§ Q6. Mr. Stracheyasked the Prime Minister whether the speech of the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster at Oxford on 9th February concerning South Africa's expulsion from the Commonwealth represents the policy of Her Majesty's Government.
§ The Prime MinisterMy right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster made no statement of Government policy when he spoke at Oxford.
§ Mr. StracheyBut does the Prime Minister now endorse, or not, the statement that it was wrong and a mistake for the so-called expulsion of South Africa from the Commonwealth to take place? Or does he still stand by his own view that it was unavoidable in the circumstances?
§ The Prime MinisterTo be quite accurate, there was no question of the expulsion of South Africa from the Commonwealth. What I thought my right hon. Friend said, in general, was based on Burke's famous phrase
I do not know the method of drawing up an indictment against an whole people ";in other words, that it was not necessarily right to blame upon a whole people the faults of a Government. I should have thought that an Opposition that had been in opposition for ten years might have been quite sympathetic to that.
§ Mr. Farey-JonesWould my right hon. Friend make quite clear to the House that the day of South Africa's return to the Commonwealth will be a day of great joy and rejoicing, not even to be compared with the relief of Mafeking? It is an objective to which all men of good will should be dedicated.
§ The Prime MinisterI thought that both I at the time, and my right hon. Friend in his speech, made it clear that they would be welcome under different policies.
§ Mr. G. BrownDid the Prime Minister not notice that part of his right hon. Friend's speech in which he said that were moral judgment to be passed on members of the Commonwealth we would not have lasted after Suez? Does the Prime Minister endorse that?
§ The Prime MinisterOnce again that is a misquotation. What my right hon. Friend did was to make the point that many Commonwealth countries, including ourselves, have carried out policies which they considered right, but which other members of the Commonwealth thought wrong. We had an instance of this only a few weeks ago. This is a statement of fact. What he was pleading for was some recognition that there was a unity transcending the policies of particular Governments of all the Commonwealth countries. That was the plea he was making.
§ Mr. GrimondDoes the Prime Minister agree with the Lord Privy Seal's view of the Suez affair?
§ The Prime MinisterYes, Sir. I have great regard for the Lord Privy Seal and for the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. The right hon. Gentleman must get a little more up to date.