Q4. Miss Leeasked the Prime Minister if he is aware that regulations governing dress and decorations on official State occasions no longer correspond to contemporary taste and social attitudes; and if he will seek advice from representative citizens, including Commonwealth members, with a view to modernising the practice.
§ The Prime MinisterThere is no Ministerial responsibility for dress on most official occasions except as regards 1121 the uniform of those subject to discipline, and whether decorations should be worn on any particular occasion is usually a matter for the host.
I hardly think it is necessary for me to initiate any action.
Miss LeeThe Prime Minister must know that he, as Prime Minister, and the Cabinet control those responsible for all sorts of old-fashioned, stupid, snobbish regulations such as those that force men to wear clothes they do not normally wear. Would he not think it a good beginning to ask citizens to wear their own best clothes on formal occasions and not to be subject to the indignity and expense of hiring clothes?
§ The Prime MinisterI always thought it was a matter of good taste on these occasions to put on the best clothes one has.
Miss LeeThe Prime Minister must be aware that 99.9 per cent of the men now invited to official functions are not in the habit of wearing clothes which no doubt the Prime Minister likes to wear. Why cannot they simply wear their own best clothes?
§ The Prime MinisterIf the hon. Lady wishes to discuss the problem with me, I shall see if something can be done about it, but I have been struck when going to a large number of entertainments of all kinds, in one's constituency and all over the country, by the very widespread habit of men wearing evening clothes. I should have thought that that was widespread in many sections of the community today.