Mr Ivor Richard: I thought, Mr. Deputy Speaker, that the hon. Gentleman interrupted me just before or as I sat down. I promise that I shall speak only for another two minutes. If the Minister is asking people to reply upon the good faith of the Government, he must spell out in a little more detail the way in which the Government will approach these applications, the criteria upon which they will be judged...
Mr Ivor Richard: On Second Reading I expressed the view that it was perhaps unfortunate that the Government had felt it necessary to introduce the Bill at this time since it seemed possible then that there was a chance, at any rate, that Pakistan would reconsider its decision to withdraw from the Commonwealth. I still take that view. There would have been no great evil done had the position been left broadly...
Mr Ivor Richard: May we take it that when the Prime Minister said yesterday that the whole matter would be subject to review he meant that the Government's position is that they do not accept in perpetuity either the principles upon which the CAP is based or the machinery which the Commission has so far devised for the purpose of implementing the CAP? As one who is and always has been a pro-Marketeer, perhaps...
Mr Ivor Richard: The right hon. Gentleman and the Government have gone round in a circle. When the matter was first raised by the hon. Member for Merton and Morden (Miss Fookes), the original point she made was: "Why should not a wife be entitled to use a family passport in exactly the same way as a husband?" The right hon. Gentleman will remember the answer that was then given, namely, that other countries...
Mr Ivor Richard: The right hon. Gentleman will be aware that in the Security Council debate the Israeli Ambassador said: If the experience of the last few years has demonstrated an incontrovertible fact, it is that there can be no imposition of a solution from the outside. If there is a message to be retained from that experience, it is that Israel will not be drawn into any process that would introduce third...
Mr Ivor Richard: My hon. Friend is quite wrong. I quoted a sentence from the Israeli Ambassador's speech and asked, in view of that, what chance there was of getting a Jarring type mission going and whether it was the best way out of the situation. I was not expressing any view. My hon. Friend is wrong.
Mr Ivor Richard: My hon. Friend must not do this. He is a much older parliamentary hand than I and knows what he is doing. I quoted from a speech at the United Nations. I expressed no view on the rightness or wrongness of what was said. I merely asked for the Government's view. There is nothing wrong in that.
Mr Ivor Richard: At the end of a two-day debate an hon. Member winding up is tempted to go through the list of right hon. and hon. Members who have spoken, trying to repeat the salient points in their speeches, commending them for what they have said or not said, and to sit down without trying to pull the whole together—in other words, simply to compose what might be described as a parliamentary Bradshaw of...
Mr Ivor Richard: If I am wrong, of course I withdraw. I am reminded of the barrister who, when rebuked by a judge in the Court of Appeal, said, "Your Lordship is right and I am wrong, as your Lordship usually is." In that way, perhaps I can say that I hope that the hon. Gentleman will forgive me if I get him wrong.
Mr Ivor Richard: I will read the hon. Gentleman's speech with the greatest pleasure, as I always read his speeches. May I put our Rhodesia policy into the context of our relationships with and attitudes towards the rest of black Africa? If we were to abandon our sanctions policy, how would it be received in Kenya and Nigeria? There have been successful visits here from both these countries in the last few...
Mr Ivor Richard: The right hon. Gentleman certainly did that. But when I was in America recently the Kissinger initiative was continually pushed at one and the continual question was about what Britain is doing and what initiative Britain is trying to get the European nations to take. In a moment I shall examine, I hope in not too great detail, the effect of that initiative. I do not find it very credible. It...
Mr Ivor Richard: The hon. and gallant Gentleman might have been saying it yesterday but not many others were. I am asking the Government now to consider with the European members of NATO what response they should make to the political pressures which I believe are building up in the United States. The question is whether that is the sensible thing to do. I believe that clearly it is. The other matter that...
Mr Ivor Richard: A sub-committee set up by the United Nations recently examined the claims of the liberation movement in Portuguese Guinea—or Bissau, or whatever name one likes to call it—to be the de facto or sole representative of the aspirations of the people of the territory. The United Nations mission reported that it also took this view. The question of the representation of the liberation movement...
Mr Ivor Richard: My hon. Friend the Member for Plymouth, Sutton (Dr. David Owen) is making a most interesting speech. When he talks about demilitarisation of Sinai, does he envisage that it will be under Egyptian sovereignty, Israeli sovereignty or some kind of joint sovereignty?
Mr Ivor Richard: Will the right hon. Gentleman tell us what is the status of these people? He will be aware that in Section 32(1) of the British Nationality Act 1948 there is a definition of a British protected person. The definition says that it means: a person who is a member of a class of persons declared by Order in Council made in relation to any protectorate, protected state, mandated territory or...
Mr Ivor Richard: Listening to the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs opening this debate, I was reminded of a story which I believe was told about the late Sir Thomas Beecham. He was once asked what he did when he lost his place in the score of a new production which he did not like, did not know very well and did not understand. He replied, "Heads down, wave, and hope they will keep up...
Mr Ivor Richard: No. On the contrary, the quality of a piece of music of these things is usually judged after the performance, not before. I say this about the Bill: this is a singularly unhappy occasion, particularly when one remembers the high hopes with which Pakistan became independent in 1947, joined the Commonwealth and participated in all the benefits of Commonwealth membership which the Foreign...
Mr Ivor Richard: The Foreign Secretary shakes his head, but I have received a letter about this. If Mr. Singh used to be on the register he will not now be entitled to be on the register and not entitled to vote. I suspect that what will happen as a result of that part of the Bill dealing with registration will not be that the registration officer in each district will go through the list making extremely...
Mr Ivor Richard: I think the hon. Member is quite right. Then the matter will become extremely complicated. It will depend, not only on what passport Mr. Singh holds, but, I understand, on the date at which the passport was issued, because as from February this year a person who used to be a Kashmir citizen is now a Pakistan citizen and he would, therefore, be subject to the Pakistani procedure. How the...
Mr Ivor Richard: Then why is it thought necessary to legislate for all those who were in the same position prior to 30th January 1972 so as to give them the option of registration to become British citizens? The Minister cannot say that their position would not be altered without the option merely because they have been admitted here and are stable here. If what the hon. Gentleman says is right, then why is...
