§ 45. Mr. Parkinasked the Prime Minister if he will initiate with Premier Bulganin discussions aimed at restating in terms acceptable today and capable of being implemented in present-day conditions the guarantees against fresh aggression which the Allies attempted to formulate with Stalin at Yalta.
§ The Lord Privy Seal (Mr. R. A. Butler)I have been asked to reply.
My right hon. Friend interprets the hon. Member's Question as wishing him to assure the Premier of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics that Her Majesty's Government have in no way the intention of exploiting events in Eastern Europe to undermine the security of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. My right hon. Friend can give that assurance. He does not think, however, that a special approach to Mr. Bulganin is called for in this context.
§ Mr. ParkinIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that I am a little disappointed that that Answer is not a little more positive, and that when I put it down there was a golden opportunity for the British Prime Minister to make a positive approach to the Soviet leaders and to say something like this: "The policy which you initiated in your visits to this country and to Belgrade and at your party congress offers the best hope of easing tension since the war. If you have any purely military reservations about giving 1617 that full rein and encouragement we are prepared to go back to those war-time drumhead negotiations, where nobody thinks of anything except armies of occupation and military bases, and re-negotiate security on the basis of pacts and disarmament"?
§ Mr. ButlerI hope the hon. Member's sentiments will be conveyed to the quarter which he desires shall listen to them.