§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department why, in view of the fact that he has power to prevent undesirable aliens and others landing and remaining in Great Britain, he permitted ex-Nazi stormtroop officers to land and remain for a time in the United Kingdom; and why these were not refused permission to land.
§ Mr. Merlyn ReesI would refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave to a Question by my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Handsworth (Mr. Lee) on 25th November—[Vol. 939, c. 931.] In the recent case which I assume my hon. Friend has in mind, no information was available to my staff, at the time that the persons concerned were admitted, linking them with the publication of the book about the Waffen SS.
§ Mr. George Grantasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department why Immigration Act powers were not used to stop ex-Nazi stormtroop officers from landing in the United Kingdom and calling a Press conference.
§ Mr. Merlyn ReesAs soon as I had sufficiently firm information about the ex-Waffen SS officers who intended to come here to promote a book, I gave instructions that they should be refused entry. That evening one of the men was refused entry at Heathrow. The same evening, the leave to remain of another man, who had entered the United Kingdom as a visitor some days before, was varied to614W require him to leave by the next day. The power to vary a person's leave to remain does not include power to prohibit him from calling a Press conference.