Fortified with the 163-vote majority rolled up in defeating the Laborite motion of censure last night, the British Government looked ahead confidently today to whatever obstacles still lay in the path of enforcing the Palestine land act.
The Government victory climaxed a debate aptly described by former Colonial Secretary Leopold S. Amery, Conservative, as “melancholy.” The 292 Government supporters, mustered up by a three-line whip, trooped into the division lobby at 11 p.m. although hardly a handful were present during the debate.
Because of the reluctance of a number of Government supporters, regardless of the strength of their feelings on the Palestine issue, to do anything which might be considered as weakening the Government, the result was a foregone conclusion.
Only a few Conservatives, including Major Victor Cazalet and Amery, defied the whip and voted for the motion, which obtained 129 votes. First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill, who had bitterly attacked the White Paper policy on Palestine in the debate last May, was conspicuously absent, leaving the House immediately after question time.
Secure in its majority, the Government spokesmen made hardly any effort to refute the Opposition charges that the land regulations were discriminatory against the Jews, were incompatible with the League Mandate, would be harmful to Palestine economically and otherwise, and that the Government procedure had flouted the League.
The House was moved by the speech of D.L. Lipson, Independent Conservative, who said that as a British Jew he could not but express repugnance for the regulations but was voting for the Government because it was the duty of Jews everywhere to support the British cause in the fight against Hitlerism.
Col. Josiah Wedgwood, Laborite, assailed the Government for introducing Hitler’s blood and soil principles in Palestine, while other speakers warned of the reaction in America and other neutral countries where the belief would be spread that Britain as well as Hitler sacrifices small nations and disregards obligations when convenient.
Winding up the attack, Sir William Jowitt offered to withdraw the motion if the Government agreed to ask the Hague Court or the Privy Council for an advisory ruling on whether the White Paper policy was compatible with the Mandate.
On behalf of the Government, Sir Donald Sommervell rejected the offer, declaring the Government was confident that the policy was consistent with the Mandate and was not prepared to take a step indicating doubt or hesitation.
Sir Arthur Grenfell Wauchope, former Palestine High Commissioner, was among the spectators in the House during the early part of the debate.
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