§ Q5. Mr. Rostasked the Prime Minister whether he proposes to make any changes in the structure of the Central Policy Review Body.
§ The Prime MinisterNo, Sir.
§ Mr. RostWill the Prime Minister give an assurance that the "Think Tank" will retain its independent advisory function and will not be infiltrated by the Prime Minister's personal political staff or by those at Transport House or the TUC who are now dictating Government policy?
§ The Prime MinisterI assure the hon. Gentleman that it is independent and is not being infiltrated. The hon. Gentleman will remember having won his seat in 1970 on the basis of a document which included the phrase "at a stroke", the author of which was appointed to the "Think Tank" when the Conservatives set it up.
§ Mr. BidwellWill my right hon. Friend assure the Conservative Party that the members of the "Think Tank" have a thorough appreciation of the Socialist mission of the Labour movement? Will he say what the "Think Tank" has that the Parliamentary Labour Party has not got?
§ Mr. BurdenThe short answer is, brains.
§ The Prime MinisterIn the first place, it is a bit smaller, and I think that on balance it is slightly more cohesive. The organisation set up by the Leader of the Opposition when he was Prime Minister—he will recall that some thought had been given to the concept before he became Prime Minister, a concept which I criticised a little at the time—I now believe to be a very good development in central Government. Its job is nonpolitical, whether it serves a Conservative or a Labour or, conceivably any other kind of Government—[Interruption.]—if they have not all claimed their old-age pensions by that time. It has a non-political rôle, and its duties are carried through with high distinction. On political matters, I do not think that any Prime Minister or party leader has had more contacts, even in the past two months, with members of the Parliamentary Party, or made his time more freely open for Members to express freely any views that they might have.
§ Mr. HeathOn a number of occasions since becoming Prime Minister the right hon. Gentleman has paid tributes to the work of the CPRS—he has repeated it today—which he has also said was in 1321 contradiction to what he said as Leader of the Opposition. Therefore, I welcome what he says. However, I fear that his recollection is confused about the gentleman to whom he referred today and also in his mention of these matters last Tuesday during Question Time when he referred to a Conservative "spy" in the CPRS. In fact, the gentleman to whom he refers was recruited into the Cabinet Office. Members of the CPRS have always been recruited through the Civil Service machine. I suggest that the question of recruiting people from outside into Govenment service is a principle which has been long accepted, whether from industry or from political parties. The extent to which it is done is obviously a matter for debate in this House or in public. I hope the Prime Minister will withdraw the allegation that the gentleman in question was recruited on a party basis into the CPRS, because that was not the case. I hope, too, that he will withdaw his accusation about there being spies in the CPRS.
§ The Prime MinisterOn one part of the right hon. Gentleman's statement, I fully agree with him. I made it clear before that what he did and what I have done has been in compliance with the recommendations of the Fulton Commission. I think that only good can come from it, on the basis that those specially recruited from outside, if they are of a political origin, go out when the Government go out, whether Conservative, Labour or of any other party.
The word "spies" was not mine. It was used the other day by one of the right hon. Gentleman's own supporters and I picked it up.
As for the gentleman who came from the Cabinet Office to the CPRS—referred to by the right hon. Gentleman—he was recruited into the Cabinet Office by the then Prime Minister and he was the author of the document which included the words "at a stroke". I would not have regarded him, therefore, as an entirely neutral political person. Despite the damage that he did to the then Prime Minister, the right hon. Gentleman generously promoted him.
As for the other person whom the right hon. Gentleman might have in mind, he worked in the Conservative Central Office for a period. He was then inserted 1322 into the CPRS. I understand that he is now the political head of the right hon. Gentleman's office. I should have thought that that justified anything I said the other day.
§ Mr. HeathI must take issue with the Prime Minister on this matter. Both persons were recruited through the normal Civil Service machinery, and the gentleman to whom the Prime Minister refers was first in the service of the Department of Economic Affairs, under a Labour Secretary of State.
§ The Prime MinisterThey were recruited into the Civil Service during the right hon. Gentleman's incumbency. I do not criticise that, because both of us have recruited politically oriented people into the Civil Service. [HON. MEMBERS: "Withdraw."] There is nothing to withdraw. The fact that an individual was a civil servant under a Labour administration, I think, dismissed by the fact that the Leader of the Opposition was himself in the Board of Trade during the period of the Attlee Government—
§ The Prime MinisterI beg the right. hon. Gentleman's pardon. It was Aviation. I regret the inaccuracy.