§ 45. Mr. P. Noel-Bakerasked the Prime Minister if he will now lay a White Paper before the House giving an account of the military operations in which British troops, warships and aircraft have taken part in the Arabian peninsula since January, 1955.
§ The Prime Minister (Mr. Harold Macmillan)I have nothing to add to the reply I gave to the right hon. Gentleman on 6th November last.
§ Mr. Noel-BakerDoes the Prime Minister recall writing to me last August that he had carefully considered the proposal for a White Paper, but that, as the military operations had not yet been terminated, it would be premature to issue one? Does he think it right that British Forces should continue to operate in the Arabian Peninsula for four years and that Parliament should know nothing about what they are doing, or why they are doing it?
§ The Prime MinisterThe operations are on a very small scale and are somewhat sporadic, and I do not think that now would be an appropriate moment to issue a White Paper?
§ Mr. Noel-BakerCan the Prime Minister say when he thinks it will be appropriate? Will he explain the nature of the 12,000 operational sorties which, the Secretary of State for Air told us, the R.A.F. carried out in the Peninsula last year?
§ The Prime MinisterI quite recognise that Parliament should be informed, and it is informed. The Oman operations were very fully reported at the time. The operations in the Aden Protectorate, as the House has just been told, were of a small and sporadic character, and I do not see that any useful purpose would now be served by cataloguing all those in a White Paper.
§ Mr. GaitskellWhy is the Prime Minister withholding this information from the House? Can there be any objection to giving information over a period of four years as to what our troops and other forces have been doing in the Arabian Peninsula?
§ The Prime MinisterI think that there are disadvantages and I do not see any great advantages.
§ Mr. GaitskellIn that case, what are the disadvantages?
§ The Prime MinisterCataloguing a large number of operations over a very wide territory with no particular relation one to the other.
§ Mr. Noel-BakerDoes not the Prime Minister think that it would be an advantage to throw light on the fact that British troops were used to suppress the Imam of Oman when it was thought that there was oil at Fahud which was found 1112 not to be the case, since when the operations there have been abandoned?
§ The Prime MinisterNo, Sir. The 1957 operations, which are of course completed, were fully reported at the time and were discussed in the House. I entirely repudiate the insinuations which the right hon. Gentleman has made and which I believe to be quite unworthy of him.