§ Mr. Winnickasked the Prime Minister if she will make a statement on ministerial accountability for the security services.
§ The Prime MinisterI am fully satisfied with the present arrangements for ministerial responsibility for the security and intelligence services which I share with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Home Department and my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.
§ Mr. Campbell-Savoursasked the Prime Minister if she will set up an inquiry into allegations that Lord Rothschild, a former MI5 officer, solicited Mr. Chapman Pincher to publish the recollections and memoirs of Peter Wright; and if she will make a statement.
§ The Prime MinisterI refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. and learned Friend the Attorney-General to the hon. Member for Linlithgow (Mr. Dalyell) on 26 November at column268.
§ Mr. Campbell-Savoursasked the Prime Minister (1) if she will now say why no steps were taken to trace and interview the sources of material contained in the book "Their Trade is Treachery" by Chapman Pincher during the two months when the relevant manuscript was in Her Majesty's Government's possession prior to publication;
(2) if she will publish the text of letters between Messrs. Sidgwick and Jackson and Sir Robert Armstrong on the question of the book "Their Trade is Treachery"; and if she will make a statement;
388W(3) whether any immunity from injunction was granted to Messrs. Sidgwick and Jackson, publishers of "Their Trade is Treachery" by Chapman Pincher, in a letter from the Cabinet Secretary, Sir Robert Armstrong, transmitted in the period prior to publication and distribution of the book; and if she will make a statement;
(4) if she will now say why no interviews were conducted with members of the security services to confirm the sources of material in the book "Their Trade is Treachery" by Chapman Pincher during the two months beginning February to the end of March 1981 when the manuscript was in possession of Her Majesty's Government;
(5) if she will now say why information confidential to the security services was not removed from the books recently published by Sidgwick and Jackson;
(6) if she will now say on what date Her Majesty's Government first became aware of the intended publication of "Their Trade is Treachery" by Chapman Pincher, "Conspiracy of Silence" by Freeman and Penrose, "The Second Oldest Profession" by Philip Knightly and "A Matter of Trust"; MI5 1945–72 by Nigel West; and on what date Her Majesty's Government actually received proof copies of these books;
(7) why Her Majesty's Government did not seek to prevent publication of the recollections and memoirs of Peter Wright in the book "Their Trade is Treachery" by Chapman Pincher;
(8) what discussions she has had with Lord Victor Rothschild concerning the implications for national security of the proposed publication of Mr. Peter Wright's book and about possible ways of preventing its publication in Mr. Wright's name; if she will give the date and outcome of each such discussion; and if she will make a statement;
(9) if she will now say why all information confidential to the security services was not removed from the book by Nigel West "A Matter of Trust";
(10) what discussions she has had with former members of the security services about the implications for national security of allegations concerning Sir Roger Hollis;
(11) what discussions she has had with former members of the security services concerning the proposed publication of books containing material relating to national security;
(12) on what date she first knew of and saw, respectively, the internal MI5 report discussing Lord Rothschild's role in the publication of the book "Their Trade is Treachery" by Chapman Pincher.
§ The Prime MinisterIt would be inappropriate for me to comment on matters which may arise in the proceedings concerning the Peter Wright case in Australia while those proceedings continue. I also intend to follow the precedent set by previous Prime Ministers of not commenting on security matters.
§ Mr. Campbell-Savoursasked the Prime Minister whether she will carry out an inquiry to identify which security officer revealed to a national newspaper journalist that the Iraqi embassy had been bugged over the last two years.
§ The Prime MinisterI am not aware of any newspaper report alleging that the Iraqi embassy has been bugged over the past two years.
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§ Mr. Campbell-Savoursasked the Prime Minister in what form Mr. Ronnie Symonds, Mr. William Skarden, Mr. Andrew King, Colonel Leo Long, Lord Rothschild, Lord Clannorris, T. A. R. Robertson, Nigel Burgess, Constance Burgess, Mr. Russell Leigh, Mr. Christopher Haines, Mr. William Luke, Mr. Stephen Demowbray, Lord Dacre, Mr. George Carey Foster, Mr. John Cairncross, Mr. Malcolm Muggeridge, Mr. Robert MacKenzie, Sir Ashton Roskill, Sir Martin Furnival, Mr. Nigel Blair and Mr. Anthony Simkins gave undertakings as officers in Britain's security services not to make statements which breached confidentiality.
§ The Prime MinisterI am not prepared to comment on individual cases. All members of the security services sign the Official Secrets Act and are made fully aware of their duty of confidentiality.
§ Mr. Campbell-Savoursasked the Prime Minister if she will make it the policy of Her Majesty's Government, in litigation to which they are a party, to claim public interest immunity against the discovery of documents only in cases where the material in question has not previously been published in other ways; and if she will make a statement.
§ The Prime MinisterNo. Her Majesty's Government will continue to claim public interest immunity against the discovery of documents whenever it is deemed necessary in the public interest to do so.