§ 12.34 p.m.
THE MARQUESS OF READINGMy Lords, may I intervene for a moment to make a statement which has recently been made in another place concerning the Agreement with Iraq which was made on April 4 of this year? The statement deals with the Special Agreement of April 4, 1955, betwen the United Kingdom and Iraq. That Agreement was printed with other ancillary documents in Command Paper 9544, which was presented to Parliament in July of this year.
Your Lordships may recall that the Memorandum which was attached to Note No. 2, and was amongst the documents printed in that White Paper, referred to the Special Agreement and provided that certain property in Iraq was to be handed over to the Government of Iraq and paid for at its in situ value. As a result of subsequent negotiations, the value of this property has been agreed at £2,755,000. It has also been agreed that the common interest of Her Majesty's Government and the Government of Iraq in the defence of the area will best be served by an arrangement whereby Her Majesty's Government waive the payment of this sum, and the Government of Iraq undertake, in return, to devote in the years 1956 and 1957 at least £2,000,000 to the purchase in the United Kingdom of arms, equipment and defence stores, and the remainder to expenses connected with the training of Iraqi forces in co-operation with our own. The Government of Iraq has also undertaken to make available in Iraq, free of charge, certain facilities for the British armed forces. Details of this Agreement are contained in an Exchange of Notes between the Prime Minister of Iraq and Her Majesty's Ambassador at Baghdad, which were signed in Baghdad yesterday. The text will be available when I have finished this statement.
By this Agreement we are in effect putting installations which we have built up over the years in Iraq for the defence of the Middle East area, at the free disposal of the Government of Iraq, as our friend and partner in the Baghdad Pact, to be used by them for the same common purpose. For its part, the Government of Iraq is undertaking to provide free of charge certain essential facilities for our 422 Forces and to purchase arms in this country.
These measures are designed to strengthen the close connection between British Forces and the forces of Iraq and thereby to consolidate the new defensive association of the Baghdad Pact. My right honourable friend was greatly impressed during his recent visit to Baghdad by the need to use the new opportunities offered by the Pact to develop co-operation in the Middle East region which, as your Lordships are aware, is now faced with a serious new threat to its security and independence. This new Agreement is an important contribution to this end.
§ 12.37 p.m.
§ LORD HENDERSONMy Lords, we are grateful to the noble Marquess for giving us that information about this new arrangement which, as I think we all understand, is merely the fulfilment of an agreement as part of the Baghdad Pact arrangements. The only point to which I would call attention is that under the new arrangement Iraq is to get arms during the next two years to the extent of £2,000,000. That is all very good in so far as it relates to the building up of the defence of the Middle East under the Northern Tier. But I should like to draw the noble Marquess's attention to this point—it was raised in our debate on the Middle East last week and ought not to be lost sight of—that what is done under these bilateral Treaties with Arab countries, such as this, and the provision of substantial arms for perfectly proper purposes (and I am not complaining about the provision of arms) does, in fact, further unbalance the position as between Arab countries and Israel in the field of the provision of arms. I think it is only right that attention should be called to that matter, because, with the development of these bilateral Pacts and their fulfilment in terms of arms supplies, we are creating disbalance which we think calls for attention by Her Majesty's Government with a view to the provision of some compensating supplies.
§ LORD HORE-BELISHAMy Lords, is the noble Marquess going to answer that question, which I think is one of very great importance?
THE MARQUESS OF READINGI am not going to answer it because it was not a question. The noble Lord called my 423 attention to a position. That position, of course, has been borne in mind in coming to the arrangement of which I have spoken.
§ LORD HORE-BELISHAThe noble Marquess will be aware that the constant stressing of the military aspect of this Baghdad Pact is already having a disrupting influence, not only among Arab countries but within Arab countries—particularly in Jordan. Would it not be as well to take an opportunity to stress the non-military aspects of our relationship with the Arab world; and would it not be possible to present some kind of statement relating to the more economic and pacificatory aspects of our relationship with the Arab world?
For instance, no statement has been made to the House—perhaps the noble Marquess is going to make it to-day—about the proposed arrangement with Egypt for the financing of the construction of the new dam. It does seem a pity that it is always upon the military side that we give this information. I entirely associate myself with what the noble Lord, Lord Henderson, has just said, and I would emphasise that there is advantage in giving the constructive forces an opportunity of taking shape and appeasing a bad relationship in the Arab world, and in giving a chance for arrangements between the Arab world and Israel to develop. How can that happen within a military context and particularly within a military context in which the unbalance is stressed?
§ LORD SILKINMy Lords, the noble Marquess did not understand my noble friend's intervention as a question. I should like to ask him a specific question. He says that the question of the balance of arms between the Arab States and Israel has been taken into account: could he tell the House in what way it has been taken into account? On the face of it this is a substantial addition to the Arab strength, and nothing has been said about the position of the other side. Could the noble Marquess give the House a little more information?
THE MARQUESS OF READINGMy Lords, what I meant a moment ago was that in considering an arrangement with Iraq, the kind of criticism which the noble 424 Lord, Lord Henderson, has made of the position also occurred to Her Majesty's Government, and that was a matter which we had to bear in mind in connection with this Agreement. I meant no more and I go no further than that. As regards what the noble Lord, Lord Hore-Belisha, said in this connection, I thought I had at least tried to make it clear, in the debate we had a few days ago, that we did realise the economic as well as the military aspect of the Baghdad Pact. It so happens that this agreement has been reached at this point of time and I thought it was right to tell your Lordships what had taken place. But that does not mean that we are in any way oblivious to the considerable economic aspect of the Pact. I can only repeat that, in addition to what I said in the same connection in the debate a few days ago.
§ LORD HORE-BELISHAMy Lords, if it be that the Government are aware of the economic aspect of this matter—I do not dispute it—why is there no statement made about what we are doing for Egypt in that regard? The House is rising today, and on the last day we have a statement on special arrangements about military bases in Iraq. That is the last word said, whereas we can all read in the newspapers that some considerable arrangement has been made with Egypt on the economic side. I do not dispute at all that the Government are considering the matter and I did not ask that. I asked the noble Marquess whether he intended to say anything about that, if not now, in his speech this afternoon. This is not a destructive question, but a helpful one.
THE MARQUESS OF READINGMy Lords, I was not proposing to deal with the matter of Egypt because, although certainly discussions have been proceeding here and in Washington, as is apparent from the papers, there is no concluding direction and it would be inadvisable that I should get up and tell your Lordships of any negotiations that might be proceeding, and of the nature and terms of them, until those negotiations were concluded. If it so happens that they are concluded at a time before Parliament meets again, that is a matter which none of us can regulate; but certainly for me to say anything at this stage would be quite irregular and inopportune.
§ LORD SILKINMy Lords, may I get the position clear? I take it that the noble Marquess is saying that Her Majesty's Government fully realise the effect of the provision of further arms to Iraq. They recognise that this will result in an even greater unbalance. That has been taken into consideration: but are they going to do anything about it? Are they going to allow this greater unbalance to continue?