Foreign Affairs

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 4 December 1958.

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Photo of Mr Reginald Paget Mr Reginald Paget , Northampton 12:00, 4 December 1958

I would agree entirely with what the hon. and learned Gentleman says about the danger of a vacuum. Actually in twelve years I do not think we have had a frontier incident. The trouble is that when the major Powers are confronted with each other any frontier incident would be desperately dangerous. When the hon. and learned Gentleman speaks of a vacuum, does he regard a Germany which is armed, but at a controlled level of armament—which is, of course, what the Labour Party has supported—with a Poland, a Czechoslovakia and a Hungary also with a controlled level of armament—and that all those should have a level of armament I should have thought was essential if we are not to have the dangers of a vacuum—does he regard that as a vacuum? Is that the safest—to have a balance, with the great Powers further off with a further balance, but an armed balance which does not mean a vacuum?