◆ SpookStack

PRIME MINISTER / \ ^ \ ^ %X. General A'min You asked me to iet the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to ' consider whether therel should noulbe some discouraging public response to General Amln's latesf/announcement that he intends to visit the United The FCO spokesman has already said on the record today that no approach has been made by General Amin; and this is being supplemented this afternoon by the unattributable line that the question of a visit by Amin is very hypothetical, and that the attitude which the Government adopted last year at the time of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting has not changed. (You will remember that the line which you and the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary took at that time was that it would not be taken amiss if General Amin decided not to come.) It seems that General Amin's latest remark was made as a teasing response to a leading question from a BBC interviewer, along the Iine5"when are you next going to visit the United Kingdom?". In thfe circumstances, FCO advice is that it might be better to let the matter rest rather than giving General Amin further encouragement to be mischievous. 14 February, 1978.