HC Deb 20 March 1958 vol 584 cc1422-3
45. Mr. Emrys Hughes

asked the Prime Minister to what extent the speech of the Minister of Defence at the meeting of the National Union of Conservative Associations on the question of the use of the hydrogen bomb represents the policy of Her Majesty's Government.

The Prime Minister (Mr. Harold Macmillan)

The speech was entirely in accord with the policy of Her Majesty's Government on the rôle of nuclear weapons.

Mr. Emrys Hughes

Is the Prime Minister aware that his right hon. Friend the Minister of Defence said that the official Labour Party is 99.9 per cent. sound on defence? Does that mean that he agrees 99.9 per cent. with the official defence policy of the Labour Party, and what is the .1 per cent. that the mystery is about?

The Prime Minister

I should not like to be drawn in great detail into these mathematical calculations. If my right hon. Friend was over-optimistic, I must, of course, ask him to make a new calculation more in relation to the objective consideration of the facts.