§ 23. Mr. Patrick Maitlandasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will state the precise terms on which the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation has offered its good offices for conciliation between Turkey, Greece, and Great Britain.
§ Mr. Ormsby-GoreNot at present. The communication from the Secretary-General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation is a confidential document. But, as my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Colonies stated on 20th March, it is in accordance with the Resolution on the Peaceful Settlement of Disputes which was adopted by the North Atlantic Council last December, whereby the Secretary-General was empowered to offer his good offices.
§ Mr. MaitlandIs my right hon. Friend aware that until the public can be assured that this good offices intervention has nothing whatever to do with the internal affairs of Cyprus, there will be great uneasiness throughout the country?
§ Mr. Ormsby-GoreThe proposal was simply to appoint a conciliator or conciliators. There is no question of N.A.T.O. arbitrating on this matter and I therefore do not think that my hon. Friend's fears are very well founded.
§ 30. Mr. Fellasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will give an assurance that Her Majesty's Government will resist proposals for admitting the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation to any share of responsibility for the Administration of Cyprus.
§ Mr. Ormsby-GoreMy right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Colonies has already given an answer on this matter on 20th and 28th March.
§ Mr. FellIs my right hon. Friend aware that the answers already given are a little confusing? I should be most grateful if he could say categorically that N.A.T.O. will have nothing to do with the internal administration of Cyprus.
§ Mr. Ormsby-GoreThe internal administration of Cyprus is a matter entirely for my right hon. Friend, but I can say that the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's offer was simply to send a conciliator round between all the parties concerned and to give advice to Her Majesty's Government. There is no question of arbitration by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
§ Mr. CallaghanDoes not the Minister realise that his position will be very much stronger if the Government will start negotiations and discussions with the representatives of the Cypriot people about their own future?
§ Mr. Ormsby-GoreThat is a matter entirely for my right hon. Friend.
§ 35. Mr. Callaghanasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what discussions are taking place in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation about Cyprus.
§ Mr. Ormsby-GoreDiscussions at the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation are confidential and I cannot disclose information about them, but I can tell the hon. Member that Her Majesty's Government do not accept that the door is yet closed to conciliation through the good offices of the Secretary-General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
§ Mr. CallaghanHas Greece refused this offer of conciliation and, if so, what is to be the nature of the conciliation? Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that if it goes on like this much longer, people will regard this device as something to stall off the real issue, namely, the discussion of the future of the island with the people of Cyprus?
§ Mr. Ormsby-GoreIt is not designed to stall off any issue. As the hon. Member knows perfectly well, this initiative by N.A.T.O. was warmly welcomed by him. We are hoping that the Greek Government, in view of recent events, will reconsider their attitude to this offer.
§ Mr. Patrick MaitlandCan my right hon. Friend assure us that there will be no discussions with these foreign Powers about the internal administration of Cyprus?
§ Mr. Ormsby-GoreThat is quite another question, but I can assure my hon. Friend of that.
§ Mr. J. GriffithsWhile awaiting the N.A.T.O. initiative, do the Government stand by the Resolution of the United Nations on Cyprus for which they voted?
§ Mr. Ormsby-GoreCertainly.
§ Mr. SpeakerMr. Fletcher.
§ Mr. GriffithsMay I ask, as that Resolution called for discussion with the Cypriot people—I am sorry, I thought that you called me, Mr. Speaker.
§ Mr. SpeakerI did not observe the right hon. Gentleman rise a second time, but I will call him now.
§ Mr. GriffithsSince that Resolution called for a discussion with the Cypriot people, what are the Government doing about that part of the Resolution?
§ Mr. Ormsby-GoreThe Resolution calls for talks in an atmosphere of peace and the absence of terrorism, and those conditions have to be fulfilled before talks can reasonably take place.
§ Mr. CallaghanFurther to that last answer from the right hon. Gentleman, may I ask whether it is not the case that there has been only one murder—[HON. MEMBERS: "Only one?"]—only one murder since the offer of a truce by E.O.K.A. and that that murder has never been laid officially at the door of E.O.K.A.? In view of the fact that this was a month ago, how much longer has the island to lie without any administration at all before conditions are satisfied in which the Government will be ready to enter into talks?
§ Mr. Ormsby-GoreThese are questions for my right hon. and learned Friend, but I think it would be a great exaggeration to say that peaceful conditions now obtain in the island of Cyprus.
§ Mr. FellOn a point of Order, Mr. Speaker. May I ask your guidance. Three times last week when I tried to put supplementary questions—and I rose to my feet every time from the beginning of the supplementary questions and answers—a Privy Councillor or a Member on the Opposition Front Bench jumped up and was called. This afternoon, once again the next Question was called and the right hon. Gentleman got up and was called and I was not, and he was followed by another hon. Member on the Opposition 813 Front Bench and I again was not called. Has one any protection at all as a back bencher against the very determined use of their prerogative by Privy Councillors and leading Members of the Opposition?
§ Mr. SpeakerI am afraid not at present. Mr. Fletcher, Question No. 36.
§ Mr. FellFurther to that point of order. With due respect to you Mr. Speaker, I am asking a question on a point of order, about which I may be wrong.
§ Mr. SpeakerThe hon. Member asked me whether a back bench Member has any form of protection against what the hon. Gentleman considered to be an undue number of interventions by Privy Councillors and I had to tell him, "No, not at the moment"—unless the House otherwise orders.
§ Mr. CallaghanCan you indicate to me, Mr. Speaker, what right the hon. Member for Yarmouth (Mr. Fell) has to ask supplementary questions on a Question which he has not put down?
§ Mr. SpeakerHe has the right to ask supplementary questions—
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. Hon. Members on both sides of the House, including the hon. Member for Cardiff, South-East (Mr. Callaghan), frequently ask supplementary questions on Questions which they have not put down.
§ Mr. CallaghanFurther to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. On many occasions when you have not called me, I have never protested about it.
§ Mr. SpeakerI think that is quite true.
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. Now may we have Mr. Fletcher's Question?
§ Mr. FellFurther to that point of order. In the first place, since I have been in this House I have never asked a facetious supplementary question. Secondly, all the questions on which I tried to ask supplementary questions last week were, in fact, related to Questions I had put down on the Order 814 Paper, first, to the Prime Minister and, in the second place, to the Foreign Secretary, which were not reached. Therefore, I think it a little unfair to make the suggestions which have been made.
§ Mr. FletcherMay I invoke your protection, Mr. Speaker, against the attempt of the hon. Member to prevent me from putting my Question?
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder.