§ 41. Mr. Staintonasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the long-term plans for ensuring the strategic importance of Aden.
§ Mr. ThorneycroftFor the foreseeable future Aden will be necessary to our strategy, and our absence from it would both render us unable to discharge our direct obligations to our friends, and would set in train events harmful to the cause of peace. It is therefore our purpose and intention to stay there, and our military plans, dispositions and actions will be shaped to this end