HC Deb 20 November 1956 vol 560 cc1537-9
33. Mr. Gresham Cooke

asked the Secretary of State for War if, arising out of the visit of the Swiss representatives, he can now give fuller information about the safety of the employees of the Suez Base contractors now interned in Egypt.

Mr. John Hare

The Swiss Representative in Cairo has only now been allowed to visit the contractors' employees and his report just received discloses a most unsatisfactory state of affairs. The employees are interned in three storeys of the Khedevia School in Cairo. Each person has a bed and a mattress, one towel, two woollen blankets and two pillows. The beds are close together. There are no tables or chairs and they have to eat on their beds. Food is insufficient (between 1,200 and 1,500 calories a day) and not good. Sanitary facilities are inadequate. The internees possess only the clothes they wore on arrival. The strongest possible pressure is being brought to bear on the Egyptian authorities and we hope that world opinion will reinforce our representations.

Mr. Gresham Cooke

While that is a distressing report, I am sure that the relatives will be glad to know that the 450 internees are not in the Citadel, as was rumoured, but are in a school. Would my right hon. Friend give an assurance that British troops will not leave Egypt until these men are rescued? Also, would he recommend to his colleagues that if these men continue to be interned in Egypt, some Egyptians should be interned?

Mr. Hare

I do not think that I could make a statement on the lines suggested by my hon,. Friend, but I should like to make one thing clear. As I said in my Answer, I hope that the expression of opinion in this country and in the world will impress upon the Egyptian" that they are behaving in an utterly scandalous way.

Mr. Paget

Would the Minister tell us what danger these gentlemen were in before British troops went into Egypt?

Mr. Hare

That is not the Question which is on the Order Paper, so far as I know.

Mr. Stokes

Arising out of the original Answer, may I ask the Secretary of State whether it was not implicit in the arrangements which were made for the occupation of the Base by the contractors' staff that, whatever might be the circumstances, the persons involved in the preservation and supervision of that Base were to receive proper treatment at the hands of the Egyptian Government?

Mr. Hare

The right hon. Gentleman is quite correct, so far as I know.

Mr. Dudley Williams

Can my right hon. Friend say whether the Secretary-General of the United Nations, when he was in Cairo recently, took any steps to safeguard these British subjects?

Mr. Hare

I think that the trouble has been that the Swiss Government, who are the international authority acting on our behalf, have had the greatest difficulty in getting any information at all. I, personally, only got this information early this morning. Therefore, I do not think that the facts were known to the Secretary-General.