10 APRIL 1971, Page 5

THE SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK

Whatever the Treasury may have thought about expense, however fiercely the Depart- ment of Trade may have argued for an inland site, it has become clear that neither the Commons nor the Lords would have stood for any other third London airport site than Foulness. The only real argument politically has been whether the third airport is necessary at all. If it is necessary, Foulness it must be—because this was the only place that could command Parliamentary support. The categorical advice of the Chief Whip, Francis Pyrn, to the Government cannot have been other than 'Foulness or nothing'. That Peter Walker and his Ministry of the Environment also took the same line has also clinched the matter.