§ Q3. Mr. A. Lewisasked the Prime Minister if he will state on what basis Members of Parliament are selected to attend the Council of Europe at Strasbourg and other international conferences; and what action he takes to ensure that these visits are shared among all Members.
§ The Prime MinisterAs I said in reply to my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Lewes (Sir T. Beamish) on 19th April, I am responsible for the appointment of the delegation from the United Kingdom Parliament to the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe and the Assembly of Western European Union. I also said that the appointments of Labour and Liberal representatives and substitutes had been made on the basis of nominations by the leaders of those parties.
The selection of delegates to conferences of the Inter-Parliamentary Union and of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association is organised by those bodies.
§ Mr. LewisIs the Prime Minister aware, with regard to the conferences for which he is responsible, that it is very often the same little group that have been circulating these visits among themselves on both sides of the House over the past few years? Is he aware that there are many hon. Members, excluding myself, who have been here for 20 years or more and have never been on any of these visits, and they feel it is about time that these visits were shared out not on the basis of giving them to the yes-men of either party, but in a way to give all hon. Members a chance to take part in such proceedings?
§ The Prime MinisterI have great sympathy with the hon. Gentleman's point of view, but I do not see how I am to resolve my difficulties. I have the duty of appointing these delegates. It seems to me not unnatural to ask the leaders of the parties to make their appointments, and so far as my party is concerned, I make my own. We might, of course, do it by some other method, such as ballot, but so far I do not think that what I have tried to do has been regarded as unfair by the parties in the House. I am only trying to carry out what has seemed to me to be my duty.
§ Mr. BellengerCan the Prime Minister say whether he is responsible, or whether the usual channels are, for the selection of those small groups of favoured Members of Parliament who seem to be constantly going to the other side of the Iron Curtain?
§ The Prime MinisterI should like to be consulted, but I have not been up to now. I do not know whether the Leader of the Opposition has.
§ Mr. JegerWould the Prime Minister bear in mind that these international gatherings to which perhaps a score of countries send their representatives offer an unrivalled opportunity for political contact-men to exercise their influence and tout for contracts on commission? Would he, therefore, exercise the greatest care when making his selections and bring the same influence to bear on the leaders of the other parties?
§ The Prime MinisterI think it would be more in accordance with the traditions of this House if the hon. Member, when having a charge to make, made it directly and not by innuendo.
§ Mr. JegerIs the Prime Minister not aware that these charges have already been made and published in the Press and not denied?
§ Mr. ShinwellWhy does not my hon. Friend prove them?
§ Mr. LewisOn a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Can you advise hon. Members generally and myself in particular what the position is with regard to jibes and innuendoes which are constantly made by my hon. Friend the Member for Goole (Mr. Jeger)? He is making innuendoes which are not true. He knows them to be untrue. Yet these things are continuously said. Would it be in order for me to say that my hon. Friend is earning money by being the manager of a striptease theatre? It happens to be the case that my hon. Friend is the manager of the theatre which introduced striptease to England. Surely that is not a question which should be raised on the Floor of the House?
§ Mr. SpeakerIn so far as this involves a point of order, to make imputations against the private characters of hon. Members, particularly in a question, is out of order, but if it is put in a general form I cannot so rule it because I do not know to whom it is attached. If the hon. Member was naming another hon. Member to make the kind of imputation which he suggested, I should be obliged to rule about it.
§ Mr. JegerOn a point of order Mr. Speaker. I was named by my hon. Friend the Member for West Ham, North (Mr. A. Lewis), who referred to me as having introduced striptease to Britain. I am not sure where he got his facts. I did not introduce striptease to England. Nor am I the manager of a striptease theatre.
§ Mr. SpeakerIn no circumstances, even if irregular imputations were made, would this be the right moment to debate the matter or argue about it. I suggest to the House that we should get on with our Questions.
§ Mr. GaitskellI leave those personal exchanges, Mr. Speaker, and come back to the original Question. Is the Prime Minister aware that with regard to nominations from this side of the House, far from the people being exactly the same 224 every year, they are changed regularity every two years? In fact, we continually get complaints because we do not keep delegates on long enough.
§ The Prime MinisterThis is a rather difficult problem, but I should have thought that on the whole we try to combine a certain degree of continuity, which is valuable in these European Assemblies where friendships are made and contacts of important kinds are maintained, with a reasonable degree of variation. That is what I think all of us try to do in making our nominations.