§ 38. Professor Savoryasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is aware of the drastic purge recently carried out of the Hungarian Diplomatic and Foreign Ministry Staff to such an extent that 130 officials have been dismissed by the Commission for supervising political reliability; and whether he has called the attention of the Hungarian Government to the fact that this action is inconsistent with Article II of the Treaty with Hungary.
Mr. McNeilA purge of members of the Hungarian Foreign Service has recently been effected under the terms of a decree issued by the Hungarian Government on 16th January. No official figures of dismissals have been issued, but reports agree that the numbers total over 100. I doubt whether this action is inconsistent with the letter of Article 2 of the Hungarian Peace Treaty.
§ Professor SavoryIs not the right hon. Gentleman aware that the gentlemen dismissed include one Minister, three heads of Departments, and six Legation Secretaries, and that the sole test applied by this Commission on reliability was whether these gentlemen had Communist sympathies or not?
Mr. McNeilThat is not my information. I think it must be agreed that, if a Government decides, upon grounds of efficiency, that dismissals and replacements shall take place, we have no status for interference.