§ 50. Captain Pilkingtonasked the Prime Minister whether, in view of his proposal to Mr. Khrushchev that experts should now be appointed to work out an agreed system of inspection and control of hydrogen bomb tests, he will suggest to Mr. Khrushchev that the same system should be extended to conventional arms as well.
§ The Prime MinisterMy right hon. and learned Friend the Foreign Secretary proposed in the Disarmament Sub-Committee last July that experts should meet for this purpose as well as to study the technical details of other disarmament measures. I repeated this proposal in my letter of 16th January to Mr. Bulganin. The Soviet Government have not 570 responded. Nevertheless, our proposal still stands.
§ Captain PilkingtonWould my right hon. Friend agree that if Russia were sincere in these matters she would stop her cold war of subversion? Would he also agree that his constant questioners on this subject on the other side of the House would be better employed using their influence with Russia, if they have any?
§ The Prime MinisterIf they would do that, it would be very agreeable.
§ Mr. P. Noel-BakerCan the Prime Minister say why, last year, we withdrew the detailed proposals for the inspection of conventional armaments which we had pressed upon the Russians for twelve years and left ourselves in the extraordinary position that the Russians were proposing much more conventional disarmament and much more inspection than we were?
§ The Prime MinisterNo, Sir. That is a great travesty of the story of last year. The right hon. Gentleman is one of those men who always thinks his own country wrong.
§ Mr. GaitskellWhile we all realise the strain under which the Prime Minister is working, does he realise that discourteous statements of that kind to an authority on the subject of disarmament such as my right hon. Friend the Member for Derby, South (Mr. P. Noel-Baker) will impress nobody.
§ The Prime MinisterYes, Sir but I would also remind the right hon. Gentleman that the proposals put up by the—[HON. MEMBERS: "Withdraw."] I would remind the right hon. Gentleman——
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. The Prime Minister has been asked a question by the Leader of the Opposition. He is entitled to answer it and the House should listen.
§ The Prime MinisterI remind the right hon. Gentleman that the proposals put up by the Western Powers in the Disarmament Conference on behalf of Canada, France and the United States and Great Britain were carried by an overwhelming majority in the Assembly of the United Nations.
§ Mr. Noel-BakerIf I put down a Question to the Prime Minister, will he tell the House what was in the Russian proposals of 18th March and the Western proposals of 29th August?
§ The Prime MinisterOf course, I will answer the Question when it is put down, but I will answer it in its proper perspective.