Oral Answers to Questions — Russia. – in the House of Commons at on 2 May 1923.
Mr Charles Buxton
, Accrington
asked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs why a passport was refused in September, 1922, to Mr. Andrew Rothstein, a British subject desiring to travel to Russia?
Lieut-Colonel Albert Buckley
, Waterloo
The passport was refused because, in view of Mr. Rothstein's intimate connections with the Soviet Government and of the fact that his Russian parentage should entitle him to receive a Russian passport, it did not seem desirable to extend to him the facilities and privileges which the possession of a British passport would confer on him abroad.
Mr Charles Buxton
, Accrington
Is there any precedent for a British subject, who has served in the British Army, being referred to a foreign Power for a passport?
Lieut-Colonel Albert Buckley
, Waterloo
If the gentleman is of Russian parentage and is entitled to a Russian passport, is that not good enough for him?
Mr George Lansbury
, Poplar Bow and Bromley
Are there not members of the aristocracy who are of German and Russian descent and all kinds of descent?
Viscount Curzon
, Battersea South
And members of the Labour party, too.
Mr George Lansbury
, Poplar Bow and Bromley
Yes; why not? I do not confine my remark to any particular class. This is a disgrace. It is done simply because he is only a workman's son.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
