§ 57. Mr. Manderasked the Attorney-General whether he will consider the advisability of arranging that a record shall be kept of the occasions on which persons are interviewed on behalf of the Attorney-General of the day in connection with possible proceedings under the Official Secrets Act; and whether the regulations in force in 1930 continue unchanged to-day?
§ The Solicitor-General (Sir Terence O'Connor)Interviews of the kind referred to would normally be conducted 246 by or under the instructions of the Director of Public Prosecutions after consultation with the Attorney-General and acting under any directions from him. I am satisfied that all such steps would have a proper record made of them. I am not aware what are the regulations to which the hon. Gentleman refers.
§ Mr. ManderIs the hon. and learned Gentleman aware that in 1932 two Lobby journalists were sent for by the personal representative of the Attorney-General of the day, and interrogated, and is it really a fact that no record whatever of that incident has been kept?
§ The Solicitor-GeneralI am not aware of any such fact, and although the hon. Gentleman has been invited to give information to assist my right hon. and learned Friend in tracing any such event, he has not yet provided it.
§ Mr. ManderIs the hon. and learned Gentleman aware that, as the result of careful inquiries, there is no doubt whatever that this incident did take place, and is it not a fact that there is no record of it; and will the Solicitor-General be good enough to arrange in future that such events cannot take place without a record being kept?
§ The Solicitor-GeneralThe last part of the hon. Gentleman's question suggests that such an incident did, in fact, take place. The hon. Member has been given every opportunity of furnishing information to show that there was any such incident, and he has not furnished it. Therefore, I cannot accept the assumption that any such incident did, in fact, take place.
§ Mr. Benjamin SmithWill the Solicitor-General say that it did not, in fact, take place?
§ The Solicitor-GeneralI am not in a position to say that. What I say is that full inquiries having been made, it has hitherto been impossible to trace any such incident. Manifestly my right hon. and learned Friend has no personal responsibility in the matter, but it would be wrong to pursue at large inquiries when no solid foundation is furnished by the questioner.
§ Later—
§ Mr. ManderI beg to give notice that, owing to the unsatisfactory nature of the reply given by the Solicitor-General to 247 question 57 dealing with the Official Secrets Act—about which, I may say, I did supply information to the AttorneyGeneral—I will call attention to the matter on the Adjournment at an early date.