asked the Secretary of State for Defence what study he has made of, and what military lessons have been learned from, the recent hostilities between India and Pakistan.

All available information is being studied. British equipment showed up very well and it is probably in that field that we shall learn most lessons.

Would not the Minister agree that the first lesson that we should get from these operations is that they should never have been allowed to happen at all, and for that I feel the whole House of Commons is a good deal to blame. As, however, they have happened and are certain to happen again unless leadership is given by the Government, should we not study in more detail the military lesson, particularly with regard to tanks, on either side?

My responsibility relates to the military lessons to be learned and we are conducting studies on the lines suggested by the right hon. and gallant Gentleman. If he wishes to pursue other questions of a political character, he will know that he must ask my right hon. Friends and not me.