§ Q7. Mr. Evelyn Kingasked the Prime Minister whether the substance of the political conversations which have taken place during the last six visits by Mr. Smith to the Governor of Rhodesia since the Unilateral Declaration of Independence have been communicated to him.
§ The Prime MinisterI would refer the hon. Member to the Answer I gave on 25th January to a Question by the right hon. Member for Guildford (Sir R. Nugent).
§ Mr. KingWill the Prime Minister indicate to the House the nature of any suggestions which he has received, if not in detail at least in principle? Will he accept, from his own evidence, that opinion in Rhodesia has now hardened, and there is a real danger that time is moving against Great Britain?
§ The Prime MinisterI do not agree about the last point, and I am very concerned about certain actions taken by the illegal régime this week which I hope the right hon. and learned Member for Wirral 613 (Mr. Selwyn Lloyd) will condemn unequivocally while he is there.
What I said on 25th January I think is right, that it would be wrong for us to disclose the nature of the advice which we have been offered from time to time by the Governor of Rhodesia, and since rumours are being deliberately put about in Rhodesia that we are intending the imminent use of force, which is totally opposed to our policy, and since they are putting out the story that the Governor of Rhodesia is in favour of this, I want categorically to say that the position of the Government has not changed, and that the Governor of Rhodesia is in full support of the Government's decision not to use force to impose a constitutional settlement.
§ Mr. Emrys HughesCan my right hon. Friend assure us that the right hon. and learned Member for Wirral (Mr. Selwyn Lloyd) has not gone to Rhodesia with his approval? Has he heard that the right hon. and learned Gentleman is suggesting that Mr. Smith and the Prime Minister—
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. We are getting wide of the Question on the Order Paper.
§ Mr. HughesDo I understand that I am out of order?
§ Mr. SpeakerI think that the question is a little wide of the one on the Order Paper.
§ Mr. HughesI was going to conclude by asking my right hon. Friend whether he was aware that one of the suggestions made by the hon. and learned Member for Wirral was that Mr. Smith and the Prime Minister should meet at Tashkent?
§ The Prime MinisterApart from that, certainly. No one on this side of the House, or in any part of it, would wish in any way to place impediments in the way of the visit of the right hon. and learned Gentleman to Rhodesia, and we hope that good will come of that visit.
The only view which I have expressed is that, as the right hon. and learned Gentleman is a Privy Councillor, a senior Member of the House, and a spokesman on these matters, I hope he made it clear when he met Mr. Smith yesterday that he was seeing him as a private person, and did not recognise him or his colleagues as a Government.