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SECRET
EXECUTIVE BOARD
Tuesday June 17th, 1941

I should like my colleagues to consider this paper which I have prepared as a basis for discussion. It claims no more than to express my thoughts which the events of the last fortnight have crystallised.

1. It is clear that a critical moment has arrived in the history of the M.O.I. and that the decision reached in the Battle of the News will be of the greatest importance.

2. It is not perhaps sufficiently appreciated however that the Battle of the News is taking place on a comparatively narrow front, albeit in the open under the glare of press publicity, and under the ever-present eye of the Minister and the D.G.

3. The Ministry however is being attacked on two other fronts, i.e. the Home Publicity front and the Overseas Propaganda front.

These fronts are isolated geographically and the troops seldom see the Minister or D.G. and have not been included in inspections by Royal and other distinguished visitors.

4. It is essential that the Battle of the Ministry should be fought and won on the broad front of principle all along the line.

5. I have no direct responsibility for the News or Overseas Fronts, but I have definite responsibilities for the conduct of operations on the Home Publicity front, on which ground has been taken and retaken as the battle has swayed to and fro since the day when, on February 3rd, 1940, the M.O.I. took its stand on the Treasury letter which said:-

“We agree therefore that the cost of publicity schemes undertaken on behalf of other Departments should be borne by you (the M.O.I.) as an ‘allied service’ on the understanding that the total cost of any departmental campaign will first be agreed between the Ministry and the principal Department, and secondly be approved by the Treasury. The effect of this will be to give the Ministry the final decision after consulting the Department as to the form of publicity to be adopted.”

6. Things did not go badly for us until Mr. Pick became D.G. and Chairman of the Home Planning Committee. His appointment synchronised with the change of Government, and the inclusion of Labour and Liberal Ministers in key positions in the Government.

7. Then began the spate of appointments of D.P.Rs. in Government Departments, who, in Departments such as Home Security, Transport, Labour and Food act as publicity and advertising experts responsible to the Minister, in fact as a cross between an Impresario and a Chef de Protocol.

8. Without reference to this Ministry, the D.P.Rs. formed themselves into a Committee to discuss Government publicity schemes and plans, departmental and national.

9. Without reference to the M.O.I. the D.P.R's Committee created an Industrial Publicity Committee manned by the D.P.Rs. of the appropriate Departments, e.g. Labour, Supply etc.

10. The creation of the two Committees (8) and (9) above may or may not have been inevitable, but there is no doubt the process was greatly accelerated by the action of the Ministry during Mr. Pick's time of refusing repeatedly to conduct campaigns for Departments, only to reverse its own decision under pressure three or four weeks later, with consequent delay and cumulative criticism from the D.P.Rs. individually and collectively. The logical result of this policy was a craving for independence, and the claiming of technical superiority by the D.P.Rs.

11. Since the departure of Mr. Pick, and under the new set-up in the Ministry, some of the ground lost on the Home Publicity front was being regained. Unfortunately however the Board of Trade, under a cloud of secrecy, launched a surprise attack on Clothes Rationing, and have penetrated the M.O.I. front in spite of stiff resistance; and unhappily when it was hoped to turn and fight circumstances arose which led to our complete withdrawal.

12. The battle on my front has reached just as critical a stage as any which may exist on the News front, and I have no doubt that the forces of the F.O. massed on the Overseas front are watching their opportunity to launch their offensive.

13. Already Home Security are following up the Board of Trade's victory with suggestions for a campaign to publicise Fire Fighting, to cost £100,000, which I am quite certain the Ministry will oppose on the ground that vital administrative machinery is not ready to cope with the problems which will immediately arise on the recruiting, pay and employment of the Fire Guards. No doubt Home Security, in the person of Mr. Leslie, believes that their campaign will be forced through our front because Mr. Morrison is more powerful than the Minister of Information, even though the latter is fighting on his own ground.

14. I can see no other alternatives to (a) an advance on all fronts, followed by complete victory for the M.O.I., the objective being the establishment of this Ministry in a position of overriding authority (subject to appeal to the P.M.) on News, Government Advertising and Publicity, and Overseas Propaganda in all territories - Enemy, Occupied, Unoccupied, and Neutral; or (b) the complete disintegration of the Ministry.

15. On each of the three sectors of the broad front our positions are exceedingly strong, and not least should we demand that an end be put to the combination of overlapping and isolation in action by the F.O., M.E.W., M.O.I., Military Intelligence and Electra House on the Overseas front.

16. Pending the result of the discussion of this paper, I do not propose to start negotiations with the N.P.A. on the rationing of advertising space in the Press as between Government and commercial interests, which as Chairman of the Co-ordinating Committee set up at the request of the Treasury I have been empowered to do.

D.

14.6.41.