HC Deb 13 May 1968 vol 764 c202W
Mr. Speed

asked the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs what has been the cost to the Exchequer of official visits to Zambia and Rhodesia by members of the Government in connection with the Rhodesian situation in each of the calendar years 1966 and 1967, and this year to the latest convenient date.

Mr. George Thomson

The visit to Zambia in January, 1966 by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister and by my right hon. Friend the Member for Middlesbrough, East (Mr. Bottomley) was part of a wider African tour and it is not possible to calculate its specific cost. This was also the case with my own visits to Zambia and to Salisbury in November, 1967. The cost to the Exchequer in 1966 of other Ministerial visits to Zambia and Rhodesia, connected with the Rhodesian situation, was £20,385 (including the expenses of accompanying officials). There were no such visits, apart from those mentioned above, in 1967 and there have been no such visits in 1968.