The Week in Parliament Our Parliamentary correspondent writes : The
renewed debate on privilege was an unprecedented occasion. Never before has the House of Commons been compelled to admit that it may have censured the wrong people. The Liberal amendment to Mr. Attlee's motion, which was eventually accepted without a division, accomplished two things. Firstly, it reiterated that the summons sent to Mr. Sandys was in the circumstances a breach of privilege, irrespective of the source from which it came. Secondly, the task of determining who was actually responsible for its issue was remitted to the Select Committee. However, the complications do not end there. The Committee on Privileges may, indeed, have proceeded too hastily and taken too much for granted. But there was a wide- spread feeling, which found expression in the speeches of Mr. Attlee, Sir Archibald Sinclair and Mr. Churchill, that the Committee should not have been allowed to deliberate or the House to consider its report under a misapprehension of the actual facts. Those facts must have been known to some- body and should have been brought to the attention of the responsible Minister. If they were so brought, it is remarkable that such vital information should have been withheld from the Commons. A complete explanation may, no doubt, be forthcoming, but there is certainly matter here for further inquiry.
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