Seventy years ago today began what is undoubtedly the most famous parliamentary debate of the twentieth century - the so-called Norway Debate. (Technically the debate was on the motion "That this House do now adjourn" and the title in Hansard is "Conduct of the War" but "the Norway Debate" is the title everyone remembers.)
I have quoted certain words of Oliver Cromwell. I will quote certain other words. I do it with great reluctance, because I am speaking of those who are old friends and associates of mine, but they are words which, I think, are applicable to the present situation. This is what Cromwell said to the Long Parliament when he thought it was no longer fit to conduct the affairs of the nation: "You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go."(The full speech in Hansard.)
There were many other dramatic moments that day, ranging from Portsmouth North MP Admiral of the Fleet Sir Roger Keyes making a speech in full uniform, with six rows of medals, to David Lloyd George making his final great speech in the House where he said to Churchill:
The right hon. Gentleman must not allow himself to be converted into an air-raid shelter to keep the splinters from hitting his colleagues.(The full speech in Hansard.)
At the end of the debate a division was forced and no less than thirty-nine MPs voted against their own government. After a series of political manoeuvrings over the next two days Neville Chamberlain resigned as Prime Minister, to be succeeded by Winston Churchill.
Something I've not seen in easy circulation is the full list of government rebels so here it is:
Conservatives – 33
- Leo Amery – Birmingham, Sparkbrook
- William Anstruther-Gray – Lanarkshire, Northern
- Nancy Astor – Plymouth, Sutton
- Robert Boothby – Aberdeenshire and Kincardineshire, Eastern
- Robert Bower – Yorkshire (North Riding), Cleveland
- Henry Burton – Suffolk (West), Sudbury
- Duff Cooper – Westminster, St George's
- Somerset de Chair – Norfolk, South-Western
- Herbert Duggan – Middlesex, Acton
- Paul Emrys-Evans – Derbyshire, Southern
- Ralph Glyn – Berkshire, Abingdon
- Derrick Gunston – Gloucestershire, Thornbury
- Samuel Hammersley – Willesden, East
- Quintin Hogg – Oxford
- Edward Herbert Keeling – Middlesex, Twickenham
- Hamilton William Kerr – Oldham
- Roger Keyes – Portsmouth, North
- Richard Law – Kingston-upon-Hull, South-West
- Harold Macmillan – Stockton-on-Tees
- John Macnamara – Essex, Chelmsford
- Hugh Molson – Derbyshire, High Peak
- Godfrey Nicholson – Surrey, Farnham
- Colin Patrick – Devon, Tavistock
- John Profumo – Northamptonshire, Kettering
- Stuart Russell – Lancashire, Darwen
- Edward Louis Spears – Carlisle
- Mavis Tate – Somerset, Frome
- Charles Taylor – Sussex (East), Eastbourne
- Ronald Tree – Leicestershire, Harborough
- Earl Winterton – Sussex (West), Horsham and Worthing
- Roy Wise – Smethwick
- Viscount Wolmer – Hampshire, Aldershot
- John Allan Cecil Wright – Birmingham, Erdington
Liberal Nationals – 4
- Herbert Walter Butcher – Lincolnshire and Rutlandshire, Holland-with-Boston
- James Henderson Stewart – Fife, Eastern
- Leslie Hore-Belisha – Plymouth, Devonport
- Frank Medlicott – Norfolk, Eastern
National Labour – 2
- Stephen King-Hall – Lancashire, Ormskirk
- Harold Nicolson – Leicester, West
(The numbers of rebels varies accross sources, mainly because many writers have repeated contemporary errors. But this is the full list of rebels.)
For those who want to read the whole debate this is now possible thanks to Hansard 1803-2005:
There was also a shorter, and far less well-known, debate in the House of Lords on the same subject on May 8 1940.
