HL Deb 19 July 1960 vol 225 cc481-6

3.43 p.m.

THE EARL OF HOME

My Lords, with the permission of the House, I will make a statement which is being made by the Prime Minister in another place. It consists of two parts—that is, the formal reply sent to Mr. Khrushchev, and a letter sent to Mr. Khrushchev by the Prime Minister. It is as follows:

"I told the House on Tuesday last that I would make a further statement about the incident of the United States RB-47 aircraft as soon as Her Majesty's Government's reply to the Soviet Note of the 11th of July had been sent off.

"Her Majesty's Ambassador in Moscow delivered our reply this morning. The text was as follows:

'Her Britannic Majesty's Embassy present their compliments to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and, on the instructions of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, have the honour to refer to the Ministry's Note of the 11th of July in which it is alleged that, on the 1st of July, a United States aircraft, based on the territory of the United Kingdom, violated the State frontier of the Soviet Union and was shot down over Soviet territorial waters.

'The United States Government's Note to the Soviet Government of the 12th of July states clearly that the United States aircraft in question was never less than about 30 miles from Soviet land territory. In these circumstances, it appears that the allegations contained in the Ministry's Note under reference were based on false premises and that the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics has no ground for protesting about events which took place on the 1st of July.

'On the contrary, the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics bears a heavy responsibility for the action of the Soviet pilot who shot down the United States aircraft in international airspace. Her Majesty's Government view with the utmost seriousness this unprovoked attack, which illustrates the danger implicit in the present instructions to the Soviet armed forces.

'Her Majesty's Government cannot agree that the use of United Kingdom territory by the United States Air Force for legitimate operations in international airspace can in any way be regarded as aggressive action, and accordingly cannot accept the allegations contained in the Ministry's Note.'

"This Note sets out Her Majesty's Government's formal position and I thought it right that we should make a definite reply to the charges made by the Soviet Government. At the same time, I did not feel that we could leave matters there. The trend of events since the failure of the Summit Meeting has been disturbing and I felt that I should make an effort to represent to Mr. Khrushchev what the British Government, and I believe the whole British people, feel about the situation. Accordingly, in addition to the formal Note the Ambassador also delivered a personal letter from me to Mr. Khrushchev in the following terms:

I am sending you separately a formal reply to the Note from the Soviet Government to Her Majesty's Government which was delivered by Mr. Gromyko to Sir Patrick Reilly in Moscow on the 11th of July concerning the shooting down of a United States aircraft. This reply sets out clearly the position of our Government in this matter; but I feel that I must in addition write to you personally about my anxieties as to the way in which the world situation is developing.

'I would like to remind you of the conversations which we have had from time to time when we have both agreed to seek methods by which the underlying tensions in the world could be reduced. When I had the pleasure of being your guest in Moscow last year I think we succeeded in setting in motion a sequence of developments which appeared to have great promise. My visit to you and the subsequent interchange of visits and frank discussions between the members of the proposed Summit Conference made me hopeful that when we came to the Summit Meeting we would make, if not a spectacular advance, at least some forward movement.

'It is not necessary now to go back upon the reasons why the Summit Conference was broken up before it really started. I still feel that it would have been better had you been willing to put other difficulties aside in order to pursue the major purpose for which we were to meet. All acts of intelligence or espionage on either side are after all symptoms, not causes, of the world tension which we should both seek to reduce. However, I took some comfort from your statement that when the dust bad settled we might be able to take up again the task.

'Since then, however, a number of events have occurred which have made me less hopeful. First, the action of the Soviet delegation in leaving the Committee of Ten on Disarmament at a moment when new United States proposals were, with your knowledge, about to be presented. As I told you at the time, I deeply regretted that you should have found it necessary to bring this Conference to an end, in my view prematurely.

'Now we have the new incident regarding the United States RB-47 flight. Our formal Note, to which I referred in my opening paragraph, gives the reply to the accusations against the United Kingdom in this matter. But I feel I must add that, even if the facts had been as stated by your Government, I do not think the Soviet authorities should have taken so grave an action and one so calculated to turn the incident into a major international dispute.

'Then there comes the question of the Congo. I have read the statement which you have distributed which accuses Great Britain, in concert with the United States, France, Belgium and West Germany, of organising a conspiracy to destroy the independent State of Congo. I must ask you, Mr. Khrushchev, whether you really believe such a conspiracy is likely in view of the policies which British Governments of all Parties have followed not only since the last war but for many generations.

