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i he Des Et ee Bowblaed gan - tee YSN1 0 Former £ Nign Office (Mr. Morrison]. 6: + Servant not only to his party, but a man who also had a sense of duty to the House as a whole, including the Opposition. We all deplore his passing. {Hox. MEMBERS: “Hear, hear." an . We have heard ave ble, “competent speccl the retary of State for Forcign Affairs, and I am sure ‘that the House as a whole is thankful to him for the information which he has given this afternoon. I think the Gov- ernment were right themselves to take the initiative in offering a debate on this matter, and that it is right that a debate should take place. 31 will probably be. rather Jess exciting than one felt that it might when the Government announced it. The atmosphere has somewhat cooled down. We are grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for his specch, * although 1 must say that while I agree with the great bulk of it~as will be apparent in the course of my observa- tions—I am not quite as satished as he is with things as they are. This is not a party political matter. We are concerned with the problem of Government and administration, and 1 hope that it will be handled as such throughout the debate. We, in our coun- uy. have a very great Civil Service, of which we can be proud. 1 do not think that there is any better in the world, agree that the Civil Service of the Foreign Office is also one which does credit io the county. both at home and abroad, It is true that, now and again, a tradition of earlier policies and earlier biases is to be found in the Foreign Office, and it is necessary for the Secretary of State to gust hard to get it shered. The Forcign rvice is a very good one. Having had, for a short period, contact with other foreign services J am inclined to say that 1 know of none better than ours. But there is always a temptation for a Minister in charge of a Department-—or a Minister who has been in charge of a Department z-father to assume that that Department is completely perfect. That, course, -would be foolish and unwise. There are always imperfections, and it is as well to _ bear that in mind... eo “ The Secret Service—for which. in its wider as the Prime Minister is responsible—and was—is also a good one as a whole. During the greater part of the war I was Secretary of State for the Aogte cee a able, full and 7 NOVEMBER 1955 Ofclals—Dsappearance 1: Home Department and Minister of Hoa,’ Security. I had a great deal to do wit, the Secret Services or, at Ieast, had s goo,’ deal of knowledge from them at, although I was not in charge of them, 4 watched their work. Compared with th 4 secret services in Nazi Germany ours wer eminently superior. I did not think mud of the Nazi Secret Services. 1 thought 1: great deal of our own. In the begin: 4 of the war, they were, perhaps, # litd ! reckless in their political judgment, anj sometimes saw Communists—and eve Fascists—where they did not fully exist but my experience was that they improve, as time went op, 2 yy, Boe T agree with the Forcign Secretary the ‘we all feel that this incident of Burges: and Maclean is a disgrace to our country. With him, I know that the Foreign Office” —the Foreign Service as a whole-fa hat it was a disgrace and a refiectics . upon the Service. It was also an us happy incident for the Security Services We are all sad about its jus as We Wert sad about the case of Fuchs, of Dr. Nuns May. and of Pontecorvo, cases whit were, if anything. more serious even thas these cases, and which might have ¢ greater effect upon the future peace f the world even though they did not rai so much excitement... 207 jr. pi pate «7 However, we have to keep a sense d: Proportion about these things. If we. remember the number of men employed in our public services, the number of. cases of this kind are very limited. That does not mean that we should under.‘ estimate them, nor that we should not be. worried about them. Each is a worrying incident, but things have occurred in this: way before. After all, the noblest band of men in history bad their Judas. He suffered, and I think that these men will suffer, in_one way or another, in due. “of Communism” aod ° Fascism creates a new security problem. * The | Communisi—and, indeed, the , Fascist ; he does not exist so much now, but he could again if our economic situa- z tion became really serious —are doth F different from the ordinary . espionage ~ agent, in this respect: they both havea _ loyalty, not to their own country but ' to another country or otber countries. -J ~ do not know that they have a sense @ - guilt about this external loyalty. They ” may ¢ven feel that it is a vistue. If one = ita 2 ae,