Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill today told Commons that he had been “assured” that the Mid-Ocean Club at Bermuda where he will conform with President Eisenhower and a French Government representative late this month does not bar Jewish guests, as charged by Ian Mikardo, Labor Member of Parliament. Mr. Mikardo asked that the site of the three-power meeting be changed.
Mr. Mikardo then declared that he made his charges on the basis of carefully examined evidence including an affidavit to the effect that the New York representative of the Mid-Ocean Club had stated that Jewish people were not acceptable as guests, and asked Sir Winston to examine this evidence. Sir Winston replied: “My information is to the contrary, but I will gladly accept any additional contribution to the evidence.”
At this point a Jewish Laborite, Sidney Silverman, rose to ask the Prime Minister that if he were not “completely satisfied that Mr. Mikardo is wrong” would he at least take steps to avoid embarrassing incidents by omitting Lord Reading, a Jew and Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, from the delegation to the Bermuda parley. To this Sir Winston retorted angrily: “I don’t see the point of that. We have happily got well above senseless and malignant anti-Semitism in this country. Why make such a point?”
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