Egypt and Israel

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 1 November 1956.

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Photo of Mr James Griffiths Mr James Griffiths , Llanelli 12:00, 1 November 1956

I beg to move, That this House deplores the action of Her Majesty's Government in resorting to armed force against Egypt in clear violation of the United Nations Charter, thereby affronting the convictions of a large section of the British people, dividing the Commonwealth, straining the Atlantic Alliance, and gravely damaging the foundations of international order. This has been for our country a black and tragic week. The Government, by plunging the country into an unjustifiable and wicked war against, we believe, the will of the majority of our citizens, have deeply outraged millions of our people. The Prime Minister this afternoon knows that his action has divided this nation more deeply and more bitterly than I remember in my lifetime. Today, and in the days that are coming, we shall find an increasing number of our constituents saying that they are deeply humiliated and shamed at the action that has been taken by Her Majesty's Government.

Look at the events of this week. First, we have dealt, it may well be, a mortal blow at the unity of the Commonwealth. We have strained to the utmost the alliance with our friends, perhaps beyond repair. We have violated our solemn pledges and undertakings under the United Nations Charter, and this evening, while this debate is taking place in this House, we shall be arraigned before the General Assembly of the United Nations. Whatever the result of our vote at ten o'clock here, it may be that a two-thirds majority of the nations of the world will have branded our Government, and, far more important, our country, as an aggressor—in 1956.

I was priveleged to be here, not on these premises but in the old House of Commons, at the time which the right hon. Member for Woodford (Sir W. Churchill) described as "Britain's finest hour". I speak quite seriously, as one who takes second place to none in love for my country or in service to my country, when I say that I feel a deep humiliation in being present at Britain's worst hour. My right hon. Friend the Leader of the Opposition, in two successive and masterly speeches in this House, deployed our case. He argued, in a case which has not been answered, and which, in my view, is unanswerable, that the action of Her Majesty's Government is in violation of our pledges to the United Nations.

I speak for my right hon. and hon. Friends, but there is cumulative evidence from the country during the course of these debates that the answers which Government spokesmen have so far given to our case have left the House and the country still in doubt, and unconvinced that any answer can be given by the Government to the case which my right hon. Friend has made, that we have entered into this action in violation of our solemn pledges.

During the course of this week we have seen the Government as the first British Government—I do not know whether the Prime Minister feels any pride about this—to use the veto in the United Nations. Times without number, when we have discussed international affairs in this House, Ministers have pointed to the wickedness of the Soviet Union in using the veto. [An HON. MEMBER: "Last Monday."] What is our answer now? We have used it, and used it in circumstances which, it is clear from all the reports we get in the Press, have outraged world opinion as well as the members of the United Nations.

I have listened to the attempts by Government spokesmen to answer the case put by my right hon. Friend and other hon. Members on the crucial question whether the action taken by Her Majesty's Government is or is not in violation of the Charter of the United Nations. I listened, in particular, to the two speeches made by the Foreign Secretary, one at the close of the debate on Tuesday and the other at the close of the debate yesterday evening. We have become familiar in these debates, since we have had a Middle East crisis, to Ministers speaking from one day to another with conflicting views which leave the House and the country in confusion. Let me recall the Foreign Secretary's own defence of the Government's position.

On Tuesday, in reply to the charge by my right hon. Friend that we were in breach of the United Nations Charter, the Foreign Secretary did not seek to prove that we were within the United Nations Charter. Indeed, on Tuesday his main theme was that we could not wait, that the situation was urgent, that there was danger, that we had to act at once and that, therefore, the Government could not wait for the United Nations to pronounce upon the matter. Let me quote his own words. He said: The Security Council is … frustrated by the veto … it cannot act immediately … the policeman "— this was on Tuesday evening in this House, at about ten o'clock— has his hands tied behind his back."—[OFFICIAI. REPORT, 30th October, 1956; Vol. 558, c. 1381.] While the Foreign Secretary was making that speech in this House the British representative on the Security Council of the United Nations, acting on the instructions of the same right hon. and learned Gentleman, was frustrating the United Nations by using the veto and was actually at that moment engaged in tying the policeman's hands behind his back. That, indeed, is a shameful thing.

I ask the Foreign Secretary or the Prime Minister, whichever of them is to reply, whether, when either or both of them spoke on Tuesday, they had already given the instructions to their representative on the United Nations Security Council to take that action. If the instructions had been given—the time-table seems to indicate that they must have been given—why was not this House told about them on Tuesday evening? Not only did we use this veto for the first time, and frustrate the United Nations by the use of it, but we did it in New York, and speaking in this House at about the same time the Foreign Secretary, who gave the instructions, was silent. He said not a word about it.

