BRITISH CONSUL-GENERAL. (Hansard, 22 December 1938)

§ Mr. Butler

On 10th November the hon. Member for Bridgeton submitted to the House certain statements made regarding His Majesty's Consul-General at Tangier. It was not possible for me in the time or with the material at my disposal on that occasion to give more than an interim reply. My Noble Friend has now been able to make full inquiries into the matters at issue.

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It is clear from a letter which the hon. Member was good enough to show me that the communication on which he based his statements emanated from a certain British resident in Tangier, who has for a considerable time past been conducting a campaign against His Majesty's Representatives in Tangier. Mr. Keeling, His Majesty's Consul-General in Tangier, had informed the Foreign Office on a previous occasion and before this matter was raised in the House that in his opinion the hon. Member's correspondent was not in any sense speaking for the majority of the British colony in Tangier. Inquiries which have been made since 10th November in official or semi-official quarters together with communications spontaneously addressed by private individuals in Tangier to the Foreign Office during the last few weeks fully corroborate this view.

In a letter, dated 15th November, a number of responsible British residents in Tangier who described themselves as "comprising the majority of the senior members of the British community holding property in Tangier" wrote that "they deeply resented the statements made in the House of Commons" as "purporting to be the views of British residents in Tangier regarding His Majesty's Representative. These statements were admittedly made on the strength of a letter from a private individual. They do not represent the truth.…" The signatories ended by deploring the fact that an attempt had been made to bring discredit on His Majesty's Representative "in whom we have every confidence."

The British Chamber of Commerce telegraphed on 15th November saying that they "viewed with grave concern difficult position Consul-General placed in from attack in House," that the statement submitted by the hon. Member "contained many inaccuracies" and that "the Chamber dissociates itself from individual expression of opinion."

Several other letters in a similar sense—quite unsolicited—have been received from responsible British residents in Tangier and an article in the local British newspaper of 18th November, after speaking of certain glaring omissions and inaccuracies in the letter quoted by the hon. Member, referred to the allegation 3133W that Mr. Keeling had forfeited the confidence of British residents in the international zone, and expressed complete confidence that the British Consul-General had done nothing of the kind.

Of the detailed allegations made against Mr. Keeling by the hon. Member's correspondent perhaps the most serious was that the Consul-General had deliberately absented himself from his post during the recent international crisis.

The actual facts are as follows. On 19th September, two or three days after the Berchtesgaden conversations, Mr. Keeling telegraphed to the Foreign Office to say that his wife was leaving for San Sebastian and that as the local situation was quite quiet he proposed to accompany her. He was informed in reply by the Foreign Office that his proposals were approved. Mr. Keeling left Tangier on 19th September, leaving the Consulate-General in the charge of the Consul. This officer is a senior and thoroughly experienced member of the Levant Consular Service who has served in Tangier since the summer of 1936 and an official in whom my Noble Friend has been assured that the local British community have full confidence. Mr. Keeling arranged that he should be warned at once by telegram by the Consul should anything occur in Tangier requiring his immediate return. The Consul did not, however, consider it necessary to send any such warning to Mr. Keeling although the latter was in constant telegraphic communication with Tangier during his absence about various matters of current business.

After leaving Tangier on 19th September, Mr. Keeling proceeded to San Sebastian where he stayed in a hotel and met his step-son, who had been ill. There is no evidence that Mr. Keeling visited a "Blackshirt Italian Division."

As soon as the Consul-General heard of the breakdown of the Godesberg conversations on 24th September he decided, on his own initiative, to return to Tangier as soon as possible and tried to find accommodation in an aeroplane due to leave on Monday, 26th September. Owing to the rush of traffic this proved to be impossible and Mr. Keeling therefore motored to Burgos and after considerable difficulty secured a place in the aeroplane leaving for Tetuan on 28th September. He was able to reach Tangier in the early afternoon of that day.

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§ Mr. Keeling

did not "fly back to Franco's headquarters in Morocco in a Franco 'plane." He travelled in one of the ordinary commercial aeroplanes on the thrice weekly service Vittoria-Burgos-Seville-Tetuan. Tetuan, which is a short distance by motor from Tangier, is the normal terminus of this air service and there was no question of Mr. Keeling visiting any military headquarters there.

On his return to Tangier Mr. Keeling reported that he had found everything quiet, though there had been some alarm among certain of the foreign communities. The British colony, however, apart from their natural apprehensions about the international situation, did not seem to have been unduly alarmed.

The rumour that "most of the British business houses in Tangier were wiring London urging the dangers of the situation" is very exaggerated. Only one such telegram was communicated to the Foreign Office. According to Mr. Keeling none of the firms represented on the local British Chamber of Commerce sent any such telegrams nor did the local branch of the Bank of British West Africa. Mr. Keeling's report on this point has been spontaneously confirmed from an independent source.

It is an equal exaggeration to say that "as the late crisis came to a head things in the zone looked black." Not only Mr. Keeling but other responsible members of the British community are emphatic on this point.

It is thus clear that Mr. Keeling only left Tangier with the approval of the Foreign Office, that he returned to his post as soon as he could when he heard of the deterioration in the international situation and that during his absence nothing very disquieting took place in Tangier.

There still remain a few points in the letter quoted by the hon. Member. It is alleged that on his return to Tangier Mr. Keeling "gave a large party to various Fascist leaders, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese." My Noble Friend is informed by Mr. Keeling that this party was intended primarily to celebrate the conclusion of the Munich Agreement and that the guests included members of the local Diplomatic Corps, among them the American and French Ministers, local British officials and prominent members of the British community. It was in no 3135W sense a Fascist celebration. This has been spontaneously confirmed from other sources.

My Noble Friend has no information to confirm the allegation that the "Italians were planning a coup in Tangier" in September and this suggestion appears irresponsible.

It is further alleged that on Mr. Keeling's appointment, he announced that he was a Fascist that he made no secret of the fact that his political views were Fascist and that he publicly gave the Fascist salute. Mr. Keeling categorically denies these accusations and states that they are untrue. This is fully confirmed by an entirely reliable and independent source in Tangier.

Mr. Keeling equally denies the insinuation that his guests at the Consulate-General have been predominantly Fascist in sympathy and states that his guests have habitually included persons of many nationalities, as well as local British personalities. This, too, has been confirmed from other sources.

There remains the more general allegation that the Consul-General has allowed his Italian connections to influence him unduly in the conduct of his official duties. It is quite true that Mr. Keeling is married to a lady who, though not of Italian birth herself, was formerly married to an Italian subject and that one—not two—of his stepsons is serving in Spain. But it by no means follows that because Mr. Keeling has these family ties with Italy he allows them to affect his judgment. Mr. Keeling himself indignantly denies any such accusation, which is equally repudiated by my noble Friend. On the contrary Mr. Keeling has been active in supporting British interests in Tangier and in carrying out the instructions of His Majesty's Government in this respect. It has been thought desirable to make further inquiries into this aspect of the matter. Three senior naval officers who have recently been stationed in the Mediterranean have all stated that they never had any reason to suspect Mr. Keeling of unduly pro-Italian views or to find fault with the way in which he carried out his duties, and the Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Station, has stated that in his various dealings with the Consul-General he has always found him most anxious to maintain British interests and prestige.