§ 31 and 32. Mr. Swinglerasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (1) if he will now put forward proposals to the United States, Soviet, and French Govenments with a view to fixing a precise date for the commencement of summit talks;
(2) what proposals Her Majesty's Government have under consideration regarding the composition of the Summit Conference.
§ The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Selwyn Lloyd)The three Western Powers made plain, in their communication of 31st March to the Soviet Government, that they consider that it will be for the Foreign Ministers, when they meet and if they conclude the preparatory work to their satisfaction, to agree on the date, place and composition of the summit meeting. The Soviet Government, in their aide-mémoire of 28th February to the United States Government, also said that the Foreign Ministers should decide these questions.
§ Mr. SwinglerCan the Foreign Secretary tell us, from his experience of the N.A.T.O. Conference, whether the Western Governments are now really keen on having summit talks or not? Is he aware of the articles appearing in the Press suggesting that some, at least, of the Western Governments are not really keen to pursue this idea? If they are, how long is this wrangling to go on? Would it not be a good idea to take some new initiative to try to clinch the matter by naming a date?
§ Mr. LloydI think it is quite true that many of the Western Governments, and the public in many Western countries also, are perplexed by some of the procedural methods of the Soviet Union. They are disappointed also at what happened recently in the Security Council. Nevertheless, there is still a general desire that we should have summit talks if they are properly prepared.