§ Q5. Mr. Robert Hughesasked the Prime Minister if he will transfer the functions of the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in relation to the conduct of Government policy in the EEC to the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.
§ The Prime MinisterNo, Sir.
§ Mr. HughesDoes not the right hon. Gentleman accept that there is something wrong when a senior Cabinet Minister who is supposed to represent this country has no Question Time allocation of his own and therefore cannot be questioned on matters of policy like the mountain of butter which has been referred to? If there is to be no change of policy, would it not be better to end the fiction that the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster speaks for Britain and admit that he has simply been relegated to the position of office boy to the Foreign Secretary?
§ The Prime MinisterThere is no justification for that remark. The Foreign Secretary represents this country in the Council of Ministers. The Chancellor of 1137 the Duchy can accompany him or represent him when required.
§ Miss Joan HallWhen the hon. and learned Member for Lincoln (Mr. Taverne) was appointed to the European Parliament, was he not a paid-up member of the Labour Party? [HON. MEMBERS: "No, he was not."] Does my right hon. Friend know why the Opposition were not prepared to have a debate on that subject, knowing their implacable dislike of the European Parliament? If he does not know the answer, will he ask the Leader of the Opposition?
§ The Prime MinisterThe Leader of the Opposition must speak for himself.
§ Mr. Harold WilsonYes, Sir. In view of the Prime Minister's concern about New Zealand, which he expressed in a previous answer, will he say whether the Chancellor of the Duchy is pressing, as the Labour Government insisted as part of our terms for joining the Common Market, that we should continue, for a generation, to get cheap New Zealand butter?
§ The Prime MinisterWe made a satisfactory arrangement for New Zealand and the Labour Government never insisted on anything in negotiations in Europe, as the right hon. Gentleman knows full well. He has consistently misled this House and the country—[Interruption.]—by saying that when he went round to visit the Heads of Government in Europe he was laying down the terms they had to accept. He knows full well that was not the case, and neither did they accept them and they never would have done. [Interruption.]
§ Mr. WilsonThe Prime Minister is wrong. I have quoted in this House the Cabinet minutes and the record of all the Six talks in Europe. What the Prime Minister is saying about the Labour Party is a lie.
§ The Prime MinisterIf the right hon. Gentleman chooses to use unparliamentary language, that is a matter for him. [Interruption.]
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. I deprecate the use of that word. [Interruption.] Nevertheless the Prime Minister is answering and he must be heard.
§ Mr. WilsonOn a point of order, Mr. Speaker. If you deprecate that word I 1138 will withdraw it. I will substitute instead the phrase you have twice allowed the Chancellor of the Exchequer to use. What the Prime Minister has said is a pack of lies.
§ Hon. Members: Oh.
§ The Prime MinisterThe right hon. Gentleman knows perfectly well that what I am saying is the truth. He was never able to insist on that visit to Europe that the Community should accept the terms he is said to have laid down.
§ Several Hon. Members rose—
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. It is quite clear that we had better move on.