HC Deb 19 October 1954 vol 531 c161W
99. Mr. Foot

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what time limit was imposed at the recent nine-Power Conference in London during which the British offer to keep Forces permanently on the Continent would remain open.

Mr. Eden

No time limit was placed on our offer, but in my statement at the Conference I saidIf we succeed here, then this undertaking stands; if we do not, Her Majesty's Government could not regard itself as committed to what I have said this afternoon.

Our undertaking is part of the general settlement agreed at the London Conference, but it will lapse if that settlement does not come into force.