HC Deb 22 February 1962 vol 654 cc630-1
Q3. Mr. P. Noel-Baker

asked the Prime Minister what proposals he has made to President Kennedy and Chairman Khrushchev for the reporting of the proceedings of the United Nations Committee on Disarmament which is to meet in Geneva on 14th March, 1962.

The Prime Minister

I have made no proposals on this subject. It will be for the Conference itself to decide what arrangements should be made.

Mr. Noel-Baker

Will the Prime Minister consider that this may be a matter of great importance to the success of the new committee in Geneva, and that it ought to be considered in advance? Will he remember that the system of the last committee, of so-called private meetings with each delegate giving his own angled version of what had happened at the end of each session, is really a very unsatisfactory way of informing the public?

The Prime Minister

Of course I will consider it, but we shall be one of eighteen members. It is not for us to dictate. It is a collective decision of the Conference when it meets, and the usual practice has been for a daily agreed communiqué to be issued by the Conference.