VIETNAM (Hansard, 9 May 1972)

§ Mr. John Mendelson

I beg to ask leave to move the Adjournment of the House, under Standing Order No. 9, in order to raise a matter of definite public importance for urgent debate, namely, The decision of the United States Government to mine the ports of the Republic of North Vietnam and to stop ships on the high seas without any legal right to do so and without the backing of the United Nations. I have three points to submit very briefly without in any way going into the substance of the matter, which would be the subject of the subsequent debate.

First, I have to show that it is urgent. The United States Government have announced—and it has been reported in the British Press this afternoon—that the mines which have been laid will become active on Thursday morning. Therefore, without the ability of either the President of the United States or the general in command of that theatre to withdraw the mines, they will, by their own device, become active on Thursday morning. That makes the matter decisively urgent. I say in passing that it makes the matter urgent in a new way, in that the disastrous out come of this decision may be produced automatically, without any intervention by a human being between now and Thursday morning.

Secondly, I submit that this is directly the responsibility of the right hon. Gentleman the Foreign Secretary, the Prime Minister, the British Government and Parliament. We are one of the principal 1142 allies of the United States, and we are their allies with the broad support of the House of Commons and the British people. It is therefore clear that anything which happens which might involve the United States people and United States Government and their armed forces in serious conflict with any other major power may bring into play the alliances which are in existence, with the approval of Parliament, between the United Kingdom and the United States, and between their Governments. It would therefore be monstrous if the House of Commons had no opportunity to debate this matter before Thursday morning.

Thirdly, and finally, it is clear that an appeal was made to the conscience of mankind by the President of the United States in his speech, which some of us heard at 2 o'clock in the morning. The President is entitled to make an appeal if he sees fit to do so, but the British people have a right to expect that their elected representatives will try to formulate a reply to that appeal before it is too late so that their voice may be heard through their elected representatives.