asked the First Lord of the Admiralty the hour of arrival of the first invading German war ship in any Norwegian port and in Narvik; and the hour and date at which the Admiralty received this information?

I would prefer not to make public information of this kind.

Is the hon. Baronet not aware that certain events gave rise to some doubt about the reliability of our information service and, in particular, the belief that 48 hours elapsed between these two events? Can he assure the House that the belief is not well founded?

I am quite prepared to give the hon. Gentleman the definite assurance that the belief is quite wrongly founded.