British Note

HC Deb 27 January 1947 vol 432 cc594-5

43. Mr. Gallacher

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs oh what evidence his recent note to the Polish Government was based.

Mr. McNeil

The evidence was factual and extensive, and was embodied in the note itself. Since the Note is long and has already been published, I do not propose to circulate it, but, to meet the convenience of the hon. Member, I am sending him a copy of it.

Mr. Gallacher

Is it not the case that the information received by the Foreign Office comes from the Embassy, and is obtained from the social contacts of the Ambassador, and, further, has it not been proved that the social contacts are utterly unreliable?

Mr. McNeil

I could not, of course, accept the implication of the question, but, in regard to this note, as the hon. Gentleman will discover when he takes the trouble to read it, the information was available, not from our Embassy, but from private Members throughout various parts of Poland, and, of course, from the numerous representatives of the Press who were there on that occasion.

Professor Savory

May I ask the right hon. Gentleman whether the evidence with regard to the election of last Sunday is not overwhelming that it was neither free nor unfettered, in spite of the solemn guarantee given both at Yalta and at Potsdam?

Mr. McNeil

That is quite another question.

Mr. Gallacher

Is it not a fact that the elections in Poland were fairer and more democratic than the recent elections in Greece?

Mr. Speaker

That is another question altogether.