On 31 October William Yates, a Conservative MP, commented in the House of Commons that he had heard talk of a secret conspiracy; on 31 October Lloyd stated in the Commons that "It is quite wrong to state that Israel was incited to this action by Her Majesty's Government. There was no prior agreement between us about it." This passage is underlined in Lloyd's personal copy of Hansard (now in the library at Fettes School). He regarded it as a lawyerishly careful statement although it has been portrayed by some writers as an outright lie to the House of Commons.