"The only answer to defeat is victory.
"If the Government in wartime gives the impression that it cannot in the long run procure victory, who cares for its explanations. It ought to go, that is if you are quite sure you can find another which can do better.
"However no government can conduct a war unless it stands on a solid and stable foundation and knows it and like a great ship can win through a period of storms into clear weather. Unless there is a strong impression of solidarity and strength in the government in the time of war, the government cannot give the support necessary to the fighting men and their commanders in the difücult period and in the disheartening and disappointing period.
"If the government has always to be looking over its shoulder to see whether it is going to be stabbed in the back er not, it cannot possibly keep its eye on the enemy.
"Another point of some difficulty which presents itself to me whenever I am asked to make a statement to the House is whether I ought to encourage good hopes of successful outcomes of particular operations or ought to prepare the public for a serious disappointment.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.