The Norway Debate

(This post was written in advance because of everything else that's currently going on.)

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.)

Over two days the House of Commons engaged in a debate that began on the details of the recent failures of the Norway campaign but soon became a more general forum for discussing and attacking the way the way the war was being fought. Many a famous quote comes from that time, but the most famous of all was that of Leo Amery (right). Amery had a reputation as an incredibly boring speaker, perhaps on a par with Geoffrey Howe, so many MPs were undoubtedly relieved when his speech clashed with dinner. But like Howe fifty years later, Amery rose to the occasion, climaxing with these words:

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.)

What is little known is that Lloyd George was seemingly inspired by a cartoon printed that day in the Daily Express likening the debate to that very scenario.

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:

• Day One: May 7 1940
• Day Two: May 8 1940

There was also a shorter, and far less well-known, debate in the House of Lords on the same subject on May 8 1940.

Words to say to Speaker Martin

There are two quotations from parliamentary history that should not be used lightly but the present circumstances demand it. First the words of another Speaker on his role and speaking from the chair:

I have neither eyes to see nor tongue to speak in this place but as the House is pleased to direct me, whose servant I am here.

(William Lenthall to Charles I in 1642.)

And the great words said twice when the nation needed leadership:

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!

(Originally said by Oliver Cromwell to the Rump Parliament when dissolving it; then said by Leo Amery during the Norway Debate of 1940.)

Shock of the week

It's incredibly rare for the Liberal Democrats to ever deliver a good joke - normally they're too busy being total jokes - but the prize this week must go to Vincent Cable, not normally the most dynamic even by Lib Dem standards. But whatever else he may do, it seems he will be remembered for this Leo Amery moment:

And because of that, it seems this is how we'll remember Gordon Brown:

So will "The House has noticed the Prime Minister’s remarkable transformation in the past few weeks from Stalin to Mr Bean" go down in history with this line from the Norway Debate of 1940: "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!"?