§ Q4. Mr. A. Hendersonasked the Prime Minister whether he will consult the Commonwealth Prime Ministers with a view to presenting to the 17-Power Disarmament Conference a compromise disarmament plan based on the latest Russian and United States proposals and the 1961 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' programme.
§ Q9. Mr. Mayhewasked the Prime Minister what fresh disarmament initiative he has taken in accordance with his letter to Mr. Khrushchev of 28th October.
§ The Prime MinisterI believe our best hope of progress is for all of us to persevere with the detailed negotiations at Geneva, in which the four Commonwealth countries represented are playing an active part. As the right hon. and learned Gentleman no doubt knows, the United States draft plan, which we support, follows the lines of the Commonwealth Prime Ministers' statement of March, 1961, which the Commonwealth Prime Ministers themselves re-affirmed in September, 1962. The United States Delegation at Geneva have also tabled proposals which we welcome for measures to reduce the risk of war. I do not think that new initiatives would necessarily be the best way to make progress at present.
§ Mr. HendersonIs not the present deadlock at Geneva due mainly to the fact that both the United States and the Soviet Government are resting on their respective disarmament plans? Should not Her Majesty's Government take their own initiative in this matter? Could not they make a great contribution to a solution of this problem if they were to follow the suggestions made by the Secretary of 236 State for Foreign Affairs that they should take the best parts of both these plans and include them in a compromise plan of their own?
§ The Prime MinisterThat suggestion has been followed up in the plan for reducing the risk of war, which is exactly what the right hon. Gentleman suggests, a combination of the two plans. With regard to the rest of it, it is largely a combination of the original American plan and that which has the support of all the Prime Ministers of the Commonwealth.
§ Mr. MayhewBut are not the Government's efforts in this field very limited and disappointing? Do not the terms of the letter to Mr. Khrushchev, to which my Question refers, imply that if Mr. Khrushchev withdrew his missiles from Cuba there was an obligation on the Government to make a new initiative specifically in the field of stage one of the new disarmament process? If this is not what the reference to disarmament meant, what did it mean?
§ The Prime MinisterWe have made one plan after another. It is not a question of new initiative. It is what I was hoping for and am still hoping for, a new will on the part of the Soviet Government to have serious negotiations.
Mr. H. WilsonSince the Commonwealth Declaration on disarmament in 1961 was taken as giving some new hope in the disarmament field, would the right hon. Gentleman recognise the great urgency of this now, following the more forthcoming attitude shown by Mr. Khrushchev in this matter? Does the Prime Minister realise that those who have studied in detail the American and Russian plans, as I am sure he has, recognise that the gaps between them are not beyond the possibility of bridging, and is it not time for the United Kingdom Government to take the initiative in proposing the compromise that is possible between the Russian and American drafts?
§ The Prime MinisterBefore I answer the question, perhaps the right hon. Gentleman will allow me to congratulate him on his appointment to the high position of Leader of the Opposition. I hope he will not take it amiss if I say that I hope he will live many years to enjoy it.
237 With regard to this extremely complicated matter, we have got the combination of our plan and the American plan and really what is wanted is very much the same as in this test ban thing which has gone on for so long. What is wanted is not merely new initiative in trying to think up new words. It is really the will to negotiate seriously.
Mr. WilsonMight I first thank the Prime Minister for his courteous if slightly bewhiskered comment, and will he allow me to return the courtesy by saying that I regard my tenure of this position as being just long enough to keep the seat nice and warm for him?
On the more important issue that is raised by this Question, may I ask the right hon. Gentleman again whether he will give instructions to our representative in Geneva to attempt to reconcile the two drafts and put forward an initiative, and will he consider at an early stage making a report to this House?
§ The Prime MinisterWe are working at this and we have the great advantage of four Commonwealth countries associated with us with whom we are working in close co-operation. We are anxious to make progress, but, as the right hon. Gentleman and anyone who has been in these negotiations for many years knows, it is, as I say, not merely a question of putting out the right things on paper. It is really a question of getting down to serious negotiation about them.