§ 3.45 p.m.
§ BARONESS TWEEDSMUIR OF BELHELVIEMy Lords, with the leave of the House, I should like to repeat a Statement which is being made in another place by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. The Statement is as follows:
"The House will have learnt with the deepest regret of the murder in Bermuda late on Saturday night of the Governor, Sir Richard Sharpies, and his aide de camp, Captain Sayers. Both men were shot while walking in the grounds of Government House. The culprit or culprits have not yet been discovered. A team of New Scotland Yard officers are now assisting the Bermuda police in their investigations and every possible effort will be made to bring the assassins to justice. A state of emergency has been proclaimed by the acting Governor to provide the police with special wider powers. There is no sign whatever of any general unrest in the island.
"Sir Richard Sharpies had a long, gallant and most distinguished career of public service, in recent years as our colleague in this House and as a Minister of the Crown. The knowledge of our respect for him and of our deep regret will, I hope, be of some comfort to Lady Sharpies and the other members of his family at this time. I also extend the sincere sympathy of the House to the family 28 of Captain Sayers, whose promising military career has been so cruelly cut short."
My Lords, that is the Statement, but I am sure that noble Lords would like me to express our own very great sorrow and sympathy, not only to Lady Sharpies but also to our Yeoman Usher of the Black Rod, Colonel Sayers, and to Mrs. Sayers, in their terrible loss.
§ LORD SHACKLETONMy Lords, I am very much obliged to the noble Baroness for repeating this tragic Statement, and the whole House will echo her expressions of sympathy. Sir Richard Sharpies, to those who knew him well in another place, was the last person against whom anybody could have borne a grudge, and it is a great loss that a man with his devotion to public service should have died in such tragic circumstances. We should certainly wish to send sympathy to Lady Sharpies and the family, and indeed to another place, who knew Sir Richard so well.
The tragedy strikes very close at home to us, of course. Colonel Sayers is well known to us all as somebody who has served us, and continues to serve us, with great willingness and kindness. We know he is not very well at the moment, and we send our deepest sympathy to him and to Mrs. Sayers.
I imagine that the noble Baroness does not want to say anything about the situation in Bermula to-day, but I gather from the Press that there seems to have been no obvious source of plotting that could have been responsible for this. But no doubt information will come out in due course.
§ LORD AMULREEMy Lords, I, too, should like to thank the noble Baroness for repeating this Statement, and I wish to associate noble Lords on these Benches with what the noble Lord the Leader of the Opposition has said. We are all extremely shocked at the murder of Sir Richard Sharpies; and we feel, too, the greatest sympathy for Colonel Sayers, whom we have known for quite a while and like very much indeed, in the terrible loss he has suffered in the death of his son in this way.
§ BARONESS TWEEDSMUIR OF BELHELVIEMy Lords, I should like to thank the noble Lord, Lord Shackleton, 29 and the noble Lord who spoke from the Liberal Benches, and to say that I am sure their words will be very carefully read by the families of those who have been murdered and will be very much appreciated. I would only say to the noble Lord, Lord Shackleton, that I cannot at the moment give any more details, because, of course, we are sending a police team to help with the investigations.