§ 3.14 p.m.
§ The Lord President of the Council (Viscount Whitelaw)My Lords, with the leave of the House, I shall make a Statement about the bombing at the Grand Hotel, Brighton.
Shortly before 3 o'clock on the morning of Friday, 12th October a bomb exploded in the Grand Hotel, Brighton. The hotel is next door to the Brighton Conference Centre where the 1984 Conservative Party Conference was to be concluded later that day. The Prime Minister and senior members of her Cabinet were among the many people in the hotel at the time. Preliminary indications are that the bomb consisted of about 20 lb. of commercial explosive and that it exploded on the sixth floor of the hotel causing the middle part of the building to collapse and rendering the whole structure unsafe.
Four people died as a result of the explosion: they were Sir Anthony Berry. Member of Parliament for Southgate; Mrs. Jeanne Shattock; Mr. Eric Taylor; and Mrs. Roberta Wakeham. Thirty-two people were injured of whom seven are still detained in hospital. Responsibility for the attack was admitted by the 885 Provisional IRA in a message received by the Press Association in Belfast at 12 noon on Friday, nine hours after the explosion occurred. I know that your Lordships will join me in offering our deepest sympathy to those who have been so tragically bereaved as well as our heartfelt desire that those injured may soon be restored to health.
§ Viscout WhitelawMy Lords: I cannot express too profoundly my admiration of the courage, dedication and selfless devotion to duty shown by the police, the fire and ambulance services, the hospital staff and all those involved in those difficult and dangerous hours immediately after the explosion occurred.
Naturally, there has been much discussion about the security arrangements in place at the time of the explosion. The Chief Constable of Sussex Police has appointed the Deputy Chief Constable of Hampshire to inquire into this aspect and I do not believe that it would be right for us to speculate on the outcome of this inquiry.
I have already made known my own view that total, impregnable security is not compatible with the free society we enjoy. We must continue to search for improvements in security arrangements but without calling into question the entire basis upon which public life in this country is conducted. I can assure your Lordships that the circumstances of this outrage are being studied with meticulous care and the security implications will be explored to the full.
An evil group has once again planned and carried out an attack on innocent people in pursuit of their aims. They have deliberately struck at the heart of our nation. But they will find that they have simply strengthened the overwhelmingly united resolve of a Government, Parliament and people determined to preserve their free democracy, so long the envy of the world.
§ Lord Cledwyn of PenrhosMy Lords, we are very grateful to the noble Viscount for making that grave Statement. On behalf of my noble friends I join with him in total condemnation of the appalling act of violence committed in Brighton last Friday. In a free society, a criminal attack upon one political party is an attack on all other parties. An attempt to kill or injure the Prime Minister and the members of an elected Government is a profound affront against everything in which we believe and which we value in this country. We join with the Leader of the House in conveying our deep sympathy to the relatives of those who lost their lives and our best wishes for a speedy recovery to those who suffered injury.
This wicked and grave act will have its repercussions. I note what the noble Viscount said about the review of security arrangements. This is not the time to ask detailed questions. The noble Viscount has said—and I quote him—that the matter is being studied with meticulous care and that the security arrangements will be explored to the full. Can he clarify that? Does it mean that the Government are holding an inquiry in addition to the local one being 886 held in Hampshire? If so, can he indicate its nature and scope? In the meantime, can the noble Viscount say whether advance warning of the threatened IRA action was received by any agency of the Government and how explicit it was?
We welcome the Prime Minister's decision to hold a meeting with Dr. Garret FitzGerald and hope that it will he able to make some progress. We have also noted Dr. FitzGerald's own firm reaction to Friday's terrible events. In the meantime, after security is tightened and necessary additional precautions are taken, we must not allow this act of barbarism to interfere with our democratic duties, responsibilities and liberties in a free society.
§ Baroness SeearMy Lords, it is not possible to find words to express fully the feelings aroused by the Statement that the noble Viscount the Leader of the House has given us this afternoon. May I nonetheless endeavour to express on behalf of all Members of the Alliance on these Benches our horror at the barbarous and hideous act that took place last Friday in Brighton, as well as our horror that human beings can behave to each other in this way, our deep respect for the way that members of the Government and people attending the conference faced the horrors of that morning, our profound sympathy for the people who are still suffering loss and deep pain as a result of the bombing, and our great admiration for what the public services, the police, the hospital and fire services, have done since Friday morning, under the most difficult and challenging circumstances.
May I also say how heartily we agree that, horrible though this occurrence has been, it should not be allowed in any way to interfere with the way in which we conduct our political affairs in this country. If politics has become more dangerous, we must, of course, take all the sensible steps that we can to make it safer but not allow ourselves to be diverted from our main purpose.
