HC Deb 28 November 1961 vol 650 cc235-6
Q5. Mr. Healey

asked the Prime Minister if he will make a statement on his recent official meeting with President de Gaulle.

The Prime Minister

President and Madame de Gaulle accepted a private invitation to spend last week-end at home with my wife and myself. The President's visit was not an official one and our conversations were of an informal nature.

Mr. Healey

While the right hon. Gentleman's reply was no more surprising than it was informative, may I ask him whether it is true, as implied by his Answer earlier, that President de Gaulle has agreed that the French Foreign Secretary should attend a meeting of Western Foreign Ministers to discuss the Berlin problem in December? Can the right hon. Gentleman also say whether he raised with President de Gaulle the question of French participation in the forthcoming discussions on a nuclear test ban treaty?

The Prime Minister

As to the second part of that supplementary question, it would be a great error, having agreed not to have a communiqué, for me to make a statement now about our conversations. As for the first part, I am hopeful that there will be a meeting of the Foreign Ministers, and I understand that there will be one.

Mr. Emrys Hughes

Can the right hon. Gentleman assure us that he discussed the problem of the Common Market with President de Gaulle and that he impressed on the President the importance of the fact that any agreement on the Common Market should be acceptable to the Commonwealth and to the British agricultural industry?

The Prime Minister

As I have said, our discussions were informal but not, of course, of an irrelevant character.