§ Q5. Mr. Ian Lloydasked the Prime Minister whether he will propose to the United States Government that the United Kingdom should join the negotiations which the United States are to hold with South Africa on the subject of Rhodesia.
§ The Prime MinisterNo, Sir, because no such negotiations are to be held.
§ Mr. LloydSince the House will presume, at least provisionally, that the Prime Minister's sources of information are better than mine, we would be glad to have his assurance that if this is so he will accept that, within the limits of reality set by nuclear responsibility and sanity, there is now an urgent need to reopen negotiations with those whom he believes to have the decision-making capacity in Rhodesia?
§ The Prime MinisterFirst, as to the Question and the facts underlying the Question. It was when I saw the hon. Gentleman's Question on the Order Paper that I made inquiries in Washington to see if there was anything behind it. The hon. Gentleman may possibly have misunderstood or seen the misreporting of a suggestion for a dialogue between South Africa and the United Nations on the question of South-West Africa, not on the question of Rhodesia. Otherwise, it is not too inaccurate.
On the question of Rhodesia, I dealt with this in answer to Questions two days ago, and I was not clear from the Question whether the hon. Gentleman was not referring to the extremists in Rhodesia, whom I think most of us regard now as holding the real power.