§ Viscount WhitelawMy Lords, I am most grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Cledwyn, the Leader of the Opposition, and to the noble Baroness, Lady Seear, the Leader of the Liberal Party, for what they have said. In general terms, I hope that they would feel it right for me to say to them that their support, their sympathy and their encouragement this afternoon must re-emphasise what I have said—that those who perpetrate such actions will meet with the implacable hostility of a united Parliament and people together with the Government. That, at this particular moment, is a great encouragement to my right honourable friend the Prime Minister. I am, if I may say so on her behalf and on behalf of the Government, very grateful to the noble Lord and to the noble Baroness for what they have said. May I also thank them for what they have said about the work of the services concerned. I am grateful for their words of commendation.
In answer to the detailed questions of the noble Lord the Leader of the Opposition, I would say that the Chief Constable of Sussex made the request for the Deputy Chief Constable of Hampshire, Mr. Hoddinot, to conduct this inquiry. It is therefore the chief constable's inquiry, and it is a matter for him in the 887 first instance. The chief constable has, however, decided that, in a matter of such national importance, it would be right for him to make available to the Home Secretary a copy of the report. Your Lordships will understand that it may well not be appropriate for all the details of such a report to be made public. However, the chief constable is aware that it may be appropriate in the national interest to make public some of the report's general conclusions. I can undertake, on behalf of my right honourable friend the Home Secretary, that this will be his determination with the chief constable.
As to the question of advance warning, as I am sure the noble Lord will appreciate, it would he wrong, I think, for me to stray into areas which will be covered by the inquiry and into various intelligence considerations to which it would be better for me not to refer this afternoon. On the point that the noble Lord made about my right honourable friend the Prime Minister's meeting with Dr. Garret Fitz Gerald, I should perhaps say that the Government, too, were grateful for the firm view expressed by the Taoiseach on that occasion. It helped us again at a difficult time. I do not think that it would be appropriate for me to say anything further, except to remark that, naturally, my right honourable friend is determined to meet the Taoiseach as properly arranged.
§ Lord Cledwyn of PenrhosMy Lords, I wonder whether I may pursue one point. In answering my question the noble Viscount referred to the inquiry that is being conducted in Hampshire. While we welcome that action, and while, of course, we understand that the findings of the inquiry cannot be published in full—we nevertheless await it with great interest—in view of the gravity of what took place, does the noble Viscount really believe that a local inquiry is sufficient to cover this matter? Will he not consult his right honourable friend the Prime Minister and his other right honourable friends with a view to considering at least whether some broader inquiry, taking into account all the national implications of what took place, should be held?
§ Viscount WhitelawMy Lords, I am sure that the noble Lord will appreciate that the inquiry will be conducted by the Deputy Chief Constable of Hampshire in Sussex, taking all the evidence of what happened in Brighton. That is his purpose. I think that it is right—the noble Lord will, I think, agree that it is right—that a senior officer from another force should be charged with that particular inquiry. That is the first step. I think that I would answer the noble Lord by saying that it is the first step. Of course, I shall, without any commitment at this stage, report to my right honourable friends closely concerned what the noble Lord has said. I think it right, however, that in the first instance the first report should be to the chief constable who conducted the operations on the spot. Obviously, thereafter there will have to be consideration of what further action may be necessary.
I was also perhaps remiss—if so, I apologise to your Lordships—in that I did not mention at the same time that the security arrangements at the Palace of Westminster, which are, of course, a matter for the 888 House authorities, have already been the subject of discussions with the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. Some changes for tightening security have already been made.
The Lord Bishop of RochesterMy Lords, in the absence of the most reverend Primate the Archbishop of Canterbury may I say, on behalf of these Benches, how grateful we are to the noble Viscount for his full and careful Statement. What happened so tragically at Brighton has had the positive result of uniting the nation in concern, in grief and in prayer. May I ask the noble Viscount whether he is aware of the Archbishop of Canterbury's initiative in calling together Church leaders? Is he aware that the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Scottish Moderator, the English and Scottish cardinals and the secretary of the British Council of Churches have just issued a statement expressing their profound thankfulness for the escape from assassination of the Prime Minister and other Ministers of the Crown, their heartfelt sympathy for those bereaved or injured, and their admiration of the work done by the public services? The Archbishop has requested me to say that they have together asked that prayers should be said next Sunday in all churches throughout the United Kingdom in thanksgiving for the preservation of our lawfully constituted Government and in commemoration of those killed or maimed in this outrage.
§ Viscount WhitelawMy Lords, I am most grateful to the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Rochester for what he has said and for the message that he has conveyed from the most reverend Primate, the Archbishop of Canterbury. I know that my right honourable friend the Prime Minister and, indeed, the whole Government will be very grateful for what he has said. I hope that he will convey to the most reverend Primate on behalf, I am sure, of my right honourable friend the Prime Minister and, through myself, those in this House, our thanks for what he has said and for what the Archbishop and other church leaders plan to do next Sunday. I should like to thank the right reverend Prelate very much.