§ 10. Mr. Willie W. Hamiltonasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the purpose of the official visit by a Minister in his Department to the Caribbean in late January; how many persons were in the official party; and what was the total cost to public funds.
§ Mr. JoplingFor the purpose of my hon. Friend's official visit, I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply given to the hon. Member for Liverpool, Riverside (Mr. Parry) on 4 February. The party comprised four persons and the total cost is now estimated at £9,900.
§ Mr. HamiltonWas that extravagant jaunt approved by the Prime Minister, or was she on holiday at the time? Was the cost of the Minister's husband, who was in the party, paid for by the taxpayer, and did she bring back with her any banana skins for the use of Ministers?
§ Mr. JoplingI see that the hon. Gentleman is up to his usual rather snide form. My hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary embarked on that visit on my instructions to ensure that the promised steps were being taken to improve the quality of bananas coming to the United Kingdom—which enjoy preferential access—from the Windward Islands and Jamaica. We have in the past received many complaints from importers about the quality of imports, but I am glad to say that British housewives are already enjoying better quality fruit as a result of our pressures, not least those from my hon. Friend.
The hon. Gentleman probably does not understand how much help on overseas visits a spouse can be. My view is shared by right hon. and hon. Members on the Opposition Front Bench, because I understand that between 1974 and 1979 Ministers from my Department, accompanied by spouses, took part in 14 visits, to Venice, Warsaw, Copenhagen, Moscow, Amsterdam, the United States, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, Italy, Martinique, Guadaloupe, Canada, Scandinavia, West Germany, Brazil, Mauritius, India, Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong.
§ Mr. BudgenWas the visit perhaps with a view to setting up a banana regime within the enlarged EEC? If banana growers within the enlarged EEC were given what they would call an adequate rate of return, might it not be possible for the EEC to become self-sufficient in bananas? Would that not be in the finest traditions both of the Ministry of Agriculture and of the common agricultural policy?
§ Mr. JoplingThere is no intention in my mind of having a banana regime. If my hon. Friend cannot do rather better than that, he would have done better to stay in the Whips' Office.