Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 5 November 1948.
Mr Philip Piratin
, Stepney Mile End
12:00,
5 November 1948
I support the argument presented by the hon. Member for Thurrock (Mr. Solley). A number of hon. Members have tried in this House today to get the Foreign Office to take some action in this matter. I myself, as early as it was possible this morning, telephoned the Foreign Secretary and also spoke to the Under-Secretary. Both refused to take any action in this matter. I made perfectly clear to them on the telephone that this was a matter of life and death, which they acknowledged, and that these men would be killed in Greece by Monday unless some action was taken. The Foreign Secretary and the Under-Secretary, I regret to say, both refused to take any action. Some hon. Members and I tried on a point of Order to raise this matter today. Mr. Speaker ruled it out of Order, and, therefore, I think that the hon. Member for Thurrock is to be commended by those who feel that such action should be aired in the House on having been able to catch Mr. Speaker's eye in order to raise this matter on the Adjournment.
The House has heard the statement which the hon. Member for Thurrock has made with regard to the legal aspects of the trial which has recently ended in Greece. On Wednesday of this week, an hon. Member asked the Foreign Secretary whether he had an observer at the trial in Greece. As hon. Members will recall, the Foreign Secretary was a bit evasive on the matter as to whether we had or had not an observer. He mentioned that he was expecting a report from the Ambassador. In my conversation this morning—and perhaps the Under-Secretary will not mind my repeating that conversation about which there was no secret—he made it perfectly clear that we did not have an observer at the trial. He said that the Ambassador in Greece would let us have a report through the usual channels. When I asked why we did not have an observer there, he said that there were the usual channels of observation and reporting. I pointed out that in that case we did not need to have the Ambassador's report, because we had already had Press reports which would be very similar to the Ambassador's report, but that we should not have a private observer's report.
The Foreign Secretary has been asked by the hon. Member for West Fife (Mr. Gallacher) whether he is aware of the fact that an English lawyer who asked the Greek Government for a visa to go to Greece to observe the trial was refused it. This lawyer, Mr. Simmonds, was asked to represent the Haldane Society. Every Member of this House is aware, I believe of what is the Haldane Society. The Law Officers of the Crown are eminent members of that Society. It is a Socialist organisation of lawyers——
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