§ Sir John Biggs-Davisonasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on which occasions Her Majesty's ambassador's Queen's birthday message has been banned or censored by Soviet broadcasting authorities; and what were the stated reasons.
§ Mr. RifkindThe occasion of a national day has been used by some ambassadors in Moscow to ask for the opportunity to address the Soviet people over Soviet television. There is no standard practice among western ambassadors in this matter, and in recent years, Her Majesty's ambassador has only sought to give such a broadcast since 1982. On neither previous occasion, was there any attempt by the Soviet authorities to censor the text and the broadcasts were duly made. On this occasion, the reasons given by the Soviet authorities for requesting the deletion of the two passages quoted in my reply to the hon. Member of today were that the first was demagogic and contained unacceptable hints, and that the second would not sound right to the Soviet audience.
§ Sir John Biggs-Davisonasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will quote the passage or passages in the Queen's birthday message prepared by Her Majesty's ambassador in Moscow which occasioned the Soviet authorities to prevent its being broadcast.
§ Mr. RifkindThe relevant passages were as follows
Relations between our two countries, and the peace of the world as a whole, can only benefit if all of us, you and I, can have access to accurate information; and if all levels of society, from the ordinary tourist to the political leader, can travel to each other's homeland and become acquainted with its peoples and its traditions.In this way, we learn that the yearning for peace is not a monopoly of one particular country or ideology, but is shared by all mankind.";and
after Britain welcomed the Soviet Union as an ally in the struggle against Fascism.