HC Deb 11 May 1959 vol 605 cc847-9
24. Mr. Bevan

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what official communications have been received from the Governments of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Persia concerning the establishment of an atom-free zone in the Middle East; and what is the policy of Her Majesty's Government with regard to this proposal.

26. Mr. A. Henderson

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to what extent it is the policy of Her Majesty's Government to agree to the Soviet proposal for a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East.

Mr. Ormsby-Gore

Her Majesty's Government have received no official proposals of this nature either from the Soviet or Iranian Governments.

Mr. Bevan

Do Her Majesty's Government intend to take the initiative themselves in this matter?

Mr. Ormsby-Gore

No. We do not feel that dealing with the question of nuclear arms alone is ever likely to provide a useful solution. However, we are always prepared to discuss the question of the limitation or the elimination of nuclear arms in a properly balanced disarmament agreement.

Mr. Bevan

Did the right hon. Gentleman hear his hon. Friend the Minister of State just now say with regard to the supply of conventional arms to the Middle East that we had not taken up the proposal of the Soviet Union? We are now informed that we are not going to take up the proposal on the prevention of atomic weapons in the Middle East because that ought to form part of a general agreement. Will the Ministers stop playing Box and Cox with each other in this way? Will the hon. Gentleman now say whether he is prepared to discuss with the Soviet Union the prohibition of all additional arms to the Middle East, including nuclear weapons?

Mr. Ormsby-Gore

My hon. Friend's Answer and mine were completely consistent. What I am saying, first, is that any discussion about limitation of arms should not be confined to one particular type of weapon, and, secondly, that I do not think that it is best to even approach these problems from a purely regional point of view. As the right hon. Gentleman knows very well, on many occasions we have expressed full proposals for disarmament which we have put to the Soviet Government, and it is only a pity that at the moment there is no forum in which the Soviet Government are prepared to discuss them.

Mr. Bevan

Why does the right hon. Gentleman say that it is not Her Majesty's Government's policy to discuss limitation of arms on a regional basis when the Prime Minister made a declaration in Moscow in which he said that he was prepared to study seriously and earnestly the limitation of arms in Central Europe? What on earth are the Government doing in the matter? Why do not they have a little conference among themselves and agree what their reply to the House of Commons should be? We might then know what their policy is.

Mr. Ormsby-Gore

What we are discussing is a disarmament proposal which, according to the right hon. Gentleman, was put forward by the Soviet Union. No such proposal was put forward. There was a statement by a Soviet spokesman about a zone in the Middle East, and when we made diplomatic approaches to the Soviet Government about what was the meaning of this statement it was clear that they had no official proposal to make and that no details were available.

Mr. Bevan

May we have the truth here? We have just heard from the right hon. Gentleman's hon. Friend the Minister of State that no such approaches were made to the Soviet Union because the Government considered that they were not practicable. We are now told that approaches have been made and that they came to nothing. Who is telling the truth?

Mr. Ormsby-Gore

I think that the right hon. Gentleman might listen a little more carefully and perhaps read his own Question, which relates to a nuclear free zone. What my hon. Friend was replying to was a Question about the limitation on their own of ordinary conventional armaments. These are two different matters.

Mr. A. Henderson

Does the reply of the Minister of State mean that there is no truth in the report published in The Times a few days ago stating that such a proposal had been made by the Soviet Government to the Government of Persia and that the Government of Persia in their reply said that they would give favourable consideration to the proposal if the Soviet Government could obtain the agreement of the other nuclear Powers—Her Majesty's Government and the United States Government? If there is any truth in that statement, may I ask the Minister of State whether he will at least say that the Government will consider the desirability of preventing nuclear weapons getting into the Middle East?

Mr. Ormsby-Gore

The Iranian Government, in replying to the Soviet Note of last December, spoke about the importance which should be attached to agreement being reached within the framework of the United Nations on the prohibition of atomic weapons and the limitation of armaments in general. That, I think, is a statement of policy on behalf of the Iranian Government which exactly coincides with the policy of Her Majesty's Government.