SECRET
EXECUTIVE BOARD
TUESDAY, MARCH 30th, 1943.

PRESENT:

The Director General

The Parliamentary Secretary

The D.D.G.

Mr. Francis Williams

Mr. Gates

Mr. Grubb

Mr. Royds

Mr. Grisewood

Mr. Ryan

General Tripp

Brigadier Neville

Admiral Carpendale

Mr. Lyne.

Mr. Carter

1. REPORTS FROM SERVICE ADVISERS .

2. UNITED STATES RADIO COMMENTATORS AND POLICY CENSORSHIP.

[CN/591]

Mr. Ryan drew attention to the difficulty of applying the Private and Confidential Memo to editors on the subject of Soviet-Polish relations to the broadcasts of the regular American commentators included in the B.B.C. Service. The Chairman directed that, since the consideration here was not security but policy, any references to this subject which conflicted with the terms of the memo must be deleted. It was agreed, however, that this admittedly awkward expedient might be avoided by ensuring that the commentators were aware of Government policy in this respect. Mr. Francis Williams explained that no answer had been received to a Foreign Office telegram designed to secure this, and the Chairman invited him to despatch a further telegram to Mr. Wellington.

3. BEVERIDGE PAMPHLETS.

[CP/39/512.]

Mr. Grubb reported that several Foreign Divisions and Commercial Relations had proposed to circulate a reprint of G.D.H. Cole's pamphlet “Beveridge Explained”, but that the Stationery Office had declined to sanction the reprint on the grounds that the official “Beveridge in Brief” was the only authorised summary. The Divisions concerned maintained that the pamphlet provided a clearer account and one more suitable for their purposes. Mr. Grubb explained that this representation seemed to have substance and that the pamphlet was objective except for its final chapter. The Parliamentary Secretary cited the case of the Labour Party Pamphlet on India (see Minutes of February 22nd), and, although the Board felt that the two cases were not quite on all fours, it was agreed that the Ministry ought not to circulate any account of the Beveridge Report which was not completely impartial.

The Board, however, endorsed Mr. Grubb's contention that the propaganda value of “the Beveridge idea” was now seriously impaired by the lack of any convenient summary of the Government's undertakings and reservations, without which as a pendant the Report itself had now become a misleading instrument of propaganda.