HC Deb 19 April 1962 vol 658 cc695-9
Mr. G. Brown (by Private Notice)

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will make a statement about the announcement by Scotland Yard that warrants have been applied for and issued for the arrest of Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean.

The Attorney-General (Sir Reginald Manningham-Buller)

I have been asked to reply, as my right hon. Friend has no responsibility for the announcement.

An application for warrants for the arrest of these two men was made by police officers acting on advice given, with my approval, by the Director of Public Prosecutions. It is not in the public interest to disclose the information which led to the application being made.

In the particular circumstances of this case I thought it desirable that a statement should be issued explaining why the application was made at this juncture and, in accordance with the normal practice, the announcement was made by the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.

Mr. Brown

Is the right hon. and learned Gentleman aware that the general behaviour yesterday seems to be well in accord with what has happened throughout this remarkable affair over the last ten or eleven years? The right hon. and learned Gentleman said that he took responsibility for issuing the statement. May I ask what was the purpose of the statement? Is it now normal practice, When we are hoping to arrest people against whom we have charges, to take the utmost public steps to let them know and to arrange that the wildest messages shall reach them before they can possibly, by accident, land in their plane, and then to issue a further statement, as the right hon. and learned Gentleman did yesterday, qualifying the original one by briefing the men fully on the limits under which the warrants would operate?

What was the purpose of this operation? Did the right hon. and learned Gentleman want them to be made aware of the issue of the warrants in order to arrest them, or was the whole operation undertaken in order to warn them off so that we should not have to arrest them?

The Attorney-General

Experience has shown that it is almost normal for information to leak out about the issue of warrants. That has been a sad experience in the past. I thought that it would be better, as the information was almost certain to leak out, to make this announcement so as to reduce the area of speculation if possible.

The right hon. Gentleman has asked whether this step was taken to reduce the risk of these men coming here. I appreciate quite well that if the issuing of warrants for the arrest of persons outside the jurisdiction becomes known in one way or another it may operate to deter them from coming. On the other hand, I say that having issued the warrants the chances of their being apprehended if they come here in transit are materially increased.

Mr. Brown

Is it an accurate summing up of that involved statement to say that the Attorney-General, being unable to control leaks from his Department or from the Home Office, decided to exaggerate them and to announce them himself? Would it not be more in keeping with the normal practice in this country if the right hon. and learned Gentleman took steps to stop up leaks in his Department? This muddle is deliberately brought about by the right hon. and learned Gentleman, for which he accepts responsibility.

The Attorney-General

There has been no muddle and no leaks so far as I am aware from either the Home Office or from my Department in relation to the issue of warrants or any other matters. That allegation is quite unfounded.

Mr. Manuel

The hon. and learned Gentleman said it.

The Attorney-General

I did not say from the Home Office and I did not say from my Department, but I did say, and I repeat it, that experience has shown that the Press in some way does get information of these matters.

Mr. Grimond

Is it the principle that if the Government suspect that the Press may get information about anything, they are going to forestall it? Can the right hon. and learned Gentleman throw any light upon where these gentlemen now are? Are they on their way to this country, or did they stay in Russia?

The Attorney-General

I said that it was not in the public interest to disclose the information on which the application was made.

Mr. Donnelly

Will the Attorney-General give us an assurance that if these men are arrested he himself will not appear for their defence?

Mr. S. Silverman

Is it not perfectly clear that if the Government or Scotland Yard desired to prevent it being publicly known that these warrants had been asked for and granted, it was well within their resources to have secured that object, and that, therefore, everyone will infer that the publicity given to the application for these warrants was welcome to the Government? Does it not therefore follow that all over the world it will now be inferred that the Government are more afraid of an investigation into these matters under Section 1 of the Official Secrets Act than the alleged criminals can possibly be?

The Attorney-General

The answer to that is, "No, Sir". The object of issuing warrants is to increase the chances of securing their arrest should they come to an airport in this country or to where we have jurisdiction in transit, or should they land in transit. If they are arrested, they certainly will be prosecuted.

Mr. Gaitskell

May I ask two questions? Can the Attorney-General say whether the fact that Mr. Burgess and Mr. Maclean did not arrive is because the information he received, and upon which he approved an application for the warrant, was wrong; or whether he frightened them off by what he did, by announcing that the application had been made?

Secondly, in connection with the right hon. and learned Gentleman's astonishing assertion that an application for the issue of a warrant always leaked, is not this a very serious matter? Does not it really undermine the effectiveness of the police in dealing with criminals? Can he say how these leaks occur and what he is doing to stop them?

The Attorney-General

A great many people have to be informed at all the ports and airports when a warrant is issued if any effective action is to be taken. All I was saying was that experience in the past has shown that these leaks do occur and that it is very difficult to detect who is responsible. If we could find who was responsible, action would immediately be taken. But that being so, it was thought best to take this particular step in these particular circumstances.

On the question whether this deterred them from coming here, I think I can say that this application was not based on any information or belief that they were in the course of flight at this moment, or a day or two ago, towards this country.