HC Deb 24 March 1969 vol 780 cc1028-30
12. Mr. Marten

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement about the visit of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State to the Associated States of St. Kitts, Nevis and Anguilla.

Mr. Whitlock

I refer the hon. Gentleman to the statement which my right hon. Friend made on 19th March, to which I have nothing to add.—[Vol. 780. c. 493–506.]

Mr. Marten

The Minister will recall the Answer of the Foreign Secretary to Question No. 4. If the Prime Minister cannot visit Biafra because it is in rebellion, why did this Minister visit Anguilla which was equally in rebellion? Further, why when he arrived at the airport did he make the announcement of his terms before going into consultation with the people of Anguilla prior to announcing his terms? What evidence has the hon. Gentleman actually adduced which has been corroborated by other sources of these undesirable elements before sending over 200 parachutists to deal with them?

Mr. Whitlock

What took place at the airport was that Mr. Webster gave me a welcome and, significantly, asked everyone to ensure my safety and security, and then invited me to put forward the proposals, which I did. Those proposals were accepted wholeheartedly by 500 people at the airport. Precisely because those proposals were accepted by those people, I was run off the island by people who had decided immediately on my arrival that I should be sent off, because my aircraft was stopped from leaving the airfield in order to take me away.

Mr. Marks

Is my hon. Friend aware of the concern some of us feel at the use of school buildings as barracks and offices by the police and the army? Will he do all in his power to ensure that the schools are returned to their proper use at the earliest possible moment?

Mr. Whitlock

Yes. This is an entirely temporary arrangement, and I would hope that as soon as possible the people of Anguilla can return to their normal activities. They will be better able to do so if the small minority who are there now making Mr. Lee's job very difficult are stopped from doing just that.

Mr. Braine

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that if the proposals to which he has referred, which were all that the Anguillan leaders were asking for last year, had been conceded to them when they were over here, there would have been no need for this situation to have arisen and no need to have sent military forces?

Mr. Whitlock

Those proposals were not necessarily what the Anguillan leader was asking for during the talks last October. In any case, if they were so acceptable to the Anguillan leader, why was it that he came and told me to leave the island immediately after the meeting?

Mr. Rose

Will my hon. Friend in due course give an undertaking to let the House have full details of these Mafia-like elements in Anguilla, and in view of the obvious unpopularity of our Commissioner, Mr. Lee, will he undertake to replace Mr. Lee in order to show our appreciation of the aspirations of the people of Anguilla?

Mr. Whitlock

There will be a debate on foreign affairs at a later stage today, and no doubt all those points will come out during the debate.