United States of America (Hansard, 28 April 1976)

§ 9. Mr. Peter Morrison
asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has any plans to pay an official visit to the United States of America.

§ 16. Mr. Frank Allaun
asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has any plans to pay an official visit to the United States of America.

§ Mr. Crosland
Yes, Sir. I look forward to accompanying Her Majesty the Queen and His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh on their State visit to the United States of America from 6th to 11th July.

§ Mr. Morrison
When the right hon. Gentleman goes to the United States will he make sure that he gets his priorities right and that if, for example, he meets the President or Dr. Kissinger he will not require him to get up at 5 o'clock in the morning to fly to some out-of-the- 364 way airport simply to suit his own party political whims?

§ Mr. Crosland
The ignorance of British geography which must exist in Chester is very remarkable. Lincolnshire and that whole area of Humberside is one of the premier parts of the country and, in my view, Grimsby is one of the most remarkable towns in the whole Commonwealth. I can assure the hon. Gentleman that I shall get my priorities absolutely right when I go to the United States.

§ Mr. Allaun
Will my right hon. Friend ask Washington to keep the CIA out of Britain and to stop it recruiting mercenaries for Africa?

§ Mr. Crosland
I shall certainly consider my hon. Friend's suggestion very carefully indeed. There is a later Question about mercenaries.

§ Mr. Amery
In any further conversations the right hon. Gentleman has with Dr. Kissinger when he visits the United States, will he bear in mind that Dr. Kissinger's speech in Lusaka had ominous echoes of Mr. Foster Dulles' attempt to pre-empt Soviet diplomacy in the Middle East in the 1950s? Will the right hon. Gentleman also bear in mind that many of us feel that he has encouraged Dr. Kissinger to cook a dinner which is more likely to be eaten by the Soviets than by the West?

§ Mr. Crosland
Dr. Kissinger and I had breakfast together, not dinner. If there are echoes of a previous speech, they are echoes of Mr. Harold Macmillan's "wind of change" speech. The right hon. Member has close and cordial and familiar links with Mr. Macmillan and I imagine that he strongly supported that speech. I believe that Dr. Kissinger's speech was a major event for good in Africa. If he had not made it or had made a speech of a contrary character, the possible effects—apart from the morality of the matter—on the world balance of power would have been disastrous.

§ Mr. Tugendhat
When the right hon. Gentleman goes to the United States, will he ensure that he meets Democratic candidates for the presidency as well as the Republican candidate? Is he aware that in a recent article on Mr. Jimmy Carter 365 in the Economist, a picture of the candidate showed him wearing a prominent "England get out of Ireland" button? Does that not show that Mr. Carter must have disregarded Mr. Cosgrave's speech to Cogress and representations made by the British Government to which the American Government have so far helpfully responded?

§ Mr. Crosland
I shall seek to meet the leading Democratic candidates for the presidency. I certainly support the implications of the hon. Member's remarks about American arms for Ulster, which the police are constantly uncovering. I shall do whatever I can to strengthen the efforts already being made by the British Government to persuade the American Government to take every possible action to prevent this flow of arms.