§ Lord BoothbyMy 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 why the transcript of the papers relating to the detention of the late Sir Oswald Mosley have been banned from publication for 100 years.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Belstead)My Lords, no such order has been made by my noble and learned friend the Lord Chancellor under Section 5(1) of the Public Records Act 1958, but records of proceedings before the advisory committee set up to consider 18B cases are included among those retained by the Home Office under Section 3(4) of that Act on security grounds.
§ Lord BoothbyMy Lords, I thank the noble Lord for his Answer, but does he not think that we have had about enough covering up? And is not this a cover-up which is destined to last for a century, during which everybody will be under suspicion? I knew Sir Oswald Mosley very well. I approved of his original memorandum which led to his resignation. I savagely disapproved of his subsequent attitude towards foreign affairs. But if we are going to be locked up for holding wrong opinions, it is contrary to all the traditions of this country. This is in fact what we were fighting the war to prevent. Is not this an attempt on the part of Her Majesty's Government to cover up something or somebody—it may be Sir Oswald Mosley, it may be themselves? But everybody will be under suspicion.
§ Lord BelsteadMy Lords, I do not agree with the noble Lord, Lord Boothby, that this is in the form of some cover-up. Under Section 3(4) of the Public Records Act 1958, records may be retained in a department for special reasons where the Lord Chancellor has been informed of the facts and has given his approval. These papers are of that nature.