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+ 4 4 i é i Lm by NE ra ee Rem © ee Ree Tn taag sen mtenapemege | | 29 Former Foreign Office ortant to probe these things than to jhase individuals in the security depart- ent. [Th is, however, one thing that Par- ament can and should do, and I think fhat this debate will bring it oul more flearly than before. There should be fufficient moncy and staff for the security services to do their jobs properly. I be- Jisve that they have been starved of these things. The worst thing that could hap- pen would be for the Burgess-Maclean incident I call it no more—to develop ad a party wrangle. I see no signs of hat happening and I am quite convinced Vhat the House would not lowes itself by doing it on such a vitally important atter for the country.” Parliament's duty is to ensure thal such ‘a thing cannot happen again. After all, fit is a truism, but it is quite true to say, ahat what has happened has happened ; but that is no reason why those who have ‘been proved incompetent should be em- Ployed in high office any Jonger. What this House wants—and, I believe, the -country as well—is reassurance and evi- dence that such things cannot occur again reasonably. It is no good saying that something is utterly impossible, but we want to be reasonably sure that that can- not happen again. . 1 doubt whether, so Jong as the men who were responsible for security at that time remain in high positions, the con- fidence of the country will be maintained. Let us, however, keep our consideration of the matter on the bigh level at which it has started, I beg the House with great humility, for it is not a matter for party wrangling, is not a matter of personali- , ties, but a matter of the national interest and of the best possible safeguarding of 1 our beloved country. ce wees | 50 pm ener Mr. R. HL S. Crossman (Coventry, t East): 1 shall try, in saying what I have to say, to keep the debate on the high : level that the hon. and gallant Gentleman } the Member for Perth and East Perth shire (Coionci Gomine-Duncan) has set for us back benchers in following those two excellent speeches from the Front Benches, the speech of the Foreign Secretary and the speech of my right bon. ! Friend the Member for Lewisham, South (Mr. H. Morrison. © nea 7 NOVEMBER 1955 Officials—Jisappearance 153) o Paci oe eee oO |: al: Fan Jaid down by the Prime Minister of a fat day in 1948? It is much more im- has from time to time criticised the | Se Indced, as a Labour back bencher who Foreign Secretary, and the Prime Minis- — ter, 100, I should Jike to congratulate the ~ Foreign Secretary, for the second half of his speech, which dealt with the tremen- dous problem of the combination of free dom and public security in a world of leologies, was a classic state. clashing i: of ori: incip! ope, agree upon and accept. It cai . nothing but good that that statement of _ plincipls was made. However, the all of the right bon. Gentleman's speech was a completely unsuccessful effort to explain away his own White Paper, and that is something which we must discuss, _ I think it is rather futile to waste ow ~~ time holding an inquest on Burgess and Maclean. What we ought to consider today are the lessons we can learn for the future from that lamentable incident. “I shall try to confine most of my remarks to that problem, but 1 think that io this __. debate we are faced with two opposite difficulties. Certainly, there is a danger that we shall encourage witch hunting, “~ od, goodness knows, at one part ous . ‘oreign Secretary's speech I was sii . afraid. That was whea he said that we 1 .7 id x I hope he did not mean that he thought our allies, the Americans, bad been successful in dealing with these problems than we have, ..- ~ Soe ee > Lam suse he did not mean it, because if we have shown a degree of lassitude they have shown an extreme in loyalty fests which, 1 think, has done more ~-* damage to their fiberties and to the strength of America in the world than Burgess and Maclean have done to us, Think of the State Department. Thisk of + _ the panic eflorts 10 impose toy there by elaborate code! Think of the effect of the feeling that officials could not risk writing what they really meant in their - © diplomatic messages for fear of being read aloud at a Congressional inquiry. -2.2 That is an object lesson of the dangers extreme panic about security. vs But there is another side to this.” ‘We = must see that the cause of McCarthyism was noi so much the effect of the fear of ~ espionage as the popular suspicion, that for political reasons either politicians of high officials were covering up the sigas oe of people in privileged places. Indeed, I believe that Fr the Truman Administra. tion had gone into matters thoroughly and