§ Q2. Mr. Onslowasked the Prime Minister what arrangements are being made for the celebration of the 900th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings.
§ The Prime MinisterI have as yet nothing to add to the Answer given by my hon. Friend the Joint Under Secretary of State in the Home Office on 1st July to a Question by the hon. Member for Hastings (Sir N. Cooper-Key).
§ Mr. OnslowIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that most people see no need for any special expensive arrangements, but that just as the Finance Bill is a more than adequate commemoration of the Great Plague of 1665, so his apparent intention to cling to office until 1966 will give the people of this country an excellent chance of delivering another one in the eye for Harold?
§ The Prime MinisterI read the same joke in the Press two or three weeks ago. I assure the hon. Gentleman that he is getting his history a bit mixed. The Harold who, in the words of the bard, got "his eye full of arrow" was, in fact, Harold Macmillan at the hands of the French two years ago.
§ Mr. GrimondIf there is to be a celebration, may we take it that President de Gaulle will the principal guest at this commemoration of a quite notable defeat of the Anglo-Saxons?
§ The Prime MinisterAs one of my hon. Friends has said, we are awaiting the programme that a committee of the south-east of England is preparing. I thought that it might be helpful, and we might be able to secure the attendance of the French President, if we were to link the two celebrations, the one which has been mentioned in the Question and, perhaps, the 550th anniversary of Agincourt on 25th October this year.
§ Mr. RankinAs the Government's policy is a policy of peace, would it not be better to forget, or try to forget, these bloody episodes of the past and concentrate on such happy peace-making events as the union of the Scottish and English Crowns, which brought great happiness to England, and also the union of the Scottish and English Parliaments, which brought even greater happiness to England?
§ The Prime MinisterI am not sure whether it was my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow, Govan (Mr. Rankin) or another of my hon. Friends who was very 1344 anxious last year that we should celebrate that anniversary of Bannockburn.
§ Mr. RankinHear, hear.
§ The Prime MinisterPerhaps we can leave this matter now happy that we celebrated the Anglo-French occasion of the Simon de Montfort Parliament. In any case, all of us are well aware of the great benefits of the Act of Union with Scotland in that it produced, if nothing else, the Scottish Grand Committee.