Brendan Bracken
Illustration, not an archive object
Minister of Information (July 1941 to May 1945) · United Kingdom
On the regime page: Churchill wartime government
5 quotes, oldest first. Filter with other speakers.
“The Ministry of Information has no power to stop films except on grounds of military security. If, however, the hon. Member will give me a list of the films he has in mind, I will have inquiries made about them.”
A Member asked the Minister of Information to stop the exhibition of films he described as slanderous to the Soviet Union, which had been Britain's ally since June 1941.
Oral answer on anti-Soviet films, House of Commons, 3 December 1941 (HC Deb vol. 376, c. 1115) Source
“I do not think that it is in the public interest to discuss reasons for action taken by the Political Warfare Executive.”
A Member asked why free Italian, German, Danish, Austrian and Spanish movements were being discouraged by the Department of Political Warfare, and whether British policy matched Russian policy.
Written answer on the Political Warfare Executive, House of Commons, 10 December 1941 (HC Deb vol. 376, c. 1541W) Source
“Security reasons prevent me from saying very much about the policy of the Political Warfare Executive, but in general its main tasks are to try to break down the morale of the enemy and to sustain the morale and resistance of our Allies in enemy-occupied countries.”
Bracken, Minister of Information since July 1941, replied to a Commons debate on propaganda to enemy and occupied countries. The Political Warfare Executive, formed in August 1941, set the policy for foreign-language broadcasts and leaflets.
Speech on the Ministry of Information and Political Warfare Executive estimates, House of Commons, 7 July 1942 (HC Deb vol. 381, c. 734) Source
“In view of the many demands for a policy of steady veracity in all our propaganda, I wish to assure the Committee that the Political Warfare Executive attach the greatest importance to giving facts whether they are pleasant or unpleasant. Obviously it is impossible to build up and hold a listener audience abroad without first establishing a reputation for honesty.”
In the same speech Bracken answered Members who had called for propaganda to the enemy to be truthful and for its leaflets and scripts to be made public.
Speech on the Ministry of Information and Political Warfare Executive estimates, House of Commons, 7 July 1942 (HC Deb vol. 381, c. 734) Source
“No, Sir, I will do no such thing. The hon. Member has got hold of a secret document which was given him by somebody who has betrayed his public duty. If I were to publish ah the Regulations made by the censorship, I would give hon. Members more reading than the Beveridge Report supplies.”
A Member asked that a censorship instruction on outgoing messages based on proceedings in Parliament be published in the Official Report. Bracken had told the House that messages accurately reporting Parliament were not censored.
Oral answer on censorship of Parliamentary criticism, House of Commons, 2 December 1942 (HC Deb vol. 385, c. 1146) Source