80th Anniversary of Victory in Europe and Victory over Japan

Earl Attlee Excerpts

Friday 9th May 2025 Lords Chamber

[Earl Attlee (Con)]

My Lords, I have been a Member of this House for 33 years, and I can tell the noble Baroness that I made exactly the same mistake. I was sitting on the Cross Benches and jumped up and made a speech in exactly the same way as the noble Baroness, and the noble Viscount, Lord Falkland, who was due to speak, did exactly what I did, which was sit down. Then, when I finished, he said, “The noble Earl made an excellent speech. What a pity he made it six places out on the speakers’ list”.

Rarely have I heard a Minister make such an effective and passionate opening speech for a government-led debate. I have to say, he is an absolutely excellent defence Minister, and I support everything that he said and his sentiments.

The VE 80 and VJ 80 days are a celebration of victory over our opponents in the Second World War. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity, alongside my noble friend Lord Soames of Fletching, to have represented our grandfathers at yesterday’s service in Westminster Abbey, and I am sure my noble friend shares my gratitude. I also very much enjoyed the maiden speech of the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Peterborough. Sadly, I no longer live in her diocese.

Remembrance of the sacrifices made by British, Commonwealth and Allied servicepeople and civilians is key. We will remember them. But, in addition to remembering the sacrifices, hardship and cost, we must remember how we got ourselves into the Second World War. Of course, there are two main reasons. One was the effect of the Treaty of Versailles, and the other was the failure to rearm, or to rearm fast enough, in the face of an obvious threat.

We can easily understand why we were so reluctant then to rearm in preparation for war when the First World War was so terrible that no sane person would want to go through a war again. So, when we made our final ultimatum in 1939, our combat power when assessed by our opponent was insufficient to avert and avoid war—a point made so well by the Minister—and we paid a very high price for not rearming soon enough.

In the 1970s, many of the masters at Stowe School, which I attended, had served with distinction during the war. They had plenty of MCs or equivalent. They absolutely drummed into us that war was to be avoided at all possible costs. Nevertheless, in order to deter, they took great care to ensure that we understood how to defend ourselves if necessary. The CCF was very important to the school and was, at least initially, compulsory. I recall the reverend Jos Nicholl MC playing a key part in it.

When I came to your Lordships’ House in 1992, most of the senior Members of the House had tasted defeat and been hungry. Many had served with distinction during the war, and I recall Lord Healey, Lord Carrington, Lord Runcie, Lord Mowbray, Lord Lauderdale and Lord Jellicoe, to name just a few. There was even Lord Houghton of Sowerby, who had served in the First World War. Those noble Lords would never do anything that would allow us to be defeated, or, to use military parlance, to be fixed, again.

Happily, now, none of our leaders at the top have tasted defeat or been hungry, but the post-World War order that the Minister referred to, which led to this comfortable situation, is breaking down. We need to remember what happens if we do not rearm fast enough in the face of a clear threat, and we need to do much more to educate our people about some very hard choices that will need to be made if we cannot very soon stop state-on-state conflict in Europe.