HC Deb 13 July 1967 vol 750 cc1008-9
Q7. Mr. Hamling

asked the Prime Minister whether he will arrange to have the text of his speeches, in the television programme on The State of the Nation, broadcast on Wednesday, 21st June, placed in the Library.

Q8. Mr. Alison

asked the Prime Minister if he will arrange for a copy of his speeches made in the course of his television broadcast on 21st June to be placed in the Library.

The Prime Minister

I did so on 26th Jane, Sir.

Mr. Hamling

Did my right hon. Friend a' so read a certain speech last weekend a pout the state of the nation which completely ignored the economic burden of defence and also the balance of payments?

The Prime Minister

I do not think that I am responsible for the speech made last weekend.

Mr. Alison

Does the Prime Minister re call saying in that broadcast that the pay freeze was never intended to last beyond six months? Can he repudiate de notion that the medicine will be repeated?

The Prime Minister

I said that the pay freeze, in the sense of an absolute standstill, was meant, as was announced at the time, to last for six months and six months only. A "repetition of the medicine" has already been dealt with. The House knows that this, as my right hon. Friends and I have frequently urged, was a reference to the fact that if we do not get a proper incomes policy there is grave danger to full employment. That was the point which was made. If my right hon. Friend had the misfortune to be misinterpreted last week, it was far more cruel to the Leader of the Opposition who was correctly reported.

Mr. Barber

Will the Prime Minister also consider making widely available his statement on a television programme, called "Election Forum", just before the election, when he expressed opposition to the statutory control of wages?

The Prime Minister

Yes, Sir. It would be a very grave reflection on the right hon. Gentleman, who is such an assiduous student of speeches by myself—indeed, he has followed that to such a point that he has no time to work out any policy for his own party—if he had not made this point several times in the House, as he has. [HON. MEMBERS: "Answer the question."] I was asked whether I would make it available. I shall be very surprised if it is not in the Library. Certainly the right hon. Gentleman has a copy. If I cannot find one, perhaps he will provide it.