 The disaster had both political and military dimensions . In Parliament , Churchill suggested that an official inquiry into the disaster should be held after the war . When this wartime speech was published in 1946 , the Australian government asked if the British government still intended to conduct the inquiry . The Joint Planning Staff considered the matter , and recommended that no inquiry be held , as it would not be possible to restrict its focus to the events surrounding the fall of Singapore , and it would inevitably have to examine the political , diplomatic and military circumstances of the Singapore strategy over a period of many years . Prime Minister Clement Attlee accepted this advice , and no inquiry was ever held . 
