asked the Attorney-General whether, following the decision of the House of Lords in the Ladies' Directory case, he will instruct the Director of Public Prosecutions not to bring prosecutions for conspiracy to corrupt public morals in such a way as to circumvent the provisions of Section 4 of the Obscene Publications Act, 1959.

No. No such instructions are necessary.

Will the Attorney-General give us a rather more informative Answer as to why they are not necessary, and will he assure us that when both Houses of Parliament, with the assistance of the Home Office and some assistance from himself, have carried through a complicated piece of legislation he will do nothing to encourage this circumvention?

My Answer was fully informative, but I will expand it a little if the hon. Gentleman would like it. There is no need for me to give instructions to the Director of Public Prosecutions not to do something which he would never dream of doing.

Will the Attorney-General agree to this extent, that it is an essential principle of English criminal law that crime should be closely defined, and that when we get convictions on the basis of a conspiracy to corrupt public morals it alters the field to such an extent that any judge will condemn anything that arouses his moral indignation?

The hon. Gentleman's statements do not seem to me to arise out of this Question.