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<•- >••• SECRET MO 6/3/7 Copy No..?-. ..of 27 copies MINISTRY OF DEFENCE MAIN BUILDING WHITEHALL LONDON SW1 Telephone 01-SiQOG£K 218 2111/3 30th May 1977 My Secretary of State has co raised J&y your letters to Patrick) 27th//?fay, and has the following c He is glad that the Civil Police acknowledge the problem of receiving, disarming and keeping Amin in custody while he is in this country to be a matter essentially for them. He is of course content to provide an armoured reconnaissance force, including an armoured ambulance, in a deterrent role, and in the last resort to help the Civil Police to deal with armed resistance which goes beyond that which the Police can cope with from their own resources. He is pleased to learn that an earlier request for infantry to be available at a half to one hour's • notice to help the Essex Police at Stansted has now been withdrawn. My Secretary of State accepts that, in certain circumstances,* it may be desirable to divert Amin's aircraft to RAF Brize Norton; but an airfield, of whatever sort, is not an ideal place to detail anyone who is the object of intense interest by demonstrators and the Press, still less a Head of State whom we wish to treat with kid gloves. For this reason he thinks that the Civil Departments, including the Department / o f R M Morris Esq Page 1 of 2.pages ?;; SECRET "'l"';i