§ Q.2. Mr. Blakerasked the Prime Minister whether he has now completed his evidence for the Royal Commission on the Press; and when he proposes to submit it.
§ The Prime MinisterI shall be ready to submit and to publish my evidence as soon as the civil legal proceedings, referred to in my answers of 14th and 20th October to the hon. Member, have been completed.—[Vol. 897, c. 1127; Vol. 898, c. 14.]
§ Mr. BlakerDoes the Prime Minister recall that in September 1974, in the course of the last election campaign, he made the serious allegation that cohorts of distinguished journalists were combing obscure parts of the country in search of anything, true or fabricated, that they could use against the Labour Party? Does he also recall that when he told the House, last October, that there had been eight burglaries affecting premises owned by him and some of his colleagues. a statement was issued from 10 Downing Street saying that this carried no implication that any journalists had been involved? That being so, does he still stand by his serious allegation in 1974—or would not it be better for him to drop it?
§ The Prime MinisterI stand by it entirely, and when the evidence can be submitted it will substantiate what I said then. I did not then or at any other time refer to any journalist being involved in burglaries. The hon. Gentleman is already aware that the break-ins and thefts now proved by the police discoveries are not the kind of legal proceedings that are in any sense an impediment to this evidence. The problem about submitting evidence relates to civil matters that are the subject of legal proceedings. When they are complete the evidence will go in straight away.
§ Mr. GrocottIn any evidence to the Royal Commission on the Press will my right hon. Friend refer to the question of the accuracy of Press reports? Will he note the typically penetrating editorial in yesterday's Sun newspaper, which, amongst other things, called on the Government to withdraw their controversial Land Bill? Will my right hon. Friend 200 agree that any newspaper so woefully inaccurate in its presentation of factual material must be pretty misleading in its political judgment?
§ The Prime MinisterI was not proposing to deal with those subjects in my evidence, which relates specifically to the points raised by the hon. Member for Blackpool, South (Mr. Blaker), who tabled the main Question. Certainly the evidence would be much longer if I went into the kind of subjects referred to by my hon. Friend the Member for Lichfield and Tamworth (Mr. Grocott). My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence has shown, for example, that only today, on the most sensitive matter affecting people's lives, there has been the most criminal misrepresentation of facts and, if it is in order to say it—not about hon. Members—lies about what has been done in Northern Ireland.