OFFICIAL SECRETS

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 150, 28 June 1938, Page 11

OFFICIAL SECRETS

MEMBERS' RIGHTS UNDER ACT QUESTION IN COMMONS IMPORTANT ISSUES (British Official Wireless.) (Received June 28,11.30 a.m.) RUGBY, June 27. An important constitutional ques- ' tion relating to the privileges of members of Parliament in relation to action under the Official Secrets Act was raised in the House of Com- [ mons, and as a result a motion has been tabled in the following . terms: — , "That a Select Committee of the , House be appointed to inquire into . the substance of a statement made on June 27 by the member for Norwood, and the action of the Minister concerned, and generally into the i question of the applicability of the Official Secrets Act to members of this House in the discharge of their Parliamentary duties." The matter at issue was explained in two statements by the member for Norwood, Mr. Duncan Sandys (Conservative) and the Attorney-General, Sir Donald Somervell, and after listening to them the Speaker said he was convinced of the importance of the issues they had raised as to the position of members of the House in relation to the Official Secrets Act. The Prime Minister indicated that time would be given for discussion on the matter. Mr. Sandys's request to the Speaker in the House for guidance on the question followed an interview he had with the Attorney-General. He had forwarded to the Secretary for War. the draft of a question he proposed to put on the Order Paper, the contents of which he was later informed by the Attorney-General were held by the War Office to indicate disclosure of secret information. PUTTING THE LEGAL POSITION. The purpose of the interview, according to the Attorney-General's statement in the House was to inform Mr. Sandys, who was thought to be unaware of the breach of the Official Secrets Act involved, and to put the legal position before him and to ask him if he was prepared to assist in tracing the disclosure by revealing the sources of his information. According to Mr. Sandys's statement, it appears that he considered Sir Donald Somervell's request as a threat of proceedings under the Act. In a subsequent interview and by an exchange of letters the Attorney-General indicated that there had been misapprehension and that there was no intention of enforcing against the member for Norwood the powers of interrogation under the Official Secrets Act. Mr. Sandys, however decided to raise the matter in the House as a question concerning not merely himself, but equally all members of Parliament, and it was decided that the position should be clarified without delay.