HC Deb 21 February 1966 vol 725 cc26-7
53. Mr. Gresham Cooke

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what was the cost to the public of the flight taken by himself and his staff in a Pan American aircraft to Washington for defence policy talks.

The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Michael Stewart)

The cost was £536.

Mr. Gresham Cooke

Was it necessary to go by PanAm rather than flying British by B.O.A.C?

Mr. Stewart

There is no B.O.A.C. flight direct to Washington.

Sir A. V. Harvey

Will the Foreign Secretary do what he can to persuade the Secretary of the State Department occasionally to fly by B.O.A.C.?

Mr. Stewart

It has been for a long time understood that Ministers should fly by British lines unless it is really impracticable and not reasonably possible for them to do so. I think that this consideration weighed, for example, when my predecessors Lord Butler and the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Kinross and West Perthshire (Sir Alec Douglas-Home) on certain occasions travelled by Swiss, Scandinavian, Belgian, Portuguese, and Japanese lines.

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