HL Deb 23 May 1960 vol 223 cc1105-8

2.40 p.m.

LORD TEVIOT

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

[The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the B.B.C. gave them prior information of their intention to discuss the breakdown of the Summit Conference on Panorama at 10 p.m. on Wednesday last.]

LORD CHESHAM

No, my Lords. There was no reason for them to do so. I would remind the noble Lord that it has been the policy of successive Governments, and it is the policy of Her Majesty's Government, to maintain the B.B.C.'s independence in making programmes.

LORD FRASER OF LONSDALE

My Lords, is it not better to leave this matter to the B.B.C. Governors, subject to the vigilant eye of watchdog Lord Teviot?

LORD TEVIOT

My Lords, I must thank the noble Lord for his reply, but I would ask him this very pertinent question, namely, whether he has read the Prime Minister's speech of last Friday. With the leave of the House, I propose to quote one or two sentences from it.

SEVERAL NOBLE LORDS: No.

LORD TEVIOT

The first is as follows: On Wednesday, May 18"— which is the day I am referring to in my Question— Mr. Khrushchev and his colleagues called on the Foreign Secretary and me for a short time before taking leave of President de Gaulle. Subsequently, the three Western Foreign Ministers and the Heads of Government had most useful discussions. That is the first supplementary question I want to ask the noble Lord: whether he has seen that. Subsequently to that—

EARL ST. ALDWYN

My Lords, I hesitate to interrupt the noble Lord, but I think he must keep to questions and not read passages from speeches.

LORD TEVIOT

This is a question, Am I not allowed to quote from the Prime Minister's speech?

EARL ST. ALDWYN

I should have thought that it was hardly appropriate on a Question.

LORD TEVIOT

With great respect, I should have thought that it was most appropriate. Then with regard to broadcasting, the Prime Minister said that he thought that that was most unusual and very unlikely to be successful. I should like to know whether the noble Lord has seen these very pertinent passages which bear on my Question.

LORD CHESHAM

My Lords, in the first place of course I entirely agree with the noble Lord, Lord Fraser of Lonsdale, that we had much better leave it like that, because it is a fact that, if my noble friend Lord Teviot does not like the B.B.C.'s programme content, it is to the B.B.C. that he should address his complaints and not to me. With regard to by noble friend's supplementary question, I would reply that the Prime Minister did have things to say, but I am unable to relate his speech, interesting as it was, to the Question on the Order Paper.

LORD STONHAM

My Lords, could the noble Lord say whether he would also agree that his noble friend ought to address similar questions to commercial television? Could he say also whether Mr. Khrushchev gave Her Majesty's Government prior notice of his intention to ensure the breakdown of the Summit Conference?

LORD CHESHAM

My Lords, I think that both those question are for the judgment of the individuals concerned.

LORD FRASER OF LONSDALE

My Lords, with respect, may I ask my noble friend on the Front Bench if he appreciates that he did not quite get the purport of my supplementary question? It was not a suggestion that Lord Teviot should write to the B.B.C. Does he not agree with me that the safeguard for the proper behaviour of the B.B.C. is the fact that Questions can be asked in this House or Motions made in another place?

LORD CHESHAM

Yes, my Lords. I did get the purport of the question, and I agree with the noble Lord. As I said in your Lordships' House last week, the Governors of the B.B.C. are there to ensure that the rules are kept to. But if any individual, in your Lordships' House or out of it, wishes to raise a matter of complaint about programme content within the rules, the B.B.C. is the proper quarter to which he should address it.

LORD TEVIOT

My Lords, I do not want to break the Rules at all, and I am always very careful not to do so. But I am in rather a dilemma as to what to do. Am I to put my Question in your Lordships' House as part of your Lordships' Business, or am I to put that Question to the B.B.C. Governors? I am not quite sure what is the right thing to do, and I want to do the right thing.

LORD CHESHAM

My Lords, perhaps I might once more clarify this particular matter. The noble Lord's dislike of the content of certain B.B.C. programmes is well known by now. If the noble Lord does not like the way the B.B.C. conduct their programmes, which they do within the rules that are laid down for them—there is no question here of transgression, I think—he should complain to the B.B.C., which in this instance, to the best of my knowledge, he has not done.

LORD TEVIOT

My Lords, I certainly have not done so. I should like to ask a further supplementary question, as to whether I am to pay more attention to the Prime Minister's statement or whether I am to hand myself over to the B.B.C.?

LORD HENDERSON

My Lords, is not the Question a very simple one? The Government were asked whether they had had prior notice before this discussion took place. That is the only matter the noble Lord has raised. The rest seem to me to be quite out of Order.

LORD CHESHAM

My Lords, I think the noble Lord, Lord Henderson, is quite right. I have done my best: I have answered the Question, and I have gone a good deal further to try to accommodate my noble friend. I really do not think there is anything more I can add.

LORD TEVIOT

My Lords, with great respect, is the answer to my Question as raised by the noble Lord, Lord Henderson, No?

LORD HENDERSON

That is correct.

LORD CHESHAM

That is what I said, my Lords.

LORD TEVIOT

Thank you very much.