ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author examines the changes in government policy towards enemy aliens, concentrating in particular on the policy of general internment - why it was adopted and its effects - and the extent to which parliamentary opposition to general internment was able to influence policy making. Until the early months of 1940, both the press and public opinion had viewed the plight of the many enemy aliens who were refugees with sympathy and consideration. But by March enemy aliens, as a collective group, were beginning to be portrayed in a new light - as a potential fifth column and a threat to national security. Similarly, Peake claimed that the internment of male enemy aliens from the coastal belt was the most humane policy possible, but the minutes show Anderson only accepting internment if the course was pressed on military grounds.
