RHODESIA (Hansard, 25 October 1966)

§ Q10. Mr. Sandys
asked the Prime Minister whether he has received any reply from Salisbury to the communication from Her Majesty's Government delivered to Mr. Ian Smith by Sir Morrice James.

§ The Prime Minister
Only in the form of Sir Morrice James' preliminary impressions, Sir. We still await a formal reply.

§ Mr. Sandys
Has the right hon. Gentleman at least given up the absurd 828 pretence that he cannot have any dealings with the illegal régime? Will he now drop his insistence that Mr. Smith must surrender all authority to the Governor before any definitive negotiations can take place, since this is seriously prejudicing the prospects of an agreement?

§ The Prime Minister
The position with regard to return to legality, which I would have thought the right hon. Gentleman would take much more seriously than he has done, both in this country and on his visit to Rhodesia, was set out in the Communiqué of the Commonwealth Prime Ministers. At this stage, I am not in a position to say what are the latest proposals in Rhodesia. But the right hon. Gentleman must realise that the biggest problem is still the question of the principles which he laid down, the fact that there must be guaranteed and unimpeded progress to majority rule. There can obviously be no agreement, however he tries to spin round the thing with words, if the Rhodesians insist on a braking mechanism on progress to majority rule and if they insist that a white Rhodesian Government must determine the pace of African advance. It was a proposition that the right hon. Gentleman would have rejected two years ago with very strong language indeed, as he did.

§ Mr. William Hamilton
Would my right hon. Friend make clear what the Government's intentions are on the continuation of the talks about talks? Is it to be understood that these talks about talks will be finished as soon as the point is reached at which the United Nations takes action, or will the talks about talks continue pending qualified acceptance of the six principles by Smith, as he suggested, and simultaneous action being taken by the United Nations?

§ The Prime Minister
My hon. Friend will realise that, for two reasons, I cannot foreshadow what will happen immediately. The first is that my right hon. Friend has not received in detail and in writing the commentary of those with whom Sir Morrice James was talking, Mr. Smith and his party, so we do not yet know what their final position is. [An HON. MEMBER: "The Tories do."] No, I do not think that they do know. What we have had so far is merely the 829 impressions by Sir Morrice James on that discussion. That is the main reason.
The second reason is that we have undertaken that the talks going on must be confidential at this stage.
With regard to the position about the United Nations and what would happen if no progress were made, I would refer my hon. Friend to the very clear words of paragraph 10 of the Prime Ministers' Communiqué.

§ Sir T. Beamish
Is the Prime Minister aware that one of the great difficulties is that the Government's proposals are not sufficiently well known to the Rhodesian electorate? Has he any suggestions for solving this very difficult problem? Would he, for instance, consider the publication in the near future of a White Paper giving the Government's detailed proposals for the return of the Rhodesian Government to constitutional rule?

§ The Prime Minister
I take the hon. and gallant Gentleman's point. He will realise that the difficulty is that the talks had to be confidential. This was very much the desire of those in Rhodesia with whom the talks were being conducted and of the Governor particularly, and because of the emphasis on confidence it is not possible to appeal to the Rhodesian electorate on the basis of the not only highly reasonable but indeed basically honourable proposition which we have put forward and on which we must insist. That is why it would not be possible to do what the hon. and gallant Gentleman suggests.
The other problem is that even the pictures of my right hon. Friend meeting Mr. Smith and many other germane questions were censored by order of the censors there from appearing in the Rhodesian Press.