HL Deb 22 June 1961 vol 232 cc712-3
LORD BIRDWOOD

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 if they can give any information on the seizure of 120,000 leaflets of the B.B.C. by the Polish Government at the recent Poznan Fair.]

THE JOINT PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE)

My Lords, on the eve of the opening of the Poznan Fair the Polish authorities, on the orders of the Polish Office of Censorship, confiscated the available stock of leaflets (some 120,000) about the B.B.C.'s programmes to Poland, which the Corporation had intended to distribute from their Stand. The official reason given was that the pamphlets gave too much prominence to individual announcers and commentators on the programme by printing their photographs. Her Majesty's Ambassador, on his arrival in Poznan to visit the Fair, made representations to the Polish Minister for Foreign Trade to secure his help in the matter and also to a senior official of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. On June 15, however, the Polish Ministry for Foreign Affairs confirmed that the decision could not be altered. The B.B.C. Stand at the Fair was therefore not opened and their representative returned to the United Kingdom.

LORD BIRDWOOD

My Lords, I thank the noble Marquess for his reply. Would he not agree that it was a quite extraordinary action to take, in view of the fact that one of these people objected to, apparently, was in his second year at the Poznan Fair and had been there twice before in the same capacity? Secondly, would the noble Marquess confirm that Her Majesty's Government would be behind the B.B.C., in any effort to dictate to the B.B.C. whom they should put up to speak for them in similar cases?

THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE

My Lords, I would agree with the noble Lord that it was an extraordinary decision, but we are trying to find out exactly what was behind it. As regards the question of who takes part in these programmes, as the noble Lord is aware, that is a matter for the B.B.C. It so happens that the two gentlemen who were objected to have had their photographs in programmes before, which makes it all the more difficult to understand why they were objected to this time.