HC Deb 01 July 1948 vol 452 cc2342-4
16. Mr. Piratin

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how long Colonel Tassoev was kept at Hammersmith police station; did he ask at the police station to see the Soviet Consul or state who he was; and was he taken to any other place from the police station before leaving the country.

Mr. Ede

Colonel Tassoev was at Hammersmith police station from 6th May to 20th May, when he was returned to the Soviet authorities. During that period, he was not taken from the police station to any other place. The police knew who he was. As regards the remainder of the Question, I would refer the hon. Member to the replies which I gave last Thursday to my hon. Friend the Member for South Ayrshire (Mr. Emrys Hughes) and the hon. Member for West Fife (Mr. Gallacher).

Mr. Piratin

Is the Home Secretary aware that the information which he has now given is at variance with what we have been told before, when he told us that this man was temporarily detained at Hammersmith police station, and that now he says he was there for 14 days? May I ask him why could not the Soviet authorities in this country have been informed that he was here and would be transferred to them?

Mr. Ede

This man came from abroad, and was returned to the place abroad from which he came.

Mr. Emrys Hughes

Does the right hon. Gentleman recollect that, last Thursday, he gave an undertaking to the hon. Member for Farnham (Mr. Nicholson) that he would get into touch with the Foreign Secretary to consider the desirability of publishing a connected statement about this affair? May I ask him if the Foreign Secretary has been consulted, and who we are to recommend for the Nobel Prize for fairy stories—the Foreign Secretary or the Home Secretary?

Mr. Ede

I am in consultation with my right hon. Friend. There are no fairy tales about this, and this man is no fairy.

Mr. Godfrey Nicholson

Has the Foreign Secretary taken into consideration the suggestion which I made to him last Thursday? Is he aware of the very prejudicial effect which the mythical fairy stories concerning this episode have had in Soviet circles and the Red Army, and will he see that a connected account is widely published?

Mr. Ede

I am carrying out the promise which I gave in answer to the hon. Gentleman last week.

Mr. McGovern

May I ask if my right hon. Friend is aware that many persons in this country who are opposed to this individual still think that the Government story does not ring very well in the country, and is it not time that he made up a connected story to tell the country?

Mr. Ede

We are not endeavouring to make up a connected story. I am as anxious as the hon. Gentleman that the full facts shall be made known, but I did not come into the picture until 6th May.

Mr. Piratin

Will the Home Secretary explain why the Soviet Embassy in this country could not be informed that a Soviet military citizen had been incarcerated for 14 days in a police station without a charge being made against him?

Mr. Ede

When aliens are landed in the circumstances in which this man was landed, it is not customary to inform the Embassy or Legation.