§ 2.44 p.m.
§ LORD VANSITTARTMy Lords, I beg to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask whether Her Majesty's Government will now protest in more emphatic terms against Egyptian interference in the Sudan elections, in gross violation of their Treaty obligations.]
THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (THE MARQUESS OF READING)My Lords, the noble Lord will now have seen that on November 5 I incorporated, in my speech in the debate on the Address, the text of the passage dealing with this subject in the speech which my right honourable friend made in another place on the same date. I have nothing to add.
§ LORD VANSITTARTMy Lords, is it not a most unusual position that the unoffending party to a Treaty should continue to be bound by it when the offending party has shamelessly and publicly violated it at every turn, and from the beginning?
THE MARQUESS OF READINGMy Lords, if I may say so with respect, that question, like so many of the noble Lord's supplementary questions, is of a highly rhetorical character, and I do not propose to answer it.
§ LORD VANSITTARTMy Lords, I did not expect the noble Marquess to answer it to-day. I made the point merely because it happens to be one to which I reserve full liberty to revert later.