MR. GERALD BROOKE (Hansard, 19 December 1966)

§ 3. Sir R. Cary
asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will make a further statement concerning the case of Mr. Gerald Brooke.

§ 20. Mr. Blaker
asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what representations he made to the Soviet authorities, during his recent visit to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, about their treatment of Mr. Gerald Brooke.

§ The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Mr. George Brown)
On my discussions in Moscow I have nothing to add to my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield, Heeley (Mr. Hooley) on 5th December. The British Consul in Moscow saw Mr. Brooke on 9th December and reported that his morale was good. We are continuing to discuss with the Soviet Government various questions relating to Mr. Brooke's imprisonment.—[Vol. 737, c. 206.]

§ Sir R. Cary
May I congratulate the right hon. Gentleman on his efforts in obtaining a modification of Russian policy in regard to Mr. Gerald Brooke? Will he also convey, on behalf of a number of hon. Members of this House, our thanks to the British Consul, Miss Agnes Wood, for her intelligent concern in the matter of this detention, concern which reflects great credit on the mission that she serves?
Dare I ask the right hon. Gentleman to say a word about the receipt of parcels? I know that this collides with prison regulations and may be beyond the powers of anybody even as powerful as Mr. Kosygin, but the receipt of even the smallest parcel is an unimaginable blessing to a lonely man in a Russian prison camp——

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. This supplementary is getting rather long.

§ Mr. Brown
I am grateful for what the hon. Gentleman said about our Consul, and I shall be delighted to convey his remarks to her. She has a very difficult job to do and it is a pleasure to hear that sort of remark.
968 On the question of parcels, Mr. Brooke told Miss Wood that he had received two parcels from his wife and one parcel of books from the embassy. I have a suspicion that this does, in fact, exceed what the regulations, strictly interpreted, might have allowed. But there are other things we want to do, if we can, with the Russians to get Mr. Brooke's position improved, quite apart, of course, from trying to get him released. This we shall go on doing.

§ Mr. Blaker
Is not the recent visit by the British Consul the first that has been allowed for eight months or more? Does not the right hon. Gentleman agree that this is not good enough? Do not the accepted international conventions require that the Consul should be allowed to visit Mr. Brooke regularly and frequently, and will the right hon. Gentleman press for that?

§ Mr. Brown
The Consular Convention has not as yet been ratified. The Labour Camp Regulations, I understand, as they stand at the moment, allow only one meeting a year. I do not think it would do us any harm—it might do Mr. Brooke some good—if we were to recognise that the Russians relented in order to allow the visit to take place.