HC Deb 05 December 1960 vol 631 cc850-1
45. Mr. A. Lewis

asked the Prime Minister what discussions he has had with representatives of the Government of the United States of America on the question of Atlantic Union and the eventual merging of Great Britain with the United States of America.

The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. R. A. Butler)

I have been asked to reply.

None, Sir. But I would refer the hon. Member to the Answer given by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister to my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for the Isle of Ely (Sir H. Legge-Bourke) on 1st December.

Mr. Lewis

Yes, I saw that Answer to his hon. and gallant Friend which was no doubt in reply to a sponsored Question put down for a written reply after this oral Question. Has the attention of the Home Secretary been drawn to the excellent article in the Evening Standard, on Tuesday, 22nd November, page 7, in which his hon. Friend the Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Viscount Lambton) said that the Prime Minister did make these definite proposals to a group of American journalists? Can he answer that question, because in his reply the Prime Minister denied that allegation?

Mr. Butler

As the Prime Minister said in answer to my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for the Isle of Ely (Sir H. Legge-Bourke): Of course, I made no such statement."—[OFFICIAL REPORT, 1st December, 1960; Vol. 631, c. 81.] In regard to the lively article by my hon. Friend the Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Viscount Lambton), I think that we must leave the question of what he describes to his own imagination.

Mr. Biggs-Davison

Of the two defence policies of the party opposite, would not one, if carried out, be likely to merge us with the United States of America, and the other, if carried out, merge us with the U.S.S.R.?

Mr. Butler

Yes.