The Director General observed that the Minister had laid down that the policy of the Department is a long term policy. He had assented to proposals which would take 14 months to mature, and the Ministry should intensify the efforts which it was already making in every possible direction.
At the present moment it seemed important to meet the propaganda situation by collecting examples of exploits of our Forces and making them as widely known as we could. D.D.G. stated that permission had been given for us to use General MacFarlane's material, although he himself had not been allowed to broadcast. We were still fighting the decision that serving officers should not broadcast and it was reported that the Minister was taking this up with the Secretary of State for War.
D.D.G. reported that there was a complaint from the French that the scheme for assisting evacuees had apparently fallen through. He thought that the Treasury were unwilling to make the necessary grant because a concrete scheme was not forthcoming. It was pointed out that the Treasury had agreed, in principle, and the matter had been left as a Foreign Office responsibility.
It was finally agreed to instruct Messrs. Townroe and Brenan to get into touch immediately with the Foreign Office in order to find out the difficulty and report on it.
[ OEPEC. £25000. 30/5.]
2.
ACTION AGAINST POSSIBLE ANTI-FRENCH FEELING
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Lord Perth referred to a conversation with M. Bret, in which the latter had expressed himself disturbed at evidence of an outbreak of anti-French feeling. Lord Perth thought the Minister's remarks the night before had gone a long way to counteract this but he thought it important that instructions should be given to Regional Officers and speakers to emphasise that there should be no recrimination of any sort. It was noted that Mr. Harold Nicolson would broadcast to the Empire that afternoon and mention the same subject.
Mr. Macadam said it was more than ever necessary to get two or three prominent Frenchmen over here to speak. Our arrangements for this were in abeyance since the intensification of the war. Lord Perth undertook to take the matter up with M. Bret.
[3.]
Discussion then took place on the part the Ministry might now play in relation to France. Mr. Kirkpatrick said that he thought our action must depend on the success or the reverse of the French in the next phase. If they succeeded in resisting we should have no difficulty in making a good campaign. If not, we could do very little. The Director General thought it important to make the French realise our intention to fight on until we win. We should renew our efforts to make our intentions plain and to show the French what we are doing. Possible methods were discussed. It was noted that the Minister was asking the Prime Minister to broadcast to France and to approach M. Reynaud to broadcast to this country. Mr. Wellington asked for evidence of production and of hard work. This was very difficult to get. Mr. Francis said that photographs showing mass production were generally stopped. Sir Kenneth Clark said this was also true of films. Each photographer required nine different permits and nevertheless they were frequently prevented from doing their work and even arrested. There was moreover some indication that the Ministry of Supply Press Officers resented our attempts to get facilities.
After further discussion it was generally agreed that the Ministry's difficulties should be placed before the Cabinet. We should request other Departments to adopt a new line towards publicity and propaganda, & to pay attention to our requests. We should also endeavour to arrange for a permit which would be valid for all occasions, and it was suggested that Mr. Wills should be approached in order to help by getting the Press to nominate 50 to 100 men who might be given the fullest credentials which would be generally recognised as valid all over the country. Mr. Ryan suggested that we might be able to deal with one industry at a time, co-ordinating the Press, B.B.C., films, etc. He thought we should approach Lord Beaverbrook about aircraft production and this might be done immediately while other plans were being matured. Sir Kenneth Clark undertook to take these matters in hand with the assistance of Messrs. Macadam, Francis and Sevan.
[4.]
3.
POINTS RAISED IN DEBATE YESTERDAY
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The Director General referred to Mr. Noel-Baker's remark that the film “Pastor Hall” was only a pale reflection of what actually took place and that the truth should be impressed on the public more strongly. Sir Kenneth Clark considered that the public would scarcely tolerate a stronger film on the subject and in this connection Mr. Francis referred to complaints that the present issue of “Picture Post” was too horrific.
Lord Davidson suggested that this type of propaganda should only be adopted if accompanied by some positive message. The positive message was required in all our present activities and in particular he thought a personal message from the Minister, to be distributed at large in the country, might be very valuable. He had in mind a leaflet with a distribution of about ten million (possibly weekly), containing specific practical points.
Mr. Harold Nicolson welcomed Lord Davidson's suggestions. He said that his Emergency Committee were concentrating on presenting to the public what is now happening in France and would be glad if others could take up the longer term issues such as Lord Davidson had in mind. Sir Kenneth Clark said that the Emergency Committee had concluded that exhortation was no good but that instructions were required. The difficulty was to
