Mr. Alan WilliamsTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if(a) the fax links and (b) the telephone between Kuala Lumpur and his Department were operational throughout the period of the negotiations of the protocol with Malaysia in March 1988; if duty officers at the Foreign Office were available at this period; and what rules apply to their contacting Ministers or Ministers' private office staff outside normal office work hours.
§ Mr. GoodladNormal communications facilities and duty officer arrangements were available throughout the period. Arrangements also exist for contacting Ministers' private secretaries out of normal office hours.
Mr. Alan WilliamsTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the answer to the right hon. Member for Copeland (Dr. Cunningham) of 25 January,Official Report, columns 145–46, if he will give the reasons for the time taken after the signing of the Malaysian protocol in March 1988 for a letter to be sent saying that aid could not be linked to arms sales.
§ Mr. GoodladWhen the text of the protocol became available in London at the end of March, Ministers immediately recognised that the aid-defence sales link would have to be disentangled. Extensive consultations between Ministers followed in which we decided that we should make clear to the Malaysian Government that a link was not possible.