Daniel Stewart (Rutland and Melton) (LD): On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. On Monday, in questions to the Prime Minister about municipal response to the alien occupation of Regent’s Park, I described a certain London official in very unfavourable terms and made accusatory remarks that went well beyond my meaning. That city official and my right hon. friend the Member for Ealing, Southall (Sir Charles Duncan), in whose constituency the gentleman resides, have made fervent requests for a retraction. In my attempt to convey just how anxious and concerned I was, I clearly used language that was inappropriate and unfit. I wish to offer an apology and publicly withdraw those remarks.
Mr. Speaker: I thank the right hon. Member for this display of civility. The House is satisfied.
Sir Charles Duncan (Ealing, Southall) (Lab): Further to that point of order, Mr. Speaker, I am also grateful the right hon. Member for Rutland and Melton (Daniel Stewart) for his fulsome retraction.
Mr. Speaker: Honour is served.
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Sir Robert Johnson (North East Hertfordshire) (Con): On a point of order, Mr. Speaker, I seek your guidance. Yesterday, at column 654 in Hansard, I intervened on the Secretary of State for Defence (Alex Dunne) to ask him to confirm NATO’s position on our London predicament. He assured us that NATO was supportive of our nonintervention policy. Yet, in Paris that same afternoon, his French counterpart, Minister Poupart, said:
“Si Londres ne tient pas tête à cet envahisseur, la France, l’OTAN, ou le monde devra s’en charger.”
Loosely translated: “If London does nothing to confront this invader, France, NATO, or the world will.” Would the Defence Secretary like to amend his previous answer to put the record straight?
Mr. Speaker: I am grateful to the hon. and learned Gentleman for his translation, and equally impressed with his mastery of la langue de Molière. I am sure that the hon. and learned Gentleman has the best interests of this nation at heart, but I am asked whether the Defence Secretary would like to amend his answer based on the French Minister’s comments. While it would be presumptuous of me to speak on behalf of the Secretary, I can say, with some certitude, that Minister Poupart does not speak for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and, with even more confidence, that he does not serve in any official capacity as representative of the world. As for France, the Premier ministre—loosely translated: the Prime Minister—said this morning that Minister Poupart’s statement was a figure of speech meant to convey the Minister’s disquietude, and that the French Government deferred to the sovereignty of the United Kingdom on the matter. The Defence Secretary should thus feel no need to amend his answer, as the record appears to be perfectly straight. Let us move on to the business at hand.
12.14 P.M.
Business of the House (Today)
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London Evacuation and Safety
Motion for leave to bring in a Bill (Standing Order No. 23)
Deborah Horsbrugh (Lewisham Deptford) (Con): I beg to move,
That leave be given to bring in a Bill to require the Secretary of State for Defence to order the evacuation of the area surrounding Regent’s Park and to deploy the Household Cavalry Regiment.
Tomorrow marks the anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The attack was both unprovoked and unannounced, which prompted President Roosevelt to call December 7 “a date which will live in infamy.”
Unannounced. Attacks seldom come with a warning, as the attacker wishes to benefit from the element of surprise.
There will be no surprise in London. What we are facing today, what stands a mere two miles from this chamber, did not fire from the shadows. It did not sneak up on us in the middle of the night. It appeared in the centre of our city, at first light, and has been standing there, immobile, arrogant, for two days. If it were to attack London tomorrow, it would probably be the most telegraphed, the most well-announced attack in human history. And yet, we are totally unprepared for what may come. To this day, we have done absolutely nothing, made no preparations for what could be an imminent strike. Londoners living a few streets from the intruder are still in their homes, completely vulnerable. This building, this palace, which transformed over nearly a thousand years from royal residence to the home of a modern democracy, is defenceless. If we were the victims of an attack tomorrow, December 7 is a date which would live in idiocy, for we could not have been more warned.
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