§ Q1. Mr. Robert Cookeasked the Prime Minister what instructions he has given to senior Ministers of the Crown concerning the use of their names in advertisements.
§ The Prime Minister (Mr. Harold Wilson)There are no specific instructions, but it is well understood that Ministers 1806 do not lend their names to advertisements, and certainly not on any commercial basis.
§ Mr. CookeCan the Prime Minister assure the House that when it is said, as it is,
The Right Honourable Frank Cousins, M.P., slept hereit refers to the right hon. Gentleman in his trade union capacity and not in his capacity as a Minister of the Crown?
§ The Prime MinisterI am sure that the hon. Gentleman does not want us to embark on a censorship of advertisements. The hon. Gentleman was kind enough to send me a copy of this advertisement. I am informed—I have not had a chance of checking it yet—that it is some four or five years since the occasion celebrated in the advertisement, and that it is only recently that this advertisement has started to appear.
§ Sir Alec Douglas-HomeIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that the matter underlying the Question by my hon. Friend cannot be dismissed quite so lightly? Does he recall that on 2nd March I said to him across the Floor of the House that a conflict of interest was likely to arise if the right hon. Gentleman kept his job as general secretary of his union as well as his position in the Cabinet? Is it not clear that this position has now arrived, and may I ask the right hon. Gentleman if he will act?
§ The Prime MinisterI think that the right hon. Gentleman's supplementary question belongs to Question No. Q2. The point at issue here is that my right hon. Friend, in his previous capacity, before he was a Minister, slept in an hotel—I hope that that is all right—and that four years later, as I understand it, the owners of the hotel put out an advertisement saying that he once slept there. I find it difficult to see how, with this time interval, there can be any question of a conflict of interest. If the right hon. Gentleman will put his question on Question No. Q2 I will try to deal with it.
§ Sir Alec Douglas-HomeWill the Prime Minister, perhaps, have this advertisement put in the Cabinet Room, where it would seem to be appropriate also? But 1807 I will return, if I may, to the subject on Question No. Q2.
§ The Prime MinisterAbout putting it up in the Cabinet Room, I have already told the right hon. Gentleman that when we went to No. 10 there were quite a number of Conservative posters, and that we do not plaster the place with political posters, anyway.