In response, the Allied Powers issued an official statement on December 17, 1942, condemning the known German atrocities.[11] The statement was read to the British House of Commons in a debate led by the Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden, and published on the front page of The New York Times[12] and by many other newspapers such as The Times.[13] At the end of the debate the House of Commons stood for a minute in silence, a custom reserved for the death of the Monarch, and therefore a sign that the British establishment was united in expecting retribution.[14] Eden commented that: