Shah to move to Britain?

Press, 28 March 1979, Page 8

Shah to move to Britain?

NZPA London Extensions to the Shah of Iran’s Surrey estate have fuelled speculation that he may soon move his court-in-exile to England. More accommodation and surrounding acreage is being added to “Stillman’s Stud," bought by the Shah for £500,000 ($965,000) “some years ago,” the “Evening Standard” has reported. “While delicate negotiations to allow the Shah into this country continue, the deposed ruler seems to have little doubt that his pleas to Dr David Owen (the Foreign Secretary) will be successful,” the newspaper’s “Londoner” column said. The British Foreign Office said yesterday that the British Government had not had any formal request from the Shah. The London “Sunday Telegraph” earlier reported that Sir Shapoor Reporter, who was a prominent adviser of the Shah, was in London carrying out secret diplomatic negotiations to allow the Shah to move to Britain. But British officials said that there had been no contact between Sir Shapoor and the Foreign Office in London. The British Government position is that if a request was received from the Shah to go to Britain then it would need to be given careful consideration in the light of the circumstances, including the question of security. Dr Owen last Wednesday rejected a suggestion by a Left-wing member of Parliament to take over the Shah's estate and turn it into a hospital or a home for underprivileged people.