§ 6. Sir Knox Cunninghamasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will state the present annual amount paid out of public funds to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre; and whether this annual grant has been increased or decreased since the practice of playing the National Anthem at each performance has been stopped.
§ Mr. DiamondThe Arts Council grant to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre during the present financial year is £80,000. This is higher than it was two years ago when the practice of playing the National Anthem at each performance was stopped; but the two facts are not related.
§ Sir Knox CunninghamIs the hon. Gentleman aware that the National Anthem is played at the National Theatre at every performance? Will he approach Sir Fordham Flower, Chairman of the Governors of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, and ask him whether his refusal to play the National Anthem after his company has added the title "Royal" to its name is meant as a sign of respect or disrespect to the Crown?
§ Mr. DiamondI would not propose to make representations of that kind. It is perfectly obvious that no disrespect is meant either in this case or in the very 7 many similar cases where the National Anthem is not played regularly at the beginning and end of each performance.
§ Sir Knox CunninghamWhy, then, should two subsidised theatres—the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Theatre—adopt a different procedure? Is it not disrespect to the Crown?
§ Mr. DiamondThere is no different procedure. This procedure is widely adopted by many West End theatres and by many others as well.