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Loewy” aerate, 1493 Former Office When, therefore the Press announced on 28th April, 1954, that Petrov possessed informaiion bearing om ihe case of Burgess and Maclean, we were unable to confirm or deny the truth of that information. The statement was made in the first place on 28th April that his information was hearsay in- formation, which, of course, it was, and was to be treated with reserve unt? a fuller account had been received from Australia. : erogyert ' Petrov let it be known that if. as soon as he said anything to the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation it was to be given publicity in this country, he would then refuse to say any more at all. This is a most important point. Since it was essential that Petrov should give his evidence before the Royal Com- mission, it was decided not to make any further announcements bearing on bis testimony. The Report of the Royal Commission is dated 22nd August, 1955. It was faid before the Australian Parliament and first became public on 14th Sepiember, 1955. It then became ssible to answer questions which had itherto remained unanswered and that was done by the Foreign Office spokes- man in reply to questions arising out of an article in the “People” on Sunday, 18th September and the White Paper pub- lished nine days after the publication of , tote a Be the Royal Commission's Report . as fa, tee dee, Having made those first points, I should now like to dea} with the specific questions which I mentioned earlier. Since the first three all related to the official careers of Burgess and Maclean and their pro- gress in the Foreign Service, 1 will deal with them together, I should first em- phasise, however, that the circumstances in which the «wo men entered the Service were very different. Maclean came into the Diplomatic Service before the war by & very Severe competitive examination, in which he showed conspicuous ability. ¥ have heard i¢ said that the Civil Service Commission Board, who interview all candidates for the Service, ought to have known of Maclean's reputation for ex- treme Left-wing opinions while he was an undergraduate. In fact, his college authorities gave him ana exceptionally good report ia which no mention was made of his Left-wing views. But even supposing that «be Board had known that sen 2 nis tee a ae ae ae FREE av RE Rate ae A aT aig wee ee eel er -. vs one 2 a 7. ee eee 7 NOVEMBER 1955 ‘he had expressed Commun to bring +The Foreign ana iarteaaiaeinan “” 1494 ist Opinions as - _ an undergraduate——- 4... --. " +~ Mr. Charles Pannell (Leeds, West): Officials — Disappearance On a point of order. In the nomencla- ture politics, “ Left-wing” is a con- notation for this side of the House. Can I ask you, therefore, Mr. Speaker, to ask’ the Foreign Secretary to use plain English and sefer to Communit affiliae tions and not Left-wing affiliations? --3 a Mr. Macmillan: 1 said extreme Left-"** 7 wing. which I think was a fair point Perhaps the hon. Member for Leeds, West "~~~ (Mr. C. Pannell) will wait for what [ was about to say. ett I was about to ask the House, whether : supposing the Board had known that he had expressed even Communist sympathies — as an undergraduate, in those days would the House have felt that such a man should automatically be excluded from the public service. [Honx. Members: “No."] Would the House not have ree... _ garded those leanings as one of the aberrations of youth which he might be expected to live down, It is not fair in an atmosphere of today when judging events of the 1930's It is important to realise that until ast Tee and after Maclean’s appointment in Cairo in 1948 the quality of his work was - - Hot only good, but outstanding among his . contemporaries.» | eek gee ; During his first fourteen years in the . is conduct gave rise to no ad- _- - verse comment. His behaviour in Cairo, whicb culminated in a sudden application for sick leave, at the time was interpreted —'-—. as the result of a prolonged period of overwork and strain. He was regarded as a valuable member of the i there was every reason to suppose and to hope that he might make a full recovery. __ oe and --" ~ from what appeared to be a sort of net~ =: 22" vous breakdo other decent employer in the circum. ees el he Boe en ded Office, like, 3 think, any _,,.- stances—it should be remembered that ftw the time there was no suspicion of any kind as to his loyalty—tried to see that @ man who had served for fourteen years got the right medical treatment an a chance of recovery. It is quite say that our trusting him in that position was wrong. Perhaps it was. It is very easy 10 be wise after the event. But he was given a second chance, and at the end of five months’ medical treatment ha@ = ~ en ae fe