41. Mr. Mander 10th October 1940 asked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, in view of the approval recently given by the United States Government to the export of cargoes up to 1,000,000 barrels 481of oil to Japan, he will consider the advisability of making representations to the American Government for concurrent action between the British and American Governments to prevent the further supply of oil to Japan? OIL EXPORTS TO JAPAN. (Hansard, 10 October 1940)
The Q&A session has some classic Whitehall reassurances: In response from the questioning MP: I assume from Hansard that prior to Italy joining the war in June 1940 the UK had supplied 'X' to them: