Mr Frederic Bennett: Referring back to an earlier question, may I re-emphasise to my right hon. Friend the importance of a settlement to the Afghan problem? Did she also find time, in what must have been a lengthy session, to raise the question of any relaxation between both sides on the continuing shoot-to-kill orders from east to west across the Berlin wall, which she has described as an abomination,...
Mr Frederic Bennett: Quite contrary to what the Leader of the Opposition has suggested, does my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister recall what she said last November on her return from Washington? In her own words she said—
Mr Frederic Bennett: My right hon. Friend said that a reduction in short range missiles would have to be negotiated at the same time as those on INF. Has the Government's position changed since then?
Mr Frederic Bennett: Although we all welcome the news that new attempts will be made to get rid of all medium-range nuclear weapons in Europe, on both sides, and subject to proper verification, can my right hon. Friend confirm that that process of reduction and ultimately, we hope, removal, will also apply to the so-called short-range nuclear weapons? The Soviets now have a clear superiority of 9:1, and many of...
Mr Frederic Bennett: rose—
Mr Frederic Bennett: I had not intended to include any remarks about the Council of Europe and the Western European Union in my speech today but to concentrate on some other issues raised by my right hon. and learned Friend the Foreign Secretary. However, in response to the speech of the hon. Member for Wallsend (Mr. Garrett), I must agree with every word he said about the lack of inadequate official support and...
Mr Frederic Bennett: The Foreign Secretary is responsible for his own speeches. He was prepared to speak and in any case my hon. Friend the Minister of State will doubtless deal with any questions raised on Nicaragua. I should love to do so, but I have not time, if I am to keep my undertaking to remain reasonably brief. It is becoming increasingly distasteful to all who believe that sanctions are not the right...
Mr Frederic Bennett: I shall resist the temptation to be as offensive as Opposition Members always seem to think they have to be in order to be effective. That is a mistake, but it seems to be Opposition policy and they like to follow it. I am not surprised that the hon. Member for Liverpool, Walton (Mr. Heffer) is no longer playing a substantial role in his party. The answer to his question is simple: because we...
Mr Frederic Bennett: So far, I have not mentioned the zero-zero option. The hon. Member for Hamilton (Mr. Robertson) mentions a lot of people who are in favour of it, but they are also in favour of the ending of sin. I am sure that the hon. Gentleman is in favour of ending that. too, as I am. Obviously, he has not carefully read the Prime Minister's speeches. Of course, the zero-zero option is the ultimate aim,...
Mr Frederic Bennett: Canada does not forbid American bases. It has them all around. These interruptions are not worth listening to. If the Labour party policy of getting rid of American bases and our nuclear deterrent is carried out by saying that we do not want to shelter any more under the nuclear umbrella, that will be the end of NATO. If Opposition Members think that that is not true, they should meet some of...
Mr Frederic Bennett: I shall give a perfect example. The Russians should stop killing people in Afghanistan. That would be a good way to start showing to the rest of the world a peaceful image. The considerable amount of money that Russia devotes to that battle could be used to improve the lot of its own people. That would be a convincing way to persuade me that I might be wrong, but they have not done that and I...
Mr Frederic Bennett: I wish first to anticipate possible interventions in my speech. The last time that I spoke on this issue several remarks were directed across the Benches to the effect that I had business interests in South Africa. I have none and have never had any. Perhaps that statement will save at least one intervention in my speech. I shall barely comment on the speech of the hon. Member for Greenwich...
Mr Frederic Bennett: My right hon. Friend has already reproved several of our hon. Friends because they were not MPs at the time and did not know what they were talking about. I hesitate to say the same thing to my right hon. Friend, because he was here and did know all about it. Yet he must accept my opinion that it was not sanctions—they had gone on for 15 years—that brought Rhodesia to the negotiating...
Mr Frederic Bennett: I shall not give way.
Mr Frederic Bennett: Let the hon. Gentleman then tell the people in his constituency that he is willing to advocate even the loss of 20,000 jobs there. I prefer the figure that has been provided from other sources that up to a quarter of a million job losses may occur. If hon. Members will not admit that, it shows that they are not prepared to admit the consequences of what they seek. One of the factors that...
Mr Frederic Bennett: Did my hon. Friend happen to see a very interesting programme on BBC television on Monday evening—one of its very rare moments of objectivity — called "The Other Side of the Sanctions Equation", which showed quite convincingly that the death rate of young African children in one of the homelands has doubled because of the economic measures already taken? Is that really what Opposition...
Mr Frederic Bennett: In respect of the terrorist document, the Prime Minister has been among the first to realise that an essential element in the long-term treatment of the matter will be to obtain an agreement on the ground of extradition and somehow to co-ordinate extradition laws so that people cannot escape responsibility for terrorism by opposing extradition on political grounds. Although the Prime Minister...
Mr Frederic Bennett: If we are to have any sort of objective appraisal of these matters, should the House not recall that at the time of the Falklands conflict we were by no means unhappy to receive indirect assistance from the Chileans? I wonder whether my hon. Friend could put in the Library a list of the other countries, about which no complaint seems to be made, which send members of their armed forces to be...
Mr Frederic Bennett: On a point of order, Mr. Speaker.
Mr Frederic Bennett: Yes, Sir.
