§ 2.35 p.m.
§ LORD AILWYNMy Lords, I beg to ask the question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask His Majesty's Government whether the time is not propitious—perhaps, indeed, overdue—for considering a renewal of full diplomatic relations with Spain; whether they will initiate discussions in the United Nations with a view to the General Assembly rescinding their resolution of December 12, 1946, calling on all members to withdraw their Ambassadors from Madrid; and whether His Majesty's Government do not consider that the persisting unsatisfactory state of affairs vis-à-vis Spain is fraught with considerable potential danger in the existing European situation.]
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDERSECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (LORD HENDERSON)My Lords, I will answer together the first two parts of the noble Lord's Question. His Majesty's Government cannot consider appointing an Ambassador to Madrid so long as the Resolution passed by the United Nations General Assembly in December, 1946, remains in force. Nor, as my honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State made clear in another place on March 23, are they prepared to propose the annulment of that Resolution or to initiate discussions towards that end. Should the General Assembly decide to annul that Resolution, His Majesty's Government will accept the decision. In reply to the third part of the noble Lord's Question, His Majesty's Government cannot accept the view that the present state of affairs is fraught with grave dangers.
§ LORD AILWYNMy Lords, I thank the noble Lord for his reply and, arising 1022 therefrom, may I ask whether His Majesty's Government will be prepared to support any representations that are made in the General Assembly to this effect and not only to accept the decision that is come to by the Assembly? Will His Majesty's Government agree that the North Atlantic Pact has been born as a direct result of the virtual sabotaging of the United Nations Organisation by the Soviet Union and her satellites; and would it not be highly desirable in the circumstances that Spain should be included as one of the signatories of that Pact, should she wish to be so included?
§ LORD HENDERSONMy Lords, I do not think it is the practice of the Government to announce in advance what decision they might make with regard to a matter such as that to which the noble Lords refers if it came before the United Nations General Assembly. In regard to the second part of the supplementary, the North Atlantic Pact is an association of democratic Powers. In inviting States to sign the Pact, there are more than purely strategic considerations to be borne in mind, and these considerations at present preclude the possibility of extending an invitation to Spain. In any case, perhaps I might add that it is not a matter for unilateral decision by His Majesty's Government which Governments should be invited to accede.
§ EARL HOWEMy Lords, may I ask the noble Lord, Lord Henderson, what is the difference, so far as the North Atlantic Pact is concerned, between Portugal and Spain? Also, why is it that we have a Minister in Bulgaria, in Czechoslovakia and in Hungary, yet we are not allowed to have an Ambassador in Madrid?
§ LORD HENDERSONMy Lords, I do not think that supplementary question arises out of the original Question. If the noble Earl wishes for information on these points, perhaps he will be good enough to put down another Question.
LORD SALTOUNMy Lords, while the matter is still being considered by His Majesty's Government, and seeing that at the present moment His Majesty's Ministers are talking in terms of war, will they not consider a principle which was inculcated by Mr. Winston Churchill during the last war, and which has even older and higher sanction—that he who is not against us 1023 is with us? Will the Government make approaches in this matter while there is still some grace in doing so, and not wait until they have to do so of necessity?
§ LORD HENDERSONI cannot agree that His Majesty's Government and other Governments are talking in terms of war. We are talking in terms of peace.
THE EARL OF PERTHMy Lords, will the British Government's representative to the United Nations keep an open mind, supposing that some other member of the United Nations proposes the revocation of the Resolution already made?
§ LORD HENDERSONMy Lords, I am sure that in such a situation the representative of His Majesty's Government would consider all the elements of the situation as it then was.