'For more than a century it has been our purpose to guide our dependent territories towards freedom and independence. Apart from the older independent countries of the Commonwealth, since the Second World War India, Pakistan, Ceylon, Ghana, Malaya, countries comprising over 510 million of people have, with our help, reached the goal of independent life and strength. We have aided this process both by our technical assistance and by generous financial contributions. All these States are completely independent members of our free Commonwealth association.

'Nor is this movement at an end. In October this year, Nigeria, with its 35 million people, will be another great independent country. Sierra Leone will become independent in April, 1961. The West Indies Federation is moving rapidly in the same direction. And so the process goes on.

'I ask you, Sir, can you really believe that a Government and a people who have pursued these policies so consistently and so honourably are engaged in a conspiracy to destroy the new independent State of Congo?

'But my purpose in sending you this personal message is not to debate in detail the individual issues which have lately arisen between us. Rather, it is to express to you my deep concern over what now appears to be a new trend in the conduct of Soviet foreign policy.

'As I think you will agree, I have consistently welcomed and have given much weight to your assurances of the Soviet Government's desire for peaceful co-existence and detente in international relations. I have shown my sympathy with such purposes. It is, however, my firm opinion that those objectives cannot be successfully pursued without the exercise of patience and restraint. Much of my present anxiety derives from the fact that these elements seem to be absent from recent manifestation of Soviet Government policy.

'I write to you now so plainly because I have the memory of our frank discussions with you in my mind. I simply do not understand what your purpose is to-day.

'If the present trend of events in the world continues, we may all of us one day, either by miscalculation or by mischance, find ourselves caught in a situation from which we cannot escape. I would ask you therefore to consider what I have said and to believe that I am writing to you like this because I feel it my duty to do so.

'We cannot disguise and we have never attempted to disguise the fundamental differences on political, social and economic questions which divide your country and your associates from our country and our allies. Nevertheless, in the nature of things we are united by the fact that both our people and yours want to live their lives in peace and to build something better for their successors. I have always hoped that if we could have followed the path which we seemed at one time to be agreed upon, we could have made progress to this end.'

"I hope that the House will feel that this statement does represent the general feeling in this country. We are not to be separated from our Allies by threats nor unduly worried by propaganda. At the same time, we have a deep desire to see the present tension in the world relaxed. But if this is to be done, all sides must co-operate to minimise and not magnify incidents which must inevitably arise in the present sad state of the world."

3.57 p.m.

VISCOUNT ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGH

My Lords, we are all obliged to the noble Earl the Leader of the House for having communicated to us the statement and correspondence of the Prime Minister. I think I can say at once for my friends on this side of the House, as regards the statement, especially that part which contains the Prime Minister's personal letter to Mr. Khrushchev—which seems to me in relation to the general situation in the world to be almost the most important part of the communication—that we feel sure that not only this House but the whole country will support that type of approach in the present difficult world situation. With regard to the first part —that is, the formal reply to the Soviet Note to ourselves—I must say that there is nothing that one can find fault with in that reply at all, except perhaps that we shall have to leave to a later date the consideration of two points; but on the technical basis of the Government reply I am sure that no fault can be laid, because they are relying upon the actual, considered official reply of the United States of America, their ally, in regard to the particular flight that was being undertaken.

No doubt later on Parliament will have an opportunity of considering the further communications to Parliament of the Prime Minister on his new conversations with the United States as to the future control of United States bases in this country and of flights therefrom. But, taking the statement as a whole this afternoon, I just stress this main thing: that the record of the freedom-loving people of this country, even though they have been guilty of mistakes in the past, in consistently seeking to bring freedom, independence and continuing justice to areas in which we have been concerned for centuries, is the best answer to the latest charge of Mr. Khrushchev against this country. I am very glad indeed that the Prime Minister has made this an opportunity for a personal statement which I, think will carry the nation with him.

LORD REA

My Lords, I think the best comment I can make from these Benches is no comment, in the sense that, as the noble Viscount has indicated, I am quite sure that this communication will have the full support of all members of this nation. I think, for the record, it is wise that those who will be reading this communication in other parts of the world should see that in this country, where there is more than one political Party, we are united in this sort of event, which has in this particular case been so extremely well handled by the communications we have just heard.

THE EARL OF HOME

My Lords, I am grateful for the response the House has given to the Prime Minister's letter and message, and I am sure he will be, too.