Soviet Union (Prime Minister's Visit)

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 3:32 pm on 2 April 1987.

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Photo of Mrs Margaret Thatcher Mrs Margaret Thatcher The Prime Minister, Leader of the Conservative Party 3:32, 2 April 1987

No, I shall never put our defence or security in jeopardy as the hon. Gentleman and some of his hon. Friends have done in their approach to unilateral nuclear disarmament. I made that perfectly clear. It is because I make that perfectly clear that I am invited to the Soviet Union and to other countries. They know that I shall not say anything different there on this matter from what I say anywhere else, whether talking to Mr. Gorbachev or on Soviet television. Before I went there, many people did not seem to know that it was the Soviet Union which stationed the SS20s and refused to take them down, and that it was only after it refused to do so for four years that we stationed cruise and Pershing. It is only now that it is proposed to take out both. The firmness and determination effectively to defend the security of this country is vital, and will always continue to be so.