CAB129-78 — Page 35

4.

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(iii) putting into operation without question the

power to dismiss civil servants of all kinds whose relatives were in a

vulnerable position, e.g., in countries behind the iron curtain;

(iv) power to dismiss civil servants whose private lives or that of their relatives might make them subject to blackmail;

(v) power to dismiss civil servants who hold or

have held extreme or communist opinions.

This enquiry, apart from its immediate convenience, should be very helpful in solving problems which the Security Committee of the Cabinet have been unable to resolve in certain fields. The Chairman of the Committee of enquiry would obviously be a judge. Lord Radcliffe would be admirable if we could get him because of his experience in government Departments. He should be assisted by a strong team representing public administration, industry, trade unions, and perhaps academic life.

The advantages of the enquiry are two-fold:

(a)

on the principle of Albert and the Lion

"Sum one 'ad got to be summoned, so that was decided upon".

The public will feel that something is being enquired into;

(b) that the public will be brought up against

the dilemma of security in a free society. Almost all the accusations of the Press against the laxity of the authorities are really demands for changing the English Common Law.

Foreign Office, S.W.1.

19th October, 1955.

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H.M.

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