§ 47. Mr. Swinglerasked the Prime Minister if he will now take the initiative of calling a conference of heads of Governments of the great Powers to discuss the limitation and eventual abolition of hydrogen bomb tests.
§ The Prime MinisterI have nothing to add to the reply given by my right hon. and learned Friend the Foreign Secretary on 24th October to the right hon. and learned Gentleman the Member for Rowley Regis and Tipton (Mr. A. Henderson).
§ Mr. SwinglerDoes not the Prime Minister recall that in early July he promised to take the initiative in this matter independently when it looked as if the disarmament negotiations would drag on? In view of the present international situation, and if there is no immediate prospect of agreement on other matters, is it not time that the Prime Minister took independent initiative in attempting to get international agreement on this one subject?
§ The Prime MinisterI do not quarrel with the hon. Gentleman's version of the facts at all. We have been at work on this matter, but I think he will agree that we have to choose the time when such an initiative is likely to have a result. In the present international atmosphere, I rather doubt, and I think he will, on reflection, whether we should get very far with the proposal.
§ Mr. StokesThat may very well be at this moment, but in support of the original Question, may I ask the Prime Minister whether he is alive to the fact that it is now evident that probably half a dozen countries besides ourselves will be able, in a year or two, to make hydrogen bombs? Does he realise the difficulties that we shall be in if we are all going to test them? Would not the easiest way be to get the United States 1132 to agree to our having their bomb now? There would be no necessity then for any further tests for anybody at all.
§ The Prime MinisterI would not like to say when other countries will be ready, and I would not like to say whether the right hon. Gentleman's timetable is right or wrong. In regard to one country giving the other the bomb and avoiding tests, I truly say that the more interchange there is among the N.A.T.O. Powers the less burden there will be on the N.A.T.O. Powers and the less danger to humanity of the consequences of the tests.
§ Mr. StokesI would press my first point on the Prime Minister. I assure him that I have been into this matter in some detail. If it is really correct, as I am informed, that in two or three years half a dozen other countries in Western Europe will have this bomb, if they so wish, surely it is all the more urgent that arrangements should be arrived at as soon as possible to stop all tests. Otherwise, the thing will go on for ever.
§ The Prime MinisterI do not dispute what the right hon. Gentleman says. I do not know about the timetable and how long it will be. That is why we should make a start as soon as we can on the limitation of tests. We have done some work on the kind of proposals there should be. It is just a question of when to time them so as to get a result, and that is difficult to decide.
§ At the end of Questions—