Mr. Peake referred to the present situation. It appeared that the French Overseas possessions might continue to fight, and in this case we should have to concentrate on supplying them with news and encouragement from this country which will no longer be available to them from France. We had about 20 Consular representatives in French dependencies, and it should be possible to use them as centres from which material could be disseminated. He thought that possibly they might be supplied with short wave sets. Mr. Kirkpatrick thought that providing we could settle the line to be adopted the mechanics would be easy. He thought that our chief effort should be to keep the French pride alive. Lord Perth agreed, and added that we should lose no opportunity of making it clear that England had not let France down.
The Minister observed that the present situation was very difficult, but it might be clarified in a few days. So long as we can hope to get any good out of the French Government we must not criticise it. He cited the difficulties which had arisen in connection with General de Gaulle's broadcast of the day before yesterday and his wish to repeat the broadcast yesterday. The Cabinet had agreed to the former after some hesitation, but had refused the latter because yesterday the French Cabinet appeared to be stiffening. The Minister thought in general that we should give the largest possible broadcasting time for French interests. Mr. Wellington said that from the B.B.C. point of view everything was ready. There was already a great deal of material suitable for France, and every French dependency received a news bulletin from here in French at least once a day. It would now be necessary to decide how much time we should cut from our Home Service in order to assist the French. Mr. Peake observed that it would be desirable to extend our monitoring system to take account of news issued from France under German control. The question of Havas was raised. It was noted that Havas might succeed in transferring its organisation more or less intact to North Africa, or it might pass entirely into German hands. The situations in the two cases would be entirely different. If the latter took place we should have to try to get a service through from here. In the discussion it was noted that Reuters might have to assist us, but great importance was attached to preserving the identity of the Havas Service in order to carry out the policy of doing all we can to
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maintain French institutions. It was mentioned that Lord Cranbourne, who was now assisting the Ministry, could act as liaison officer with the Foreign Office in these matters
The Director General raised the question of the Belgian Congo. It was thought that the Belgians would take their cue from the French. It was, however, possible that some of the Belgian military forces might march into Kenya if the Congo surrendered to the Germans.
2.
DELEGATION OF POWERS TO REGIONAL COMMISSIONERS
The Deputy Secretary reported that the question had been raised of the delegation of powers by the Secretary of State to the Regional Commissioners in the event of decentralisation The powers which concerned us were censorship powers, and he had consulted with Mr. Radcliffe and Mr. Herbert, who had no objections to offer to the delegation of these powers; in fact this step had always been expected. The Minister agreed
Mr. Ogilvie enquired whether in this event the Regional Commissioners assumed control of all local transmitters. In the discussion which followed it became clear that the exact position of the Civil Defence Executives, the Commander-in-Chief Home Forces and the Civil Defence Commissioners, under various possible emergencies was not entirely clear. The Deputy Secretary offered to enquire from Sir Findlater Stewart what the precise powers of the Civil Defence Executive were, and to call a sub-committee of the B.B.C. Security Committee to meet to define for the broadcasting authorities what their action should be and from whom they should take orders in various circumstances.
In answer to Mr. Nicolson, the Deputy Secretary said that the security of the Radio Relaying stations had been discussed at the B.B.C. Security Committee. It had been noted that there were about 280,000 relay subscribers, and that interference with these stations might cause serious trouble. It had been suggested that the Relaying Companies should not continue unless they could satisfy some authority, probably the Chief Constable, that they maintained continuous control over their distributing centre. The G.P.O. had also suggested control by means of monitoring the Relay Companies tie-lines.
3. “
IF INVASION COMES
“
The Deputy Secretary referred to a passage in this pamphlet which directed the public that no instructions would be given by means of broadcasting. The B.B.C. feared that this passage might cast some doubt on the reliability of the B.B.C. news as a whole. General Sir Hugh Elles was to broadcast this afternoon on the pamphlet, and it was suggested that he might include a passage designed to remove doubts in the public mind. The Minister thought that the message to be conveyed to the public was that in the event of invasion it is hoped that the B.B.C. will continue to broadcast news and decisions as they do at present, but that executive instructions to the public that they should move, etc., would not be given by means of broadcasting. Mr. Ogilvie asked that the passage in Sir Hugh Elles's speech dealing with this matter should be examined with great care.
4. “
LETTER FROM AN AIRMAN
“
The Minister thought this letter was invaluable, and enquired whether it could not be used in the U.S.A., the Dominions and Colonies and elsewhere. It was suggested that
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copies should be got out to clergymen (40,000) before Sunday: that we should consider distribution widely through Regional Information Officers: that we should ask the British Library of Information in New York to get it published: that we should endeavour to interest American correspondents in London in it: and that we should try to get its publication in the Dominions and Colonies. Reference was made to a possible reply by His Majesty, but no decision was taken as to any action in the matter. It was noted that we should consider getting permission for the letter to be printed as if signed.
5.
RECORDING OF SPEECHES MADE IN THE HOUSE
Mr. Ogilvie referred to a recent conversation with the Prime Minister, from which it had appeared that the Prime Minister had not previously understood that the B.B.C. had hoped for a record of his speech made in the House. Mr. Tree undertook to ask the Speaker what steps should be taken to get the permission of the House for such recordings to take place. The use of the record could be made subject to any restrictions we liked to impose, e.g. consent of the speaker, Policy Committee or Cabinet.
6.
PROPAGANDA IN B.B.C. PROGRAMMES
Mr. Ryan reported that between 1½-2 hours of the 15 hours of the B.B.C. programmes was now devoted to direct propaganda. The headings in order of importance were as follows: France: Food: A.R.P.: Defence: Savings: Morale: explanatory matter: “off subjects”. The two points of criticism which emerged were that the programmes were thought to be too didactic and gloomy. It was also suggested that the Dominions and Colonies should receive more attention.
DECISIONS
MEMBER CONCERNED
1. That Sir Findlater Stewart should be asked what the precise powers of the (Civil) Home Defence Executive were.
Deputy Secretary
2. That the Speaker should be asked what steps were necessary to get the permission of the House for recordings of speeches to be taken.
