Oral Answers to Questions — Ministry of Defence – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 10 June 1964.
Mr Emanuel Shinwell
, Easington
12:00,
10 June 1964
asked the Secretary of State for Defence what his plans are for the build-up of conventional ground forces to enable them to protect British interests overseas.
Mr Peter Thorneycroft
, Monmouth
Events in recent months have demonstrated that our conventional ground forces are fully capable of protecting British interests overseas already. No build-up is planned beyond making good marginal deficiencies in the army by normal recruiting, which is going well.
Mr Emanuel Shinwell
, Easington
May I take it from the right hon. Gentleman's reply that it is not the intention of the Government to reintroduce conscription, no matter what conditions prevail?
Mr Peter Thorneycroft
, Monmouth
"No matter what conditions prevail" is rather a wide term. We have no intention of introducing conscription in the conditions which prevail, and which will, as far as we can see, continue to prevail for the foreseeable future.
Mr Emanuel Shinwell
, Easington
Will the right hon. Gentleman produce the evidence which was the basis of the allegation in his speech recently in the Rutherglen By-election that the Labour Opposition intended, when they formed the Government—as, of course, they will do in the course of the next few months—to reintroduce conscription?
Mr Peter Thorneycroft
, Monmouth
It is not for me to defend the Labour Party. It is true that if a policy of really substantial increases in our conventional strength were to be argued it could be supported only by the reintroduction of conscription.
Mr Paul Williams
, Sunderland South
Can my right hon. Friend say whether there has been any shift of thinking in the policy of the Defence Department in relation to the recruitment of Gurkha troops. I suspect that many hon. Members on both sides of the House would like to see this increased. Will my right hon. Friend confirm that should there be an abandonment of the independent nuclear deterrent by anyone who thought that possible, this would inevitably mean conscription and not just "perhaps"?
Mr Peter Thorneycroft
, Monmouth
I have already said that I can imagine nothing more damaging to this country than the abandonment of the deterrent. The Gurkhas are doing a magnificent job, and I cannot foresee circumstances in which we shall be able to do without them, at any rate in the immediately foreseeable future.
Mr William Ross
, Kilmarnock
Will the right hon. Gentleman give us an assurance that our defence, under his guidance, will be much more effective than was his speech at Rutherglen?
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