Mr Peter Thomas: Before my right hon. and learned Friend finishes, will he clear up one matter which has disturbed me? I have listened carefully to his speech. Does he wish us at the conclusion of the debate to vote for the principle that he has enunciated in his speech, that capital punishment will follow only when there is a unanimous verdict by a jury that a reasonable person would feel that the killing...
Mr Peter Thomas: Is my right hon. and learned Friend aware that his prompt statement will receive widespread approval in the country and will be a considerable relief to those of us who have for some time been concerned about the activities of Damascus and its missions overseas in international terrorism? Will he take this opportunity to look again at the activities of PLO representatives in London and ask...
Mr Peter Thomas: The hon. Member for Greenwich (Mr. Barnett) made a helpful contribution to this sensitive, difficult debate which contrasted with the speech of the right hon. Member for Leeds, East (Mr. Healey), who adopted a characteristically belligerent and partisan tone which does not accord with the general type of speech we have had so far. The hon. Gentleman referred to the Commonwealth group's...
Mr Peter Thomas: My hon. and learned Friend is right. Obviously, that is the implication of what I said and the reason why I raised the matter, but I am grateful to him for elucidating it beyond doubt.
Mr Peter Thomas: I am rather sorry that I gave way. I hoped that the hon. Gentleman would try to assist me in making my speech and even try to assist in the debate, but his intervention was wholly outside anything that I said or was likely to say. It is sad that the EPG found that not one of the five steps of the Nassau accord which the Government of Pretoria were called on to take as a matter of emergency...
Mr Peter Thomas: I well remember the meeting that we had in Rome 20 years ago. My right hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool, South (Sir P. Blaker) is right. We had to consider whether the Somali Government had any right to part of the northern frontier district of Kenya. It is quite true that a very strong line was taken by the Kenyan members of our delegation about how impossible it would be if one were to...
Mr Peter Thomas: Could my right hon. and learned Friend tell the House who took the decision that the proper conduct of the prosecution in this case required the disclosure to the jury and to others who are participating in the case of the restricted document known as the "crown jewels"? Who authorised the disclosure and, as the document has been disclosed, can he give any valid reason why the Select...
Mr Peter Thomas: I apologise, in his absence, to my right hon. and learned Friend the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary for not having heard his speech in full. I heard the end of it. I was unable to hear the whole of it because I was in a Select Committee. From the debate so far it is clear that there will be overwhelming support in the House for the draft agreement. That is absolutely right. I join in the...
Mr Peter Thomas: This debate arises out of the report of the Foreign Affairs Committee on Grenada, which was published in early April, and the Government's observations on and reply to the report, published towards the end of the last month. The "tag" on today's Order Paper relates to the Committee's report on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Overseas Development Administration Supply Estimates...
Mr Peter Thomas: I am obliged to my hon. and learned Friend for that helpful intervention. As he will recollect, when I referred to the fact that Grenada retained a Governor-General, I said emphatically that he had no responsibility for, and was totally independent of, Her Majesty's Government here in London. I am sure that the House will find the intervention of my hon. and learned Friend helpful. What were...
Mr Peter Thomas: I beg leave to present a petition which is in identical terms to those which have already been presented today. I present a petition on behalf of Mrs. P. A. Gray of 32, Eastholm, London NW11, and a further 530 of my constituents in Hendon, South, all of whom have appended their signatures to the petition in a demonstration of their concern about and opposition to the 1980 DHSS revised Health...
Mr Peter Thomas: As Chairman of the Select Committee whose report is before the House, I thank my right hon. Friend, the Lord President, and the right hon. Member for Manchester, Openshaw (Mr. Morris) for their kind remarks about the Committee and also for the welcome that they have both given to over 99 per cent. of the Committee's recommendations. To serve on a Select Committee dealing with the revision of...
Mr Peter Thomas: I have noted your remarks, Mr. Speaker. I assure the House that my speech will be short. I am glad to follow the right hon. Member for Cardiff, South-East (Mr. Callaghan) and that he intervened in the debate, because his speech was wise and born of experience. I am happy to say that I should like to be associated with the remarks that he made. I shall confine my remarks to the invasion of...
Mr Peter Thomas: I shall confine my remarks to motion No. 7 and amendment (a) in my name, because I had the privilege of being Chairman of the Select Committee that produced the report. I am grateful to my right hon. Friend and to the right hon. Member for Manchester, Openshaw (Mr. Morris) for their kind remarks about members of the Committee. I pay tribute to those hon. Members on the Committee for their...
Mr Peter Thomas: We have had a fairly long and very good debate which is nearing its conclusion. I shall therefore not delay the House long. I have risen to speak mainly because it gives me the opportunity to associate myself with the warm and genuine tributes paid to my right hon. Friend the Member for Worthing (Mr. Higgins) for his chairmanship of the Select Committee, of which I was privileged to be a...
Mr Peter Thomas: As a member of the Committee, the hon. Gentleman will remember that there was great sympathy for a formula to be found if possible. Everyone wishes minority parties to have, as of right, an opportunity to take part in Opposition days. However, the mathematical formula would mean the Plaid Cymru, for example, would hardly have any time at all. There were difficulties. Is the hon. Gentleman...
Mr Peter Thomas: Will the hon. Member give way?
Mr Peter Thomas: I promise the House that I do not intend to speak for long, because much of what I wished to say has already been said, and I do not believe that there is any advantage in repeating it. I start by congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for Bury St. Edmunds (Mr. Griffiths) on introducing this debate. He introduced it with lucidity, and in common with other hon. Members who have spoken I...
Mr Peter Thomas: I am sure of one thing. The death penalty does not deter the professional hired man. The international hit man risks the death penalty in various countries and is not at all deterred. He does not exepect to be caught, and the only thing that would deter him is the possibility of being caught or arrested. Although I do not believe it is a great argument in favour of my hon. Friend's motion, I...
Mr Peter Thomas: That shows that when they were let out, whoever considered the matter and released them had not done so with sufficient care.