Yesterday evening the Foreign Secretary changed his ground. He then claimed—and I listened to every word of his speech and have read it since—that our action was in conformity with the Charter of the United Nations. Let me quote his words: One of the accusations of the Leader of the Opposition was that the action we have taken is a flagrant violation of the United Nations Charter. No doubt he believes that. Yes, we believe that. So does world opinion, so does British opinion. The Foreign Secretary continued: I believe with equal sincerity that that is not so.…"—[OFFICIAL REPORT. 31st October, 1956; Vol. 558, c. 1569.] I put this to the Prime Minister: if the Government believe, as the Foreign Secretary told us last night, that the action which they have taken is in conformity with the United Nations Charter, justifying this on the basis of Article 51, by what is a long and tortuous argument—if the Government are convinced that their action is in conformity with the United Nations Charter—why did not they put their proposed action before the Security Council and ask for their judgment?

Who is to decide whether any action is within the Charter or not? Is each country to make that its own unilateral decision? I ask the Government why they did not put that question. Do they propose to instruct their representative in the General Assembly this evening to argue that the action which we have taken is in conformity with the Charter of the United Nations? Let me read to hon. Members Article 51, upon which this argument is based. We have heard it before, but I think I should read it again because it is vitally important; the honour and fair name of our country are at stake. It reads: Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken the measures necessary to maintain international peace and security. Measures taken by Members in the exercise of this right of self-defence shall be immediately reported to the Security Council and shall not in any way affect the authority and responsibility of the Security Council under the present Charter to take at any time such action as it deems necessary in order to maintain or restore international peace and security. he Government claim that their action was in conformity with the United Nations Charter and they base that claim on Article 51, but Article 51 lays it down quite clearly that if any such action is taken it must be immediately reported to the Security Council. [An HON. MEMBER: "And it was."] So it was, but did the Government ask the Security Council to pronounce upon it? When the United Nations were considering this situation, including the Government's action, the Government used the veto and made us a guilty country in the eyes of the world.

I therefore say that the case made out in this Motion and by the Opposition this week has been abundantly proved and that none of the speeches which we have heard from the Government has gone anywhere near attempting to answer the charge made. We repeat that in moving this Motion of censure we do so basically and fundamentally because the Government have acted in violation of the United Nations Charter, to which all of us, including them, are pledged in this country.

When the Election of 1955 was fought the Conservative Party told the country that its foreign policy was based on certain principles and that one of those principles was adherence throughout— "throughout" was the word used—to the United Nations Charter. Every hon. Member opposite who votes for the Government this evening is betraying the pledges which he gave to his constituents in the Election. If hon. Members doubt it, let us go to the country and find out.

I turn to the Tripartite Declaration. I should like to begin by saying a few words about Israel. Like many hon. Members, I have had the privilege of visiting Israel and I have come back, as we must all have come back, deeply impressed by the magnificent way in which they are building a home for their tortured people and, while building a home for their people, creating a new, democratic society which in so many ways is a pattern to the world. I have come back deeply conscious, too, of the fact that they have been carrying on this magnificent work under great strain and tension, with a spade in one hand and a gun in the other. Like all of us, I am anxious that we should do all that we can to ensure the future well-being and prosperity of Israel.

I have said this before and I say it now as a friend of Israel: I still believe that the greatest safeguard for the security of Israel in this period was embodied in the Tripartite Declaration of 1950. Indeed, the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary know that we went to see the Government as representatives of the Executive of the Labour Party at a time when the Government had concluded some new agreements with some of Israel's Arab neighbours. We then urged that so that we might keep the balance, which is the implicit cardinal principle in the declaration of 1950, Her Majesty's Government should enter into agreement with Israel comparable with the agreement we had already arrived at with some of her Arab neighbours.

We put that proposal before the House. We put it in two deputations to two Foreign Secretaries—the present Chancellor of the Exchequer and the present Foreign Secretary. They refused—and for the moment I make no complaint about that. Why did they refuse? They refused because they said that the best safeguard for Israel was complete compliance with and adherence to the Tripartite Declaration.

When the Prime Minister was Foreign Secretary, he spoke in a debate in the House on 2nd November, 1954, and dealt with this very point. I want to call attention to the words which he then used and relate them to the circumstances which we now face after the Government's action this week. He spoke of the "three Governments", and I particularly call attention to these words: The three Governments--and it is, of course, of cardinal importance that it is the three Governments—all declare …".—[OFFICIAL REPORT, 2nd November, 1954; Vol. 532, c. 326.] He then went on to use words from the Declaration which I need not repeat. The major point which the Prime Minister made was not only that the Tripartite Declaration of 1950 was Israel's best safeguard, but that the cardinal point of the Tripartite Declaration was that three countries had committed themselves to it.

