HC Deb 04 April 1957 vol 568 c579
52. Mr. Wigg

asked the Prime Minister why he agreed at the Bermuda Conference to accept United States missiles which are not yet in operational production.

The Prime Minister

Because it is the quickest way of getting them.

Mr. Wigg

If that is the quickest way of getting them and it will take five years, what would have happened if the Prime Minister had not done this? Would it take ten or twenty years?

The Prime Minister

The "five years' delay" is entirely a matter of the hon. hon. Gentleman's imagination.

Mr. Wigg

The right hon. Gentleman knows that that statement is not entirely accurate. On Tuesday he accepted Mr. Dulles's point of view that these rockets were in the experimental stage, and the statements of the State Department which set a period of five years. Would the right hon. Gentleman care to comment upon that?

The Prime Minister

I did not accept anything.