§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for Defence whether he will give the date when he received a letter from Mrs. Margaret L. Catherall, formerly of West Ham, now at Church Crookham, Hampshire, asking for his personal views on Service pay; what was the nature of this communication; how many similar letters he received on this subject: and what was the nature of his replies.
§ Mr. MulleyMrs. Margaret L. Catherall wrote on 18th July asking why no Labour MP met members of the Forces' Wives Association when they visited the House on 6th June to lobby their MPs about the pay of the Armed Services.
The reply to Mrs. Catherall and to the 300 or so other wives who wrote in identical terms will be in similar terms to my reply in the House on 27th June when I explained why I did not meet the wives and that if they had given me a little advance notice of their desire to meet me that I should have been pleased to do so. —[Official Report, Vol. 952, c. 1196–8.]
I cannot speak for my hon. Friends but I understand that the allegations that they failed to meet forces' wives are untrue.