HC Deb 30 January 1963 vol 670 cc927-9
31. Mr. Rankin

asked the Minister of Defence if he will make a statement on the proposal to move an infantry brigade to the Far East.

Mr. Thorneycroft

There is at present no such proposal. As I said on Monday, 51 Infantry Brigade has simply been placed at 72 hours readiness.

To avoid any misunderstanding at home and abroad, I should like to take this opportunity to inform the House that a parachute battalion is due to leave for Malaya on Friday to take part in a long-planned exercise there. I do not consider the situation in the Far East is serious enough to warrant cancelling this routine exercise. The advance party has been there for a fortnight.

Mr. Rankin

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that according to The Times of today, the Secretary-General of the United Nations considers the situation in this part of the Far East to be very serious? If that be so, does the right hon. Gentleman not realise that his statement on Monday presented a complete underestimation of what is happening in that part of Asia? Does he agree that this position arises basically from the creation of the new Federation of Malasia? Would it not be much better to try to bring in the United Nations to help to negotiate peace rather than use force to establish it?

Mr. Thorneycroft

If there is any danger in that area I would have thought that the statement I made on Monday showed that the Government were taking reasonable precautions to meet it.

Mr. Paget

In view of the statement by the Prime Minister of Malaya, reported in The Times yesterday, that this brigade was arriving, and the right hon. Gentleman's statement today that there are no plans for its arrival, could he tell us anything about the liaison between Her Majesty's Government and the Government of Malaya?

Mr. Thorneycroft

I am not entirely responsible for what appears in The Times newspaper. There are, of course, these misunderstandings in communications. But I said in my statement on Monday quite plainly that this infantry brigade had been put on 72 hours alert, and I think that is a proper precaution to take.

Mr. Rankin

Does the right hon. Gentleman recollect using these words which appear in the OFFICIAL REPORT of Monday of this week? After saying that nothing had happened in that part of Asia, he said: … but it is sometimes prudent in defence matters to make some dispositions ahead of something happening."—[OFFICIAL REPORT, 28th January, 1963; Vol. 670, c. 582.] Does he not realise that that statement is now shown to be an underestimate of the situation if what the Secretary-General of the United Nations is now saying is correct?

Mr. Thorneycroft

The Secretary-General said that nothing has happened. What he and I have in mind is that something might happen, and so we took some precautions in advance.

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