HC Deb 15 July 1969 vol 787 cc401-4
Q2. Mr. Ogden

asked the Prime Minister what further discussions the Government intends to have with the ShahanShah of Iran.

Q10. Mr. Roebuck asked

the Prime Minister what further consideration he has given to the possibility of arranging a meeting with the Shahan Shah of Iran.

The Prime Minister

I have nothing to add to the reply which I gave to my hon. Friends on 20th May.—[Vol. 784, c. 236–9.]

Mr. Ogden

Is my right hon. Friend not aware that the British public are only now beginning to appreciate that, under this Government, for the first time in 150 years, British troops are no longer fighting and dying in foreign wars? As the Opposition are still insisting that British troops should return to the Middle East, is it not time that there was a joint statement from the Iranian and British Governments, showing the very wide measure of agreement that there is on policy between them?

The Prime Minister

In one sense, that supplementary question would have been relevant to the first Question on the Order Paper as well as to this one, because this is, of course, highly relevant to the net invisible earnings, which are struck after allowing for overseas Government expenditure, which this Government, of course, are reducing and which they have been criticised by right hon. Gentlemen opposite for reducing. As for a joint statement on this matter, my hon. Friend will recall the recent visit of my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary to Teheran, and his statement afterwards, in which it was made clear on behalf of the Iranian Government that they supported the British decision to withdraw.

Mr. Roebuck

Is my right hon. Friend aware that, since I first raised this matter in the columns of the Sunday Times, the Leader of the Opposition, assisted by no less a dignitary than his Parliamentary Private Secretary, has been trying to create a smokescreen over what happened when they visited Teheran? Would my right hon. Friend not agree that the mischievous activities of the Leader of the Opposition, then and when he came back, have created a dangerous situation in the Gulf? Is it not right that he should take every opportunity to affirm the accord which exists between Her Majesty's Government and the Government of Iran?

The Prime Minister

The accord on this matter was stated by my right hon. Friend. I do not believe that the statements of the Leader of the Opposition have created a dangerous situation in the Gulf, because the Persian Government have made it clear that they support the policies adopted by Her Majesty's Government. It is a fact, however, that the right hon. Gentleman has been criticised for totally misrepresenting what he was told in Iran.

Mr. Biggs-Davison

On what precise date did it come about that our frontier was no longer on the Himalayas?

Mr. Heath

Is the Prime Minister aware that, since the mischief-making attempts of his Foreign Secretary, there has been an exchange of correspondence between the Iranian Foreign Secretary and myself, which has been published and which makes it absolutely plain that there was no misunderstanding whatever? Is it not important that we have had very good relations with Iran during the past 15 years, in which we have had forces in the Gulf, and that there is no reason why this good relationship should ever be broken?

The Prime Minister

The only thing, of course, which has affected this is the equivocation of the right hon. Gentleman's statement on this question. In fact, the Iranian Foreign Minister, in reply to the right hon. Gentleman, described their policy as, among other things, …non-interference by the countries outside the riparian States and Emirates in the affairs of the Persian Gulf". The right hon. Gentleman told the House in June: … as I have made absolutely no statement as to what was said by … the Shah,…it was impossible for me to have incorrectly reported him."—[OFFICIAL REPORT, 12th June, 1969; Vol. 734, c. 1671.] He said, and was reported as saying, after the wide circle of talks in Teheran and elsewhere: I have no doubt about what their view is ', said Mr. Heath, ' and I do not know how the idea has got about that Persia does not want us to stay.' "— [HON. MEMBERS: "Get on with it."] The right hon. Gentleman is denying that there is any confusion in this matter. Having said after his talks with the Shah that he did not know where the idea had got about that Persia does not wish us to stay—[An HON. MEMBER: "Get on to the next Question."] Of course the hon. Gentleman would like us to get on to the next Question. The Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition, in a letter presumably approved by the right hon. Gentleman, said: Mr. Heath had held long talks with the Shah and in this article Mr. Heath drew his own conclusions from those private talks.

Mr. Heath

Perhaps the Prime Minister would be kind enough to quote what I said. I said: I am satisfied that a Conservative Government would be able to work well with these countries "— that is, both Iran and Saudi Arabia— ' since we all share one common aim: the maintenance of stability. As for the Prime Minister's quotation from the Iranian Foreign Secretary's letter, is he suggesting that his own Government, with forces in the Gulf, is at this moment interfering with other countries in the Gulf? Of course not, and neither would we.

The Prime Minister

No, Sir, I am saying that the Shah approves our decision to withdraw, whereas the right hon. Gentleman was reported in The Times as saying that he did not accept the view that the Shah of Iran would resent a reappraisal of the British decision to pull out by 1971. He then said that there was no doubt about their view and went on to say, after his talk with the Shah, I do not know where the idea has got about that Persia does not wish us to stay. This is totally false to what the Shah himself said, and it is, of course—

Mr. Goodhew

On a point of order. Can the House be protected from these very long and protracted quotations, since Question Time is for asking questions?

Mr. Speaker

The Chair allows the two Front Bench leaders some latitude, and, indeed, some longitude.

The Prime Minister

To finish the Answer, I said that it was, therefore, no surprise that the—[Interruption.] Well, we had these statements in June by the right hon. Gentleman which are not correct. The Shah said—this was reported by the Foreign Secretary— The Shah feels that Mr. Heath must have misunderstood or misquoted what he said. I leave it to the House to judge.