§ Q9. Mr. Dribergasked the Prime Minister what information he now has regarding the proposed state visit of the King and Queen of the Hellenes.
§ The Prime MinisterThe Greek Prime Minister told the Greek Parliament on 24th June that it is not intended that there should be any change in existing plans.
§ Mr. DribergWhile we all hope that Their Majesties will not be physically molested, as the Home Secretary has confirmed did not occur on a previous occasion, has the Prime Minister warned the Greek Government that there will be demonstrations on quite a substantial scale and that Her Majesty's Government will have no right whatever to stop those demonstrations if they are peaceful?
§ The Prime MinisterWe all hope for the success of this visit, which marks 1654 a very long and close alliance between Britain and Greece in two wars. That friendship was temporarily obscured over the Cyprus problem but, that having been settled, this visit seemed an admirable opportunity to restore that ancient friendship. On the special question, we have told the Greek Government that while we will take every precaution to see that there will be no incidents that will give rise to personal molestation, the ordinary rights of peaceful demonstration are, of course, part also of our tradition here.