§ 46. Mr. Manderasked the Prime Minister whether he will consider the advisability of initiating staff conversations between Great Britain and France, with a view to making precise military arrangements for joint action in any eventuality where this may be required in accordance with the close understanding existing between the two nations?
§ The Prime MinisterProvision was made in the arrangement drawn up in London on 19th March, 1936, and in notes exchanged on 1st April, 1936, all of which have been laid before Parliament, for contact to be established between the two General Staffs with a view to arranging the technical conditions in which the obligations of the Locarno Treaty should be carried out in case of unprovoked aggression. At the same time, it was understood that this contact could not give rise in respect of either Government to any political undertaking or to any obligation regarding the organisation of national defence. Contact accordingly took place in April, 1936, and it was then arranged, and publicly stated, that other necessary technical information would be transmitted through the channel of the Service attachés in the two capitals.
§ Mr. ManderDo I understand that provisional technical arrangements for joint action between the two countries are being kept up to date?
§ The Prime MinisterI would refer the hon. Member to the answer I have just given.