§ 11. Mr. Platts-Millsasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, in connection with the incident at His Majesty's Legation at Budapest, described in the Foreign Office statement issued on 30th September, 1949, whether Mr. Walter Harrison, a security officer employed at 375 that time at the Legation, made the first contact with the Hungarian authorities and of his own volition.
§ Mr. MayhewYes, Sir. Mr. Harrison, who was a maintenance engineer, got into touch with the Hungarian authorities in order to inquire about the whereabouts of the Legation's telephone operator. This does not justify the treatment which he subsequently received at the hands of the Hungarian Secret Police.
§ Mr. Platts-MillsIs my hon. Friend now prepared to contradict publicly the story that was first put out by the Foreign Office, that Mr. Harrison had been kidnapped and then tortured, and will he see that his fellow Under-Secretary of State does not continue the quite dishonest story that this man was kidnapped and tortured, which the man himself has admitted is quite untrue?
§ Mr. MayhewAbout the question of who made the first initiative, which is a secondary factor, there is room for two opinions, but his treatment by the Hungarian police was disgraceful and about it there can be no two opinions.