HC Deb 13 March 1984 vol 56 cc272-3
11. Mr. Andrew MacKay

asked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on security at the Greenham common base.

Mr. Stanley

I cannot add to the reply that I gave my hon. Friend on 17 January.

Mr. MacKay

Will my hon. Friend take this opportunity to congratulate all the British and American personnel who took part in last Friday's exercise involving cruise missile launchers, the success of which was satisfying to a great many patriotic people in this country?

Mr. Stanley

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. I should like to echo his congratulations to the American and British service personnel involved. I should also like to thank the Thames Valley police.

Mr. Skinner

Will the Minister confirm that since the Yanks have been at Greenham common, several of them have been sent back to America because they were high on drugs? Was that the reason why the base held that operation in the middle of the night? Is it not ironic that 300 or 400 journalists can go trailing round a few cricketers in New Zealand and Pakistan, yet little information has been shed on this important matter, when the life and death of the nation could be decided, in some cases, by Americans on drugs?

Mr. Stanley

If the hon. Gentleman had seen the answers that I have given some hon. Members recently, he would have seen that all the individuals concerned were, we understand, in non-sensitive clerical posts.