HC Deb 18 April 1961 vol 638 cc967-8
34. Mr. Short

asked the Minister of Defence what immediate reappraisal of Great Britain's defence arrangements, including alliances, he has ordered as a result of the Russian manned space flight.

The Minister of Defence (Mr. Harold Watkinson)

No reappraisal is called for.

Mr. Short

Does not the Minister of Defence agree that the Russian manned space flight has brought very much nearer the day when most of our defence arrangements, including our alliances, will be completely obsolete and out of date, and indeed any effective national defence will be virtually impossible? In view of this, does he not agree that the nations of the world must now get together and be prepared to submerge their sovereignties in some kind of world order or policy?

Mr. Watkinson

I do not agree with the defence assumptions in the hon. Member's supplementary question. On the military basis, this achievement is the culmination of a long series of tests. It shows the capacity to deliver a container from an orbiting vehicle to earth, but there is no reason to suppose that a satellite presents any more accurate means of delivery of a warhead to a predetermined target than an I.C.B.M. If by the second half of his supplementary question the hon. Member means that it would be a good thing to get on with disarmament negotiations, the Government entirely agree.