§ 41. Mr. Donnellyasked the Prime Minister whether he will make a statement regarding the consultations he had, while in South Africa, with the Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa regarding South Africa's future membership of the Commonwealth.
§ The Prime MinisterNo, Sir. My discussions with the Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa were confidential.
§ Mr. DonnellyIs the Prime Minister aware that the forthcoming Prime Ministers' conference will probably be the major test the Commonwealth has faced as an institution? What does he intend to do about it?
§ The Prime MinisterHold the conference, I hope. I hope it will be attended by all the Prime Ministers of the Commonwealth.
§ Mr. GaitskellDoes the Prime Minister realise that, while for our part we have no desire to raise the difficult issue of membership of the Commonwealth, the presence of South Africa in the Commonwealth should not be allowed to prevent or inhibit the clear expression of critical opinion on the racial policies of the South African Government? Will he agree that the overwhelming majority of the British people received with a shock of horror the news of the police action at Cape Town yesterday, and will 192 he, consistent with the admirable speech he himself made in Cape Town last February, give to the South African Government early expression of his regret about what happened yesterday?
§ The Prime MinisterOf course, what has happened in this tragic situation is a very great source of deep regret to me. I share to the full the feelings of sympathy for those who have suffered, but I ask the House to consider our position not as a party matter. The British Commonwealth has, I think, a great past. I believe it to have the possibilities of a great future. It will outlast the particular people who preside over the fortunes of any country at any given time. I think that we must remember not lightly to throw away or to injure what I am certain in the years ahead will be a great instrument for good.
§ Mr. GaitskellWill the Prime Minister accept that I do not desire to make this a party issue and that I am well satisfied that the Prime Minister himself and many of his hon. Friends, although perhaps not all, feel as strongly as we do on the subject? Will not he also agree that what is happening in South Africa is bound to have a very great bearing on the future of the Commonwealth and that its influence on other countries already in the Commonwealth and those who, as they become independent, will, we hope, join it, may well be extremely adverse? In all these circumstances, will the right hon. Gentleman give us an assurance that these matters will be fully discussed at the Prime Ministers' conference?
§ The Prime MinisterI fully accept what the right hon. Gentleman says, but he must also recognise the heavy responsibility which lies upon the Government, perhaps largely upon me, in this matter. I think it has been made clear already that the agenda of the formal conferences is fixed by the conference itself. There are certain traditions about it, but, as I saw from a statement made by the Premier of the Union a few days ago, that does not preclude us from using what influence we can to steer what we believe and hope is a right course in a good direction. That is quite different from taking an action which would be to precipitate a crisis in the Commonwealth. Britain has a great responsibility here, 193 and what I want to do is to use the Commonwealth and see it grow, but so to steer a course that we are able to preserve in full the structure which has been built up and to see that we do not err in precipitate action which might have very dangerous results.
§ Mr. GaitskellWould not the right hon. Gentleman agree that the whole value of the Commonwealth consists in its maintaining certain social values and, in particular, its belief in democratic freedom and racial equality and that if it fails to do this, even if it holds together, it will largely have lost its significance in world affairs? Bearing all that in mind, may I ask the right hon. Gentleman whether he will make representations to the South African Government, as privately as he wishes, urging upon them the necessity for a change in policy?
§ The Prime MinisterNo, Sir. That is another question. I have expressed my view privately, and in a courteous way, as I thought, and I have tried to do so publicly. Our duty is to influence and to guide and to hope that, by so doing, the principles in which we believe will be accepted everywhere. But I repeat— and I think the right hon. Gentleman knows the position that he would be in if he had the same responsibility—that we have to be bold in the statement of our views but cautious in any action which, foolishly carried out, might jeopardise the whole structure of our Commonwealth proceedings in their formal character.