§ Q8. Mr. Shinwellasked the Prime Minister if he will state an approximate date for the publication of the Report by Lord Denning.
§ The Prime MinisterI do not yet know the approximate date on which I shall receive Lord Denning's Report, so I am unable to give the right hon. Gentleman any information about publication.
§ Mr. ShinwellIf the Prime Minister receives Lord Denning's Report during the recess could he, without impinging on security, circulate substantial parts of it to right hon. and hon. Members? Is it likely that he will be able to comply with my request, which is a very reasonable one, before the date of the election?
§ The Prime MinisterWhat I undertook to do I will do. I undertook to discuss the Report, as soon as I received it, with the Leader of the Opposition. The Government will then decide the form in which it is to be published, whether in whole or in part.
§ Mr. ShinwellDoes not the right hon. Gentleman appreciate that, while it is quite proper and in common form that he should consult the Leader of the Opposition, right hon. and hon. Members are also entitled to know what Lord Denning's findings are—without, of course, impinging on security?
§ The Prime MinisterThe first thing to do is to receive the Report and then I will carry out exactly what I told the House I would do.
§ Mr. BellengerThis is not the first occasion when the Prime Minister has seemed to suggest that this is a matter for him and the Leader of the Opposition alone. Although one recognises that there are many matters of high security which must be kept comparatively secret, nevertheless is not the House of Commons entitled to know something about this matter, having helped to set up the inquiry?
§ The Prime MinisterIt is very common practice, and a very good one, that the Leader of the Opposition and the Prime Minister or the Leader of the House should consult on matters of this kind. But I think the first thing is to receive the Report.
Mr. H. WilsonIn order that there may be no misunderstanding—as obviously there is—is not the position the Prime Minister has taken up on this as follows? In the case of the Radcliffe Report, which contained some, although not a great deal of, security matters, he did me the courtesy of showing me the whole of the Report from which, after discussion, certain security aspects were cut out and I was able to tell the House, as he himself did, that these did not invalidate the Report. Is it not now the Prime Minister's intention to show me the Denning Report so that there should be the same consultation about deletions? Is that still the Prime Minister's position? Will the minutes of evidence also be made available in the same way?
§ The Prime MinisterWhen I receive the Report I will discuss it with the right hon. Gentleman, and the Government must then decide the form in which it is to be published. It is perfectly clear, and I have said this several times. But I do not think that this will lead to any great difference of opinion. In any case, the first thing is to see what the Report says.
Mr. WilsonIn a sense, both the Prime Minister and I have been put on the spot by some of these exchanges. Will he just confirm that he intends the procedure to be the same as that followed in the case of the Report of the Vassall Tribunal? This is that he will show me Lord Denning's Report and that we shall discuss it and the question of what should be deleted on grounds of 236 security? Obviously, in the last resort, the Government's wishes about security deletions must prevail; there was no disagreement last time at all about that. Is that what the right hon. Gentleman intends to do, and does his offer to show me the Report include the minutes of evidence?
§ The Prime MinisterI do not know about the minutes of evidence because I have not yet seen them, I will discuss the Report with the right hon. Gentleman. I hope that we shall agree what ought to be omitted either on security or on any other grounds. [Hon. Members: "No."] When we have done that, the responsibility must rest with the Government.
§ Mr. ShinwellWould the right hon. Gentleman say on what other grounds he is entitled to exclude hon. Members from knowing what Lord Denning's findings are? Will he answer that specifically and categorically?
§ The Prime MinisterI do not know how Lord Denning proposes to make his Report. He may decide to make it in various forms, whether in full or whether he himself would suggest a form in which he wishes it to be published. All this is very difficult to discuss until we see the Report.
Mr. H. WilsonIs not the right hon. Gentleman putting himself and all of us in a rather extraordinary position by his answer? Is he aware that the longstanding arrangement between the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, which in the case of the Radcliffe Report and, if I may say so, the Philby case, worked very well, is based on the position that the Leader of the Opposition is in a sense trustee to the House and to some extent to the country to be able to certify that what has been deleted by the Government had to be deleted on the ground of security? Has not the Prime Minister rather altered that position, or suggested some possible alteration, and made it difficult for the Leader of the Opposition of the day, whoever he may be, to discharge that trusteeship responsibility, if he suggests that there is to be any exclusion of material on other than security grounds?
§ The Prime MinisterI think that that will not present any great difficulties. I 237 feel certain that when we discuss it together, as we have other matters, we shall agree in the same way.
§ Mr. WadeDoes the Prime Minister understand that what has concerned some hon. Members is his own expression "other grounds"? What had he in mind in using that phrase?
§ The Prime MinisterThe expression "security" is one which is capable of interpretation. We have to consider what we may think a reasonable way of publishing this Report when we see in what form it is.