I now approach a more important question, which excites deeply-felt international concern. Not long ago the Prime Minister issued some form of apology on the nation's behalf for the nineteenth-century potato blight in Ireland, though many historians and members of the public found it hard to envisage in what way that tragedy could be regarded as a direct responsibility of the British Government of the day, let alone its late twentieth-century successor.

I am not concerned to criticize this gesture, but to raise a closely-related issue. In May and June 1945 British soldiers in Austria committed savage crimes against Russian soldiers and civilians (including women, children, and babies), which included grave violations of the Geneva Convention on Prisoners-of-War. I do not believe that there is anyone now who seriously challenges the facts of the case, of which your Department is doubtless well aware.

It has frequently been suggested to me that it would redound greatly to the credit of this country were the Government to make some public attempt to atone for what is widely regarded as the most atrocious action ever undertaken by British soldiers. For what it be worth, my view is that an apology would be inappropriate, given that the present administration cannot by any standard be accounted responsible for those terrible events. Furthermore, since the atrocities were perpetrated in violation of orders issued by Field-Marshal Alexander, not even the Government of the day can be held responsible.

However there are alternative actions which, if undertaken by the Government, could make plain to the world that these disgraceful actions have at last come to be disowned and regretted, not merely by the majority of British public opinion, but by the Government which represents them. It is not for me to define what form such a national act of atonement should adopt, but it appears to me that at the very least the Government might issue a public declaration of profound condemnation and regret, in the context of the circumstances I have briefly outlined. It is devoutly to be hoped of course that such a statement of disavowal and repentance would be unqualified, since any insidious attempt to justify the unjustifiable would only compound the profound damage inflicted on the reputation of this country by continuing official support for the perpetrators, and indeed (principally through the activities of the Government- sponsored 'Cowgill Committee') justification of the crime itself.

Further salutory gestures, which sadly represent all that can be accomplished at this late date, would be to provide adequate compensation for the few and scattered survivors. The British Government has after all pressed consistently and successfully for the German and Japanese Governments to provide corresponding compensation for British victims of their countries' wartime atrocities, and if Britain is not to continue manifesting the contemptible double standard evinced by successive Conservative administrations, this measure should belatedly be undertaken.

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