HL Deb 10 May 1962 vol 240 cc335-6

3.5 p.m.

VISCOUNT MASSEREENE AND FERRARD

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 report in the Sunday Express of April 29, that the Treasury are allowing Mr. Guy Burgess to move his private income from London to Moscow by classing him as an emigrant, is correct.]

THE MINISTER WITHOUT PORTFOLIO (LORD MILLS)

Yes, my Lords. I understand that the person in question is treated for exchange control purposes as permanently resident abroad. The payments which may be made from the United Kingdom to such a non-resident include the transfer of his current income.

VISCOUNT MASSEREENE AND FERRARD

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for his Answer, but am I to understand that in future Her Majesty's Government are to class suspected traitors as emigrants, because, if so, it is surely an extraordinary state of affairs?

LORD MILLS

My Lords, the action and behaviour of this man may arouse distaste. Anyone is entitled to a private opinion about him. But the fact is that he has not been convicted of any offence and the behaviour of the Government, even in cases of difficulty, ought to follow the principle that, however black the circumstances, a man is not treated as guilty until he has been found guilty. This man has been judged a non-resident and is therefore entitled to the conditions applying to non-residents.

LORD HENDERSON

My Lords, am I right in understanding that the decision was taken to arrest the two men if they returned to this country?

LORD MILLS

My Lords, I suggest that that is an entirely different question from the one upon the Order Paper.

LORD OGMORE

My Lords, is it not a fact that during the war an annuity payment was made to Marshal Pétain, and was not this generally regarded as a very civilised thing to be done by this country?

LORD MILLS

I should need notice of that question, my Lords.

VISCOUNT MASSEREENE AND FERRARD

Has the noble Lord also heard that Mr. Burgess is reported as having boasted that he has friends in high places?

LORD MILLS

My Lords I have heard that report. I have no means of checking it, but I should very much doubt the veracity of the statement.

VISCOUNT ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGH

My Lords, am I to understand from the noble Lord that none of the members of the Cabinet knows whether or not an order for arrest was prepared in case this man landed here?

THE LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL AND MINISTER FOR SCIENCE (VISCOUNT HAILSHAM)

My Lords, I do not think the noble Viscount has any right to make that supposition. My noble friend said, perfectly rightly, that this was not the question he had been asked.

VISCOUNT ALEXANDER OF HILLSBORUGH

That is true.

LORD LINDGREN

But may we take it, my Lords, that the decision of the Government is really a bribe to stay away?

VISCOUNT HAILSHAM

I am afraid, my Lords, I do not know to whom that question was addressed. It certainly is entirely untrue and is not authorised by anything that was said by my noble friend.

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