§ 3. Mr. Peytonasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will make a statement of the details of the action he intends to take to increase the quantity and improve the quality of British information services in the Middle East.
§ Mr. NuttingNo, Sir.
§ Mr. PeytonMay I ask my right hon. Friend whether, following the very welcome and increased association of the United States with the Bagdad Pact, he will consider with the American Government and the other participants in the Pact, setting up a strong organisation based on Iraq for the purpose of disseminating the view held jointly by those who support the Bagdad Pact?
§ Mr. NuttingWe are, of course, in continuous and daily contact with the United States authorities on that as, indeed, on every other matter relating to the Middle East.
§ Mr. RobensHas the right hon. Gentleman taken any steps in relation to the matter which I raised in the House during the Middle East debate as to the work of the British Council in Cairo, when, as the right hon. Gentleman will remember, at the height of the trouble, when I was there, its contribution was a lecture on the place of the harpsichord in a modern orchestra?
§ Mr. NuttingOf course, it is very easy to pick out some particular activity of the British Council and make fun of it.
§ Mr. RobensI was being serious.
§ Mr. NuttingI do not know in what vein the right hon. Gentleman intended his remarks to be taken, but the British Council has done much good work in the Middle East, as, indeed, elsewhere. As to the future, we are raising the British Council's budget and estimate in that part of the world.
§ Mr. RobensWill the right hon. Gentleman accept it from me that I did not ask my supplementary question as a matter of levity? This is a very serious matter indeed. It seems to me that while that lecture might be appropriate in other circumstances, the function of the British Council should really be to put the British case over in the Middle East and not worry about orchestras.
§ Mr. NuttingI think that the right hon. Gentleman is confusing two things. The British Council is not a propaganda organisation. Its main objects are to spread knowledge about the British way of life and to stimulate the teaching of English in foreign schools. That is the job on which it is concentrating. It does not concentrate exclusively on the harpsichord.
§ Major Legge-BourkeAre the Government also giving attention to the problem of enabling those in that part of the world who at present are without a supply of electricity to receive the programmes? Is that not equally important when considering the problem as a whole?
§ Mr. NuttingI do not see precisely what Her Majesty's Government can do in the way of increasing electricity supplies there. What we are doing is to increase the amount of broadcasting.
Mr. DugdaleWill not the right hon. Gentleman agree that the provision of a broadcasting service comparable with Colonel Nasser's in both quality and strength would cost considerably less than the provision of one division of troops, and would be of very much greater value?
§ Mr. NuttingI do not dispute the right hon. Gentleman's contention. We are certainly doing all in our power to increase and improve the quantity and quality of our broadcasting to the Middle East, but there are, of course, limitations.