Ministry Apologises To Wilson

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31659, 20 April 1968, Page 14

Ministry Apologises To Wilson

fN.Z. Press Assn. —Copyright) LONDON, April 19. The Ministry of Defence yesterday apologised to the Prime Minister, Mr Harold Wilson, over a suggestion that a Fleet Air Ann twenty-first birthday party was scrapped because the Prime Minister was to be guest of honour, the “Daily Sketch” reported. But the commanding officer of Culdrose Royal Naval Air Station, Cornwall, where the party was to have taken place, said: *T wish they had not apologised. "Quite frankly, it would have been better to let sleeping dogs lie.” The party was suggested to celebrate the station’s anniversary, but only 48 of the 600 invited guests said they wanted to attend. The commander, Captain Bernard Notley, denied that this was a rebuff to Mr Wilson. But repeated telephone calls were made today between Culdrose, the Admiralty in London and the Ministry of Defence, according to the “Daily Sketch.” The Admiralty was angryover a statement by a Culd-

rose officer that “Jack Tar will normally drink with anyone, but apparently he draws the line at Harold Wilson.” The Ministry's apology stated in part: “If the individual and entirely personal comments were correctly reported the Royal Navy deeply regrets this display of bad manners by those concerned.” It described Mr Wilson’s visit to the station on Wednesday as “a happy occasion in which politics and defence reviews had no place.** However, a rating at the station said today: “It’s just a load of whitewash to say we welcomed the Prime Minister with open arms.” Another declared: “We are proud of the Navy and the Fleet Air Ann, and we don’t like what Harold Wilson is doing to them.” He was referring to earlier speculation that the apparent snubbing of Mr Wilson took place in protest against the Labour Government’s downgrading of the Fleet Air Arm.