6 AUGUST 1965, Page 8

Steel

Mr. H. Wilson must not think that, just be- cause 'he absents himself from a censure debate to appear on Gallery, Quoodle's beady eye is not fixed on him. I follow him very carefully at all times. This is what he said when he was asked if steel nationalisation was still in his programme for next year: 'Yes, it is and when one studies the account in the Financial Times two -days ago of the way in which British in- dustry is held up, our exports, our investment, by shortages of so many essentials in the steel and the iron and steel field, I don't think the case is any less than it was.'

It sounds convincing, does it not? It is, in fact, a deliberate distortion of the facts. The article in the Financial Times `did not in any way discuss supplies of basic steel': these are their own words on the morning after the Gallery pro- gramme. The article by George Cyriax discussed foundries—which are not on the list for nationalisation, drop forgings made by the cus- tomers of the industry who have ample supplies of steel and are limited only by labour shortages, and made a passing reference to special steels. The only shortage here is in molybdenum bearing steels, and there is a world. shortage of molybdenum.

Mr. H. Wilson knows all this. He knew also that his interviewers would not, and that many more people watch Gallery than read the Finan- cial Times. So he tried it on. Don't do it again, H. Wilson, -or I might have to use rough words about you. '