Defence

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 16 April 1957.

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Photo of Mr Frederick Bellenger Mr Frederick Bellenger , Bassetlaw 12:00, 16 April 1957

I am afraid that my mind does not work so quickly on these matters as does the mind of my hon. Friend the Member for South Ayrshire (Mr. Emrys Hughes). Perhaps it is not so made up as his mind may be. I hope that he will be patient with me and allow me to express my opinions more briefly, I hope, than my right hon. Friend the Member for Belper did from the Front Bench this afternoon. I agree to this extent with the Amendment, that we should do away with the tests for reasons which there is no need for me to go into. I would agree to stop ours for a limited period, but not if I thought that that would prejudice us as against Russia. I cannot ignore the fact that Russia is carrying out her tests almost every week.

In that respect, I am bound to say that some of the statements that I hear made, not only in political parties but elsewhere, seem, if not hypocritical, to avoid the point. I want to refer in this House this afternoon to something which I read in The Times this morning. It was a statement made by a gentleman who used to be an hon. Member of this House and who is now vice-chairman of the Labour Party Executive, Mr. Tom Driberg. He has been writing, according to The Times, in the Moscow News, of all papers. He writes that: The time is short. The exact date of the tests is secret. … It is our tests, he means, not the Russian tests— They may take place quite soon. But it may yet be possible by international and domestic pressure, to persuade the British Government to accept the Soviet suggestion that, at least, tests be suspended at once for an agreed period. I hope that Mr. Driberg will accept the British suggestion—the suggestion of his own party, which has been tabled this afternoon—that those tests should be limited. I hope he will go further than that and say to the Russians, "If we are to stop our tests, you must stop yours at once."