HC Deb 02 February 1959 vol 599 cc26-7
45. Mr. Emrys Hughes

asked the Prime Minister if he will make a copy of his official speech, made on 21st January to the Foreign Press Association, available to hon. Members.

The Secretary of State for the Home Department and Lord Privy Seal (Mr. R. A. Butler)

I have been asked to reply.

I assume that the hon. Member's request is intended as a compliment to my right hon. Friend. The procedure, however, would be unusual, and, I think, inappropriate.

Mr. Hughes

Is the Lord Privy Seal aware that he is quite mistaken and that there was no compliment in this at all? Is he aware that the foreign Press were so disappointed at this speech that they thought that the Prime Minister had brought along with him the script for a Tory women's tea party? Does he not think that, since President Eisenhower and Mr. Mikoyan are making such an impression at their Press conferences, the Prime Minister should take the Lord Privy Seal with him on the next occasion?

Mr. Butler

The hon. Gentleman's information is totally at fault. I understand that the foreign Press were delighted with the speech, but perhaps the hon. Gentleman was distressed by the following sentences, which I should like to read to the House: Sometimes I think you must regard us as very odd people, very difficult to understand, a strange mixture of recklessness and caution, sentimentalism and realism … We delight in running down our own institutions and our leading public figures. I am asked to assure the hon. Gentleman that this does not refer to himself.