§ Q3. Mr. Biggs-Davisonasked the Prime Minister whether the public speech of the Minister of Overseas Development at Birmingham University on 27th January, 1967 about aid for developing countries represents the policy of Her Majesty's Government.
§ The Prime MinisterYes, Sir.
§ Mr. Biggs-DavisonDoes the right hon. Gentleman's approval extend to his right hon. Friend's reply to a student that effective sanctions at the start—
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. The hon. Gentleman cannot quote in a supplementary question.
§ Mr. Biggs-DavisonI am not quoting the actual words, Mr. Speaker. I am paraphrasing the words, and asking the Prime Minister whether he also approves of what his right hon. Friend said, to the effect that effective sanctions at the start would have meant a Tory majority at the election? Does he agree with his right hon. Friend that, therefore, the majority of the electorate are against sanctions?
§ The Prime MinisterWhether he paraphrased or quoted, I recognise the quotation from the Press which the hon. Member has in mind. I said that my right hon. Friend's speech was Government policy but the passage which he has in mind arose in a noisy exchange afterwards. [Interruption.] There was a great attempt—successful in the end—to stop him making the speech about aid. He was being barracked by a student and what he then said was not a statement of Government policy, or indeed a statement of policy at all, but a personal political view which I do not hold. On sanctions, the Government did what we believed to be right and necessary then and at all times. We are not diverted, despite the hon. Member's quotation, by an Opposition which is divided three ways. I am satisfied that if we had thought that a different sanctions policy was right, the General Election result would have been exactly the same.