– in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 31 October 1949.
Mr Barnett Janner
, Leicester West
12:00,
31 October 1949
asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what occurred when a British Avro Tudor plane was fired on by Egyptian anti-aircraft guns in the Gaza area recently; and what steps he has taken with the Egyptian Government or with the United Nations in this matter.
Mr Christopher Mayhew
, Norfolk Southern
The only communication to His Majesty's Government on this incident was made orally on 23rd October by a director of the company which owns the aircraft. No reports have been made to any of His Majesty's representatives either by the representatives of the company or by any member of the crew of the aircraft. Further inquiries are being made from the Egyptian Government.
Mr Barnett Janner
, Leicester West
Did the Minister ascertain from Air Vice-Marshal Bennett what the position was? Has he received information from that source to the effect that there were displaced persons being carried in that plane, which was only being used, therefore, for humanitarian purposes, and will he see that an incident of this kind is not repeated?
Mr Christopher Mayhew
, Norfolk Southern
We received from Air Vice-Marshal Bennett a telephone call and a promise of a report, which has not arrived. We are making further inquiries from the Egyptian Government.
Mr Alan Lennox-Boyd
, Mid Bedfordshire
While the Minister may be anxious to get every satisfaction from the Egyptian Government, is it not a fact that this outrage did occur? Does he expect to get the same satisfaction that he got from the Jewish authorities?
Mr Christopher Mayhew
, Norfolk Southern
I do not think that we should talk about satisfaction until we know what happened.
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.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
