§ 17. Mr. Liptonasked the Postmaster-General how many warrants, signed by a Secretary of State and authorising interceptions of telephone calls and letters, he has received during 1957 and 1958.
§ Mr. BevinsIt is not the practice to disclose the number or the nature of warrants that have been received.
§ Mr. LiptonIs the Postmaster-General aware that the number of interceptions authorised by the Secretary of State between 1937 and 1956 is clearly set out in the Report of the Birkett Committee? Will he say to what extent the public interest or national security would be imperilled if he gave the total number of warrants that have been issued? Has he been bulldozed by the Home Secretary into refusing this information because disclosure would be embarrassing to Her Majesty's Government?
§ Mr. BevinsNo, Sir. Neither the Home Secretary nor any of my colleagues bulldoze me at all. The Birkett Committee, as the hon. Member well knows, gave the figures in the Appendix to its Report, to use its own words, "as an exceptional measure," and made it perfectly clear in paragraph 121 of the Report that it was
strongly of the opinion that it would be wrong for figures to be disclosed by the Secretary of State at regular or irregular intervals in the future.
§ Mr. BevinsHon. Members ask "Why?" The reason was given in the Report— that it would greatly aid the operation of agencies hostile to the State —this is not my opinion but that of the Birkett Committee—if they were able to estimate, even approximately, the extent of interception.