§ Mr. Biggs-Davisonasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether, having regard to the official United Nations' explanation for the banning of Alexander Solzhenitsyn's "Gulag Archipelago" from the bookstall of the Palais des Nations at Geneva—namely, that it is offensive to the Soviet Government—he will take steps to ensure that publications injurious or hostile to the interests and prestige of the United Kingdom are treated on the same basis.
§ Mr. HattersleyI understand that the concession under which the bookshop in question operates forbids the sale of any publication offensive or defamatory to a member State. I am sure this rule is applied impartially. I understand in fact that there has been no official United Nations statement of the kind indicated and the book is available in three languages through the bookshop at the Palais des Nations.