1 MAY 1971, Page 5

Junior chaps

And a few minutes later, prodded that he had said on television that `no government would take the country into the Common Market against the will of the people', Mr Heath reiterated : 'Yes, that is my view. The view I have held for the last ten years. I held this view when I was doing the negotiat- ing myself. I always said that you couldn't possibly take this country into the Common Market if the majority of the people were against it. But this,' he added, presumably warning against talk of a referendum, 'this is handled through the parliamentary system.'

It is to be hoped that Europe is being reminded of these words by Geoffrey Rippon, even if junior chaps like Christopher Soames do not sound as if they have ever heard of them.