RIMPAC Exercise (Hansard, 15 April 1986)

§ 13. Mr. Foulkes
asked the Secretary of State for Defence whether it is intended that during their participation in the RIMPAC exercise British naval forces will take part in ground attacks against the Kaho' Olawe United States bombing range in Hawaii.

§ Mr. Stanley
No, Sir.

§ Mr. Foulkes
Not withstanding that answer, in view of the fact that we volunteered to participate in this exercise when New Zealand pulled out, and in view of recent events, how can the Minister convince us that in defence matters we are nothing more than a satellite state of the United States of America?

§ Mr. Stanley
It says a lot for the commitment of the Labour party to NATO that it is reluctant for us to exercise with our most important military partner in NATO.

§ Mr. Denzil Davies
Will the right hon. Gentleman make it clear that this is not a NATO exercise, but an exercise outside the NATO area? We are concerned about our obligations to NATO, but we do not want to enable the Americans to project power all over the world.

§ Mr. Stanley
We are very happy to exercise with the United States both in area and out of area.