HC Deb 03 February 1959 vol 599 cc31-2W
50. Mr. Jay

asked the Prime Minister if he will protest to President Eisenhower, as head of the United States Government, against the rejection by the United States authorities of the bid from the English Electric Company for hydraulic turbines for the Greer's Ferry Dam in Arkansas, at a price 17 per cent. below the lowest United States bid, and ask for a reversal of this decision.

The Prime Minister

As the House will be aware, the normal channel of communication in these matters is the diplomatic one. My right hon. and learned Friend the Foreign Secretary has instructed Her Majesty's Ambassador in Washington to make representations to the State Department about the rejection of the English Electric Company's bid. My right hon. Friend, the President of the Board of Trade, has also made the Government's views known to the United States Chargé d'Affaires in London. A message to the President from myself would, of course, be on a personal and confidential basis.