§ Q7. Mr. St. John-Stevasasked the Prime Minister whether the public speech on economic policy by Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer to the Birmingham 219 Chamber of Commerce on 8th January, 1969, represents the policy of Her Majesty's Government.
§ The Prime MinisterYes, Sir.
§ Mr. St. John-StevasDoes the Prime Minister realise that I have had as much difficulty in trying to obtain a copy of this speech as my hon. Friends had earlier in obtaining answers to their Questions, because apparently it was written on the back of an envelope? Will the Prime Minister discourage his Ministers from this sort of doodling, since it resulted, in the case of the Chancellor, in an error of £500 million?
§ The Prime MinisterI am not sure that if the hon. Gentleman had had the full text he would have been able to make much more of it than he has. There is no rule in our public life that all speeches should be fully scripted. I can remember a former Chancellor of the Exchequer, later Prime Minister, who, in what he called a pipe dream, talked of cutting, virtually promising to cut, defence expenditure to £700 million a year within three or four years.