Letters to the Editor
The Burnt Paper Nancy Maurice Maps for the Kindergarten J. F. Horrabin Crisis in Medicine Major Hugh Morris Suez And Refugees George Wigg, MP Conscience and Constituents R. L. Travers That Political Stuff Ian K. McDougall Muslims and Christians Arthur Peacock Old and New Havens Robert Christopher Discretion John Davenport Sun Rise H. G. Button Fanny John Barber Dc Gustibus Norman Kreitman English Fare Rende Haynes
THE BURNT PAPER
SIR,-1 am glad that Lady Lloyd George, in her letter in the Spectator of November 23, has not sought to exonerate J. T. Davies's action in destroying a War Office document and maintaining silence about it.
His conduct was reprehensible whether he burnt the paper before or after the Maurice debate, but if, contrary to what Lady Lloyd George now states, he did so beforehand and kept silent, thereby enabling Lloyd George to win a Parliamentary victory by giving false information to the House of Commons, then his responsibility is grave indeed, and it is natural that Lady Lloyd George should wish to disculpate him from the charge.
The available evidence, however, including her own, does not support her present state- ment that Davies only found and destroyed the document after the debate.
Apart from the fact that it contradicts her own diary, Lady Lloyd George's present state- ment rests on an inherent improbability : the extraordinary length of time the despatch box is now alleged to have remained unopened at No. 10 Downing Street after it was received from the War Office.
I worked in Government departments dur- ing the war, and 1 have consulted friends who worked, one of them in No. 10 Downing Street, during the first war. They confirm that the practice in regard to despatch boxes was very much the same in both wars. In my experience it was quite unheard of to keep despatch boxes for more than a few days. The departments were always short of boxes, and there was a well-organised system to ensure that they were returned promptly; otherwise there would have been chaos. Yet, according to Lady Lloyd George's new version of the facts, the particular box containing the paper Davies burnt remained unopened and unre- turned for over three weeks, from April 18th, when it reached No. 10 from the War Office, until 'some days after' May 9.
In conclusion, now that Lady Lloyd George has at last broken her silence, may I, through you, ask her the following questions?
1. Does she accept that her memory was at fault in 1934, and that the paper Davies destroyed related, not to Lloyd George's statement of April 9 which General Maurice challenged, but to the correction to the April 18 figures which Lloyd George repeated in the Maurice debate?
2. Can she produce any evidence to show that she was wrong in her diary of 1934 and right in her letter to you in stating that Davies only found the paper 'some time after' the debate on May 9?
3. Did she in 1934 'talk it over with LT.' and if so what transpired?
4. Could she tell us whether she can recall any instances during her time at No. 10 of despatch boxes being kept unopened for over three weeks?
If she will answer these questions, the danger of a false statement becoming an accepted historical fact will be greatly diminished.
If, before doing so, she would like to refresh her memory, I shall be happy to refer her to the relevant documents including Hansard.— Yours faithfully, NANCY MAURICE 164 St. Stephen's House, Westminster, SWI
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