§ 3.12 p.m.
§ LORD LEATHERLANDMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, on Britain's entry into the European Economic Community, they will suggest to the Bank of England that the design of the £5 note be altered.
§ LORD LEATHERLANDMy Lords, I thank the noble Lord for that brief Answer. Does he not think that on our entry into the European Community we should do everything we possibly can to ensure the best possible relations with the French people? Therefore does he not think that it is tactless to print on the back of a £5 note a picture of British gunners blowing the French Army to blazes at Waterloo, accompanied with a full-size portrait of the late Duke of Wellington, who inflicted upon France the greatest humiliation in her history?
EARL JELLICOEMy Lords, I would agree with what the noble Lord, Lord Leatherland, suggested in the first part of his supplementary question, but I would remind him and your Lordships that the Bank of England, who are responsible for this matter, intend that a portrait of an illustrious British personage should appear on the back of each denomination in the current series of bank notes. As the noble Lord rustles through his roll of £20 notes he will see that the portrait of William Shakespeare appears there, and I think it is not altogether inappropriate that a distinguished former resident in a number of Common Market capitals should appear on the £5 note.
§ LORD LEATHERLANDMy Lords, I thank the noble Earl for that Answer, and would gladly send him a portrait.
§ LORD BURNTWOODMy Lords, in any event should we not remember that the Duke of Wellington was a very great Englishman indeed, in a military capacity if not in his political capacity, and that in any case the French have probably long since forgiven us for the fact that he was the author of the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty in France.
LORD INGLEWOODMy Lords, does not my noble friend recall that the Parliamentary celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Entente Cordiale took place in the Royal Gallery and many French visitors were entertained under pictures not only of the Duke of Wellington but of the Battle of Trafalgar, too. Has there been any evidence that that party has in any way impaired Franco-British relations?