What happens now? The Tripartite Declaration was designed to meet the kind of situation which has occurred between Israel and her Arab neighbours in the last few weeks and days. We know perfectly well that Her Majesty's Government took this action, when they were already committed under the Tripartite Declaration with the United States, without consulting or even informing the United States Government, a partner to this Declaration. I therefore ask the Prime Minister to reply to this question: does the Declaration still stand? Have we not now real grounds to fear that the action which the Government have taken has undermined the Tripartite Declaration of 1950, may have destroyed it and may have torn it up? And—and I say this as a friend of Israel—with all their pretext of sympathy for that country that is the worst thing that the Government have done for it.

We say in our Motion that the action which the Government have taken has divided the Commonwealth. The right hon. Gentleman the Member for Woodford, in one of his wartime speeches, much quoted, for and against, said that he had not become Prime Minister of Britain to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire. This Empire is being transformed into a great Commonwealth, the greatest multi-racial community the world has ever known, and the present Prime Minister, the successor of the right hon. Member for Woodford, has dealt such a mortal blow to the Commonwealth that he may be responsible for its liquidation.

First, we are members of this great Commonwealth which has made, and has still to make, such a wonderful contribution to the peace and well-being of the world, and to show the world that people of different colours, religions and creeds can live on equal terms of human dignity together. I ask hon. Members to realise how this action of the Government appears to the countless millions of fellow-citizens in our Commonwealth. There are the millions of Moslems in the Commonwealth and in the Colonies. I tell hon. Members how this action will appear to them—and this, in my view, is one of the greatest indictments of the present action of the Government.

For the people in the Commonwealth and the Colonies—and in the uncommitted world—this will be an attack by a powerful white country on a weak country of coloured people. When one reads the pronouncements in the Press of the Commonwealth and Colonies it becomes increasingly clear that, by the action taken this week, we may very well have destroyed this great venture, this Commonwealth, towards which we have been working. And it is a Conservative Government, it is the party which regarded the Empire almost as a branch of the Conservative Party, whose members talk about it as if it belonged to them—they are the Government who are breaking up the Commonwealth at this time.

Those are our charges: that we have violated the Charter of the United Nations; that we have torn up the Tripartite Declaration; that we have divided ourselves from our friends, and that we have outraged public opinion in the world.

I now want to say a word to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister has for many years been looked upon by many people in this country, and of more than one party, as the champion of the United Nations. [An HON. MEMBER: "He still is."] In 1945, the present Prime Minister was one of those privileged to be present at the foundation of the United Nations. He made a speech at that Foundation Conference from which I want to quote. I want to remind the House of what he said—and we shall remind the country.

At the Foundation Conference, in San Francisco, in 1945—and I expect that hon. Members have made this same quotation in Election speeches to their constituents; I wonder whether they will make it after this week?—the Prime Minister said: At intervals in history mankind has sought by the creation of international machinery to solve disputes between nations by agreement and not by force. Yet no one here doubts that despite these earlier failures a further attempt must be made … Great Powers"— and I presume that he included us among the great Powers; I presume that he included the Government which he now heads: can make a two-fold contribution: (1) by the support of this organisation; (2) by setting themselves certain standards of international conduct and by observing them scrupulously in all their dealings with other countries. The greater the power any State commands, the heavier its responsibility to wield that power with consideration for others and with restraint upon its own selfish impulses. I say to the Prime Minister that he has forfeited the trust of millions of our people. He has failed to keep the faith, and now, at the end of this tragic, humiliating week for our country, I say to the Prime Minister, and, I believe, to the country that, not for the first time in the history of this House, it has been left for the Leader of the Opposition to speak for Britain. [HON. MEMBERS: "Oh."] I am proud of the lead which my right hon. Friend has given today. This evening, when we go into the Lobby to vote for this Motion—[HON. MEMBERS: "Nasser."]—we shall carry with us—[HON. MEMBERS: "Nasser."]—the good wishes—[Interruption.] I remember hearing, in 1937 and 1938, talk of "Franco's friends", "Members of the Ring", "Men of Munich", and I ask, Who are you to talk to us about Nasser?"

In voting for this Motion this evening we are speaking for the best in Britain. We say to the Government, "Get out, and make way for others."