§ 7. Mr. COCKSasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what notice is required to enable the British Government to denounce the Anglo-German Naval Agreement?
§ Sir S. HOAREI would invite the attention of the hon. Member to the last sentence of the first paragraph of the Note which I addressed to Herr von Ribbentrop on 18th June. In that sentence it is stated that His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom regard the Agreement as a permanent and definite Agreement, and a similar expression of the German view will be found in the last paragraph of Herr von Ribbentrop's Note in reply. No provision is made in the Agreement for denunciation.
§ Mr. COCKSDoes that mean that this Agreement is for ever, and that we can never get out of this disastrous arrangement?
§ Sir S. HOAREDenunciation would have to take place by mutual agreement.
§ 15. Mr. COCKSasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether, at the time of the signing of the Anglo-German Naval Agreement, the British Government were aware that the German naval authorities had already laid down two battleships of 26,000 tons displacement?
The FIRST LORD of the ADMIRALTY (Sir Bolton Eyres Monsell)No, Sir. The Admiralty were aware that the German naval authorities had already laid down two capital ships, but the tonnage of these ships was unknown.
§ Mr. COCKSIn view of the fact that the Admiralty did not know what the German programme was when they signed the Agreement, will they consider now cancelling the Agreement?