of Nation's protection of the Free City and the rights given to Poland in Danzig, by treaty.
There were loud cheers when Mr Greenwood, the acting leader of the opposition rose to reply to cries of, 'What about Britain?' and, 'Speak for the working classes!' The whole House, he said, was perturbed by Mr Chamberlain's statement. An end to the incessant strain was sought by all quarters.
Cries of 'Now!' accompanied this remark, and Mr Greenwood concluded by saying: 'I hope, therefore, that tomorrow morning, however hard it may be to the Right Honourable Gentleman - and no one would care to be in his shoes tonight - we shall know the mind of the British Government, and that there shall be no more devices for dragging out what has been dragged out too long. The moment we look like weakening, at that moment dictatorship knows we are beaten. We are not beaten; we shall not be beaten; we cannot be beaten.'
In reply Mr Chamberlain hoped that despite the difficult position the Government was in tonight, his statement earlier did not betray the slightest weakening.
'It is very possible that the communications which we have had with the French Government will receive a reply... in the course of the next few hours. I understand that the French cabinet is in session at this moment and I feel certain that I shall be able to make to the House a statement of a definite character tomorrow when the House meets again.'
The earlier business in the Commons today was to debate the several bills dealing with the Emergency Provisions for Personal Injury and National Health Insurance and Contributory Pensions. The first and longest debate this morning was the National Health Service (Armed Forces) Bill, which will make all fit males, aged 18 to 40 liable to be called up. After several objections to the lowering of the minimum age to 18 had been heard, the Bill was given a Government majority of seven votes in its first reading.
[*Reports taken from BBC news bulletins, and a range of daily newspapers]
Published: 2001-09-01
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