HC Deb 30 June 1938 vol 337 cc2132-3
Mr. Attlee

May I ask the Prime Minister whether he has any statement to make with regard to the proceedings of the Committee of Privileges?

The Prime Minister

The Report of the Committee of Privileges set up by this House—which, I may say, is a unanimous report—will be, I believe, available in the Vote Office this afternoon. At the same time, it may perhaps be for the convenience of hon. Members if I read it to them now.

"The following is an extract from the Votes and Proceedings of the House of Commons on the 29th June, 1938:

Privilege,—Complaint made to the House by Mr. Sandys, Member for the Norwood Division of Lambeth, of an order by a military Court of Inquiry summoning him to appear in uniform before that Court To-morrow morning for the purpose of giving evidence.

Ordered, That the matter of the complaint be referred to the Committee of Privileges.—(The Prime Minister.)

The Committee of Privileges, having been set up, have held two meetings and report as follows.

The scope of the privileges of hon. Members and of the House itself is not laid down in any complete code to be found in a statute or elsewhere. It is largely a matter of laws and customs and we have not been able to find any precise precedents for the circumstances of the present case.

Those circumstances are that the House, having taken note of the statement of the hon. Member for Norwood on the 27th instant, had in effect recognised that important issues were involved and was about to set up special machinery to investigate those circumstances.

Before, however, the Select Committee had actually been set up, the hon. Member for Norwood, being a Territorial Officer, received a summons to appear before a military Court of Inquiry into the circumstances of the leakage of information which had formed part of the subject of his original statement, in order to give evidence.

In these circumstances, without making any reflection upon the military Court, it appears to us that the summons to the hon. Member for Norwood might well appear to be an attempt to induce the hon. Member to give certain information at a time when the House was proposing to set up a Select Committee to consider among other things the propriety of the hon. Member being asked to give such information.

Accordingly, your Committee find that, taking all the circumstances of the case into consideration, a breach of the privileges of the House was in fact committed. We do not, however, recommend that any further action should now be taken."

Mr. Attlee

Will a Motion be placed on the Order Paper, and when will it come up for discussion?

The Prime Minister

Yes, Sir, a Motion will be put down. I cannot at the moment say when it will be possible to take it, but I hope to make a statement on it very shortly.