§ Q6. Mr. Blakerasked the Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the progress of the Commonwealth initiative to achieve a settlement of the problem of Vietnam.
§ Q14. Brigadier Clarkeasked the Prime Minister what further plans he has for seeking to make contact with the leaders of North Vietnam.
§ The Prime MinisterI have as yet nothing to add to the statements made by my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary and myself in the foreign affairs debate on 19th and 20th July.
§ Mr. BlakerWill the Prime Minister bear in mind the point made by his hon. Friend the Member for Ashfield (Mr. Warbey) in the Spectator that it is not surprising that Hanoi and Peking refused to receive a mission led by himself since he has given full support to American policy? Next time the Commonwealth Mission is considering taking an initiative, will he bear in mind that it might make 1831 more progress if he were prepared to take less of the limelight.
§ The Prime MinisterThis is an extraordinary suggestion by the hon. Gentleman. I thought that he supported the line which we took in supporting the United States in Vietnam. If he is suggesting that we should change that, he had better communicate that view to the right hon. Gentleman the Leader of the Opposition. But if he is suggesting that I should not have been chosen by the Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference to be chairman—that all of us were wrong about this—then, of course, he disregards the fact that this Mission had to be balanced with all points of view. Surely he would agree that it is important in getting acceptance in the United States to have one member of the Mission which has supported the United States policy.
§ Brigadier ClarkeWould the Prime Minister consider sending the Paymaster-General to Vietnam? Many of us would like to see him go.
§ The Prime MinisterIf I thought that it was going to help—[Laughter.]—to get men round a table and end this very "laughable" war, I would even send the hon. and gallant Gentleman, but I do not think that it would.
§ Mr. Biggs-DavisonAs the Prime Minister has repeatedly said that he does not mind rebuffs, which is perhaps just as well, would he please keep in mind the effect on the Commonwealth as a whole—not just upon his own Government—of too many unsuccessful initiatives?
§ The Prime MinisterWhat I notice about the hon. Gentleman, and indeed the Leader of the Opposition in saying that this was an ill-considered initiative, is that it is an extremely surprising criticism of senior Commonwealth Prime Ministers such as Sir Robert Menzies and others who strongly supported this Mission.
§ Mr. A. HendersonDoes my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister realise that the people of the country are behind all his efforts to bring to an end this savage conflict in Vietnam? Will he continue his efforts?
§ The Prime MinisterYes, Sir. I think that basically right hon. Gentlemen opposite also support these initiatives. I think that that is their real position, as has been said, in their hearts. No doubt the right hon. Gentleman the Leader of the Opposition, when he feels better after tonight's meeting, will even support them himself.
§ Sir Alec Douglas-HomeMight I make the observation that I sometimes wish that the right hon. Gentleman would behave like a Prime Minister? On the particular point, while I supported the mission as having an outside chance, the only word with which I can describe the other mission is "idiotic".
§ The Prime MinisterI have tried to take the advice of the right hon. Gentleman. The first advice, of course, marks a welcome change after the previous 12 months. I would hope that he would agree that one of the duties of a Prime Minister is to try to seek peace in this very difficult situation in Vietnam. I might say that it is one of the duties of a Leader of the Opposition to help in that task or to propose alternative means of securing peace, which the right hon. Gentleman has not done. Since he this week condemned the Commonwealth Peace Mission—
§ Sir Alec Douglas-Homeindicated dissent.
§ The Prime MinisterOh, yes. He condemned both of them. I am not interested in his choice of adjectives. I want to know whether he still feels that all the Commonwealth Prime Ministers, for whom I thought he had some respect, were wrong to take an initiative which is inconvenient to the Opposition.
§ Sir Alec Douglas-HomeI must explain to the right hon. Gentleman once again—[Interruption.] If the hon. Member for Fife, West (Mr. William Hamilton) will contain himself for a moment, he will hear the answer. [HON. MEMBERS: "Question."]
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. Out of the gentleness of my heart, I permitted the Prime Minister to commit an outrage to the extent of asking a question at a time when questions should be addressed to him. The hon. Gentleman would be 1833 well advised to give the Leader of the Opposition an opportunity to answer it.
§ Mr. William HamiltonWhy should the Leader of the Opposition or any other right hon. Gentleman be given preferential treatment at Question Time? Is he permitted only to ask a question, or is he to be permitted to make a statement, contrary to the treatment meted out to back bench members?
§ Mr. SpeakerIt is a matter within my discretion. I hope that the right hon. Gentleman can answer a question by asking another. Most people at that level are capable of doing it.
§ Sir Alec Douglas-HomeIs not the Prime Minister aware that I have always made it clear that I was in favour of the idea of the Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Mission but that from the moment it was clear that the right hon. Gentleman had failed to prepare it it was doomed to failure.
§ The Prime MinisterYes, Sir. That is exactly what the right hon. Gentleman said in his speech on Tuesday. I agree that that is exactly what he said. The point which I was putting to him was that since such leading Commonwealth Prime Ministers as Sir Robert Menzies had supported it from the outset, knowing all about the preparations, knowing that we could not endanger the Mission by allowing the Chinese to get at it first, the right hon. Gentleman is therefore condemning some senior Commonwealth Prime Ministers who have far more experience and knowledge of world affairs than he has himself.
§ Mr. ShinwellMay I reply to the Leader of the Opposition?
§ Mr. SpeakerI dare say that one day the right hon. Member for Easington (Mr. Shinwell) will catch my eye—sometimes he does—but he does not catch it at this moment.