MINISTERIAL BROADCASTS (Hansard, 13 July 1976)

§ Q3. Mr. Ioan Evans
asked the Prime Minister when he last made a ministerial broadcast.

§ Mr. Foot
I have been asked to reply.
On 5th April.

§ Mr. Evans
Does my right hon. Friend agree that a good alteration to ministerial broadcasts would be for the proceedings of the House to be broadcast? In discussions with the Prime Minister, will he arrange to bring forward the debate in which the House is to make final arrangements for our proceedings to be broadcast?

§ Mr. Foot
I entirely agree. The House has voted for the broadcasting of its proceedings and I should like it to happen as speedily as possible. I hope that we shall have a resolution on the subject before the recess. There are some difficulties, but I entirely agree with my hon. Friend; it would be of great advantage to the House as a whole if that could happen.

§ Mr. Whitelaw
If such statements are to be made in the House, will the right hon. Gentleman give us an assurance that before the recess a statement will be made showing exactly what line the Government intend to take about public spending? Will they take the view apparently held by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, that such cuts have to be made, or will they take the view apparently held by the Secretary of State for Energy and the Home Policy Committee of the Labour Party, that any such cuts would be disastrous to the economy?

§ Mr. Foot
The right hon. Gentleman seems to be jumping to too many conclusions based on a cursory reading of the newspapers over the last few days. I hope that he will await the statement which the Prime Minister has suggested will be made—we hope before the recess. I think that the best course is to wait for that.

§ Mr. Whitelaw
Is the right hon. Gentleman saying that a statement will be made before the recess?

§ Mr. Foot
The right hon. Gentleman will not be surprised to hear that I have nothing to add to what the Prime Minister has already said on this subject.

§ Mr. Crawford
When the Prime Minister makes a ministerial broadcast will he be able to give a copper-bottomed guarantee that the forthcoming round of public expenditure cuts will mean no cutback in conventional defence at Kinloss, Rosyth or anywhere else in Scotland?

§ Mr. Foot
I do not believe that that is the form which a broadcast by the Prime Minister should take and I do not believe that the matter can be dealt with by way of answers to questions of that nature.

§ Mr. Greville Janner
Will my right hon. Friend make a ministerial broadcast on the current hideous rumours about the fate of Mrs. Dora Bloch? If it transpires that it is correct that she has been murdered in cold blood, will my right hon. Friend bear in mind the views of her sons, first, that President Amin is a most dangerous savage and, second, that no international aircraft traveller is safe while hijackers have allies like him?

§ Mr. Foot
I have seen the report in the evening papers but we have no confirmation of it. It is at the moment a report in a Kenyan paper. But I should also add to the statement made by the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, yesterday. Since he made that statement, there have been very worrying further developments. The Second Secretary in our High Commission in Kampala was expelled on President Amin's orders late last night and left for Nairobi this morning. The Ugandan authorities have also told our High Commission of President Amin's instructions that two members of the British community will be expelled today and that further action will be taken after the Security Council meeting.
I have just learned that all the heads of diplomatic missions in Uganda have just been summoned to a meeting with President Amin this afternoon. Our Permanent Representative at the United Nations made very clear our concern over these developments in his intervention in the Security Council last night. The President's threats have now been formally exposed to the world community. I repeat that I have full confidence in the accuracy of the reporting of our High Commission in Kampala and I am certain that it has acted perfectly properly in the period of strain, as in so many periods past.
As my right hon. Friend said yesterday, our primary concern is for the safety of the British community, numbering altogether about 550 people, remaining in Uganda. In view of President Amin's remarks about the future of the British community, I consider it of paramount importance not to take any provocative step until the community's safety is assured. They are a seasoned bunch of campaigners, as the Prime Minister recognised when he spoke to them in Uganda a year ago. They have made their decision to live there and they recognise the risks.

§ Mr. Evelyn King
On a point of order—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. If the hon. Member will raise his point of order after Question Time, I shall be able to call Question No. Q4.

§ Mr. Foot
I apologise if the House thinks that my statement was rather lengthy—

§ Mr. Arthur Lewis
It should have been made later.

§ Mr. Foot
I understand my hon. Friend's interest in the matter and the interest of the rest of the House, but I thought that since my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Leicester, West (Mr. Janner) had raised the matter, and since it is a matter of great and natural public interest, it was right to give the House the latest information.