HC Deb 08 March 1966 vol 725 cc1881-2
3. Mr. Evelyn King

asked the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations by what method information is supplied to him from Rhodesia.

Mr. Bottomley

We receive information from Rhodesia in several ways, but it would not be in the public interest for me to specify them.

Mr. King

Will the right hon. Gentleman accept that if the Government's Rhodesian policy is now in ruins, as I suggest it is, it is not least because he has consistently received inaccurate and false information about what is happening in that country? Will he accept further that one of the ways in which to avoid that happening is to strengthen the British High Commission in Salisbury, which now consists of a man and a boy and is not capable of doing its job, although that is not its fault?

Mr. Bottomley

I am very glad to be able to say that I get constant reports from the hon. Gentleman, from many of his hon. Friends, from many of my hon. Friends, from journalists and many other sources. I can assure him that the information which I receive is quite full and authoritative.

Mr. H. Hynd

Will my right hon. Friend be careful about accepting information from Conservative M.P.s who have been brainwashed by the rebels in Rhodesia?

Sir J. Barlow

Would the right hon. Gentleman say whether there is any censorship of letters and cables to and from Rhodesia?

Mr. Bottomley

That is another question, but I can assure the hon. Gentleman that there is none by the British Government.

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