§ 22. Mr. A. HENDERSONasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is aware that a German subject, Dr. Hans Wesemann, was sentenced on 6th May, 1936, in Basle, to three years' imprisonment on the charge of kidnapping and conveying across the German frontier a journalist named Dr. Jacob, a German refugee enjoying the right of asylum in Switzerland; that in the course of the trial it was disclosed that the accused's activities were known to the late German Ambassador in London, to Prince Bismarck, the German Charge d'Affaires in London, and that the accused often conferred with Baron Marschall, Secretary of the German Embassy in London; and whether the Minister has any statement to make on this subject?
§ The PRIME MINISTERMy right hon. Friend is expecting a full report on the trial in question from His Majesty's Minister at Berne, and in the meantime I am not able to make a statement on the subject, as my information is at present derived solely from the Press.
§ Mr. HENDERSONHaving regard to the fact that the statement was contained in the "Times," which is a paper which gives great support to the right hon. Gentleman, will he not accept that statement and convey a representation to the German Embassy that this country does not approve of Embassies being used for the purpose of co-operating with secret police?
§ The PRIME MINISTERNo one has more respect for the Press than I have, but I must rely on official reports in a case of this kind, and I am afraid I have nothing to add to what I have already said.
§ Sir ARCHIBALD SINCLAIRIn view of the public interest that is taken in this question, will the right hon. Gentleman make the result of his investigations known to the public and to this House?
§ The PRIME MINISTERIf a question is asked, my right hon. Friend knows that no one is more delighted than I to give an answer.
§ 55. Miss WILKINSONasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to the evidence given in the Wesemann case at Basle; and whether, in view of the connections there established between the activities of Herr Wesemann and the German Embassy in this country, he pro-proses to take similar action to that taken by his predecessor in the case of Arcos?
§ The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for the HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. Geoffrey Lloyd)My right hon. Friend has seen only newspaper reports of the trial, and is not in a position to make any comment on the first part of the question. The answer to the second part of the question is in the negative.
§ Miss WILKINSONIn view of the fact that the right hon. Gentleman's predecessor Lord Brentford had far less ground to go on than sworn statements in a court of law, as reported in a reputable British newspaper, is it not about time 19 that the Government began to take some notice of this abuse of diplomatic privilege?
§ Lieut.-Colonel MOOREIs it not a fact that the evidence given in this case implicating the German Embassy was given only by Wesemann himself, and was unconfirmed from any other source?