HC Deb 20 June 1967 vol 748 cc1409-11
Q1. Sir Ian Orr-Ewing

asked the Prime Minister what plans he has for a further meeting with Mr. Kosygin.

The Prime Minister (Mr. Harold Wilson)

I have as yet no further information to give the House about my next meeting with Mr. Kosygin.

Sir Ian Orr-Ewing

Has the Prime Minister noted that at the United Nations yesterday Mr. Kosygin said that Israel must return to her 1949 borders? Would he remind Mr. Kosygin that Russia captured part of Finland, all of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and East Prussia and a large part of Poland, and held them all after 1945 on the ground that they were essential to her security? Is not the security of Israel also important?

Mr. Speaker

This is interesting, but we cannot have speeches at Question Time. The Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister

The position of Her Majesty's Government was stated by my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary in a speech in the country on Saturday, which will be made available to the House. And, of course, my right hon. Friend will be expressing further the position of Her Majesty's Government on this and other questions when he intervenes in the Assembly debate.

Mr. Shinwell

Would it not be advisable at some stage to remind Mr. Kosygin, when he talks of aggression on the part of one nation, about the aggression perpetrated seven years ago by the Soviet Union against Hungary?

The Prime Minister

I believe that there are very many arguments that could be used in an atmosphere of tit for tat, but I believe that in the present situation —in the present very difficult and grave situation—in the Middle East we must all try to get the debate in the Assembly now, at any rate, on to a more constructive level.

Mr. Heath

Can the Prime Minister tell the House whether he has yet reached a decision about going to the General Assembly while Mr. Kosygin is there and, if he has, what the reasons for his decision are?

The Prime Minister

This is a matter which I discussed with the President of France. In the present situation in the Assembly I doubt whether this would be very useful, but I shall be in touch with the President of France and, of course, considering whether at the right moment it might be possible to get high-level talks on a more constructive basis. At the moment, I thought that the tone of the Assembly would suggest that there would be no purpose in it.

Mr. Sydney Silverman

After Mr. Kosygin's speech yesterday at the United Nations, does my right hon. Friend think that any useful purpose would be served by having any further conversations with him?

The Prime Minister

Yes, Sir. [Interruption.] I am afraid that many things are being said in New York, and I fear that many things will be said in New York, that are not likely to lower the temperature in a situation where it is important to lower the temperature, but none of these, in this present overheated atmosphere, are any arguments at all why we should not, at the appropriate moment, have talks with Mr. Kosygin either in the present context or on my visit to the Soviet Union.

Sir C. Osborne

Do not some of these supplementary questions suggest that we are having too many summit meetings, which cause people to expect too much too quickly in regard to very difficult problems? Would it not be better to leave the Diplomatic Service to do the job more quietly and expeditiously?

The Prime Minister

I am not responsible for all the supplementary questions put. I believe that, however difficult the problem and however overheated the situation may be at the moment, nothing but good can come in the long term from frequent meetings with leaders of other countries, provided, as the hon. Member says, that excessive expectations are not raised by each new meeting.

Mr. Heffer

Despite the difficulties we are having at the present moment, will the Prime Minister inform the House whether it is the Government's intention to make every effort towards a four-Power summit conference?

The Prime Minister

It is still our position that, at the right moment, a four-Power summit meeting or a four-Power meeting at another level would probably be very helpful. We are more likely, I think, to get constructive and imaginative ideas in a high-level sort of meeting—obviously in consultation with the countries affected—than if it were left to the procedure of debate and argument and counter-argument, but I fear that, in the present situation of the Assembly, we are not at this stage yet, and may not be for some little time.

Sir G. Nabarro

Following the question by the hon. Member for Liverpool, Walton (Mr. Heffer), would not the Prime Minister tell the House whether President Johnson consulted the Prime Minister before he approached Mr. Kosygin over a summit meeting in New York? Does the Prime Minister therefore share the rebuff administered to President Johnson?

The Prime Minister

Consultations between the American President and myself are normally confidential except when it is necessary to make a report to the House—for example, on talks I have had over there—but I should have thought it a very natural thing for the Head of Government, indeed Head of State of the host country, to say that he was willing to meet with a distinguished visitor who is a Head of Government. I do not think this matter can be treated in terms of rebuffs and phrases of that kind.