§ 10.34 p.m.
§ The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. Roy Jenkins)I regret to have to report to the House that an attempt was made by an armed man to kidnap Princess Anne at about 8 p.m. this evening when she was on her way back to Buckingham Palace with her husband.
The attempt did not succeed, and neither the Princess nor Captain Phillips was hurt.
I much regret to say, however, that Princess Anne's protection officer sustained very severe injuries, and her driver, a police constable and a member of the public were also seriously hurt.
A man has been detained and is now helping the police with their inquiries.
I shall report further to the House when further information is available.
§ Mr. Edward Heath (Sidcup)In accordance with your views, Mr. Speaker, may I say before the Home Secretary sits down that the House will appreciate the fact that the right hon. Gentleman has made that statement, and that the whole House will wish to sympathise with Princess Anne and Captain Phillips over the attack which has been made upon their lives.
We should also like to offer to those who have been injured in the course of duty or because they were bystanders the very sincere sympathy of the House and our best wishes for their rapid recovery.
No doubt the Home Secretary will consider what sort of inquiry should be made into the circumstances. Obviously, the question of legal action may arise, which will determine the timing of any inquiry he may decide should be made. But I think that he will recognise that from those of us who are acquainted with these matters one of the basic questions will be how knowledge of the movements of Princess Anne and her husband came to be made known so that anybody could attempt an attack upon them. But in this we are content to leave it to the Home Secretary and his wisdom and judgment as to how action should be taken.
§ Mr. JenkinsI am grateful, as I am sure the House is, to the right hon. 1173 Gentleman for the expressions of sympathy, which will be conveyed to those concerned and which express the general view of the House.
As to what the right hon. Gentleman says about matters to be looked into, these will all fall to be considered urgently, but I am sure that it is right to wait until we are all a little better informed before we decide exactly how we proceed.
§ Mr. Jeremy Thorpe (Devon, North)The whole House will deplore any act of violence against any person in this country. In particular, we have sympathy for those injured in the attack.
1174 The right hon. Gentleman has already said that there are matters of security which he wishes to look into, particularly whether security arrangements at present are adequate. Is he aware that we are happy to leave it to him to look into these matters further and report to the House?
§ Mr. JenkinsI am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman.
§ Mr. Donald Stewart (Western Isles)May I express the abhorrence of my colleagues at the news we have just heard, and associate ourselves with the expressions of sympathy to those who were injured?