§ 27. Mr. LIDDALLasked the President of the Board of Trade what licences have been issued or applied for during the past 12 months to export armaments to Germany?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANNone, Sir.
§ Mr. LIDDALLIs my right hon. Friend aware that a former Socialist Member of this House, a certain Mr. Longden, is reported recently to have publicly made the statement that British armament firms have lent millions of pounds to Germany in order to enable Germany to purchase British armaments, and, if there is no truth in it will my right hon. Friend take the necessary steps to give publicity to the denial of so foolish and dangerous a statement?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANI hope that the very brief reply I have given is definite enough for the purposes of my hon. Friend.
§ Mr. RUNCIMANIf the hon. Member has a specific question to ask on that point, I must ask him to put it on the Paper.
§ Mr. KIRKWOODIs it not the case that this country is exporting and has all along been exporting the most valuable metals to Germany, in order to empower Germany to make armaments, and that the metals include nickel, wolfram, tin and copper, and that Germany has not got any of these things?
§ Mr. KIRKWOODWhy did you not say "Order" to the hon. Member who put the original question? He had plenty of time to put his question, because it suited the Government.