§ 11. Mr. A. Hendersonasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what are the present intentions of Her Majesty's Government with regard to the furtherance of international negotiations for disarmament.
§ 28. Mr. Grimondasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what proposals he will make, either alone or with our allies, for a renewal of the disarmament discussions with Russia.
§ Commander NobleThe North Atlantic Treaty Organisation Communiqué and my right hon. Friend's recent letter to Mr. Bulganin show that Her Majesty's Government, in consultation with their allies, are doing their best to find a way out of the deadlock caused by the refusal of the Soviet Government to attend the expanded Disarmament Commission.
§ Mr. HendersonHas there been any direct diplomatic discussion with the Soviet Government with a view to securing a resumption of the disarmament negotiations; or may we take it that the purpose of the coming visit of the United Nations Secretary-General to Moscow is to achieve that result?
§ Commander NobleI am afraid I cannot answer that part of the right hon. and learned Gentleman's question, but I think it is pretty obvious from the correspondence that is going on between the Prime Minister and Mr. Bulganin that these matters are included.
§ Mr. GrimondIs it the policy of the Government that the discussions should continue to take place only through the United Nations, or are the Government prepared to meet the Russians in some other way to talk about disarmament, other than, perhaps, the particular points about Eastern European disarmament—which, presumably, will not be discussed at the summit meeting?
§ Commander NobleOf course, the United Nations are responsible for disarmament matters, but, again, I would say that the correspondence between Mr. Bulganin and the Prime Minister does include disarmament, though I quite agree that the matter should come under the United Nations hat at some time.