I would remind hon. and right hon. Gentlemen that in the height of the Abadan Crisis that was exactly the demand we made of the Persians.

It seemed to me ludicrous when the Abadan Crisis came about that the parachute brigade, which was moved to make a show of force, had to be moved in an aircraft carrier from Malta, or the United Kingdom I believe it was, to Suez.

It is not just an agitation dating from the time of the Abadan Crisis, as the hon. Member for the Isle of Thanet said.

Whether our military preparations at the time of the Abadan Crisis were inadequate and Mossadeq called the bluff I do not know, but I certainly do not agree with the right hon. Member for Blyth, who said in his broadcast that in his opinion it was probable that the military preparations the Government are now taking were too large.

I wish I could say that at certain difficult moments during the period of office of the Labour Government, and particularly during the Abadan Crisis, the same degree of restraint was shown by the Conservative Party.

Let us look back for a moment at the Abadan Crisis, which occurred in June, 1951.

I think that the hon. Member for Cardiff, South-East (Mr. Callaghan) who does not agree with me, was Civil Lord or Parliamentary and Financial Secretary to the Admiralty - I am not sure which -at the time of the Abadan Crisis.

This process started in a sense with the Crisis of Abadan, and it followed under Conservative Governments with retreats in the Sudan, with the agreement with General Neguib and Colonel Nasser, and with the Suez fiasco last year.