§ Q3. Mr. Wallasked the Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the latest developments in Anglo-Rhodesian relations.
§ Q12. Mr. James Johnsonasked the Prime Minister whether he will make a statement upon the situation in Rhodesia.
§ The Prime MinisterI would refer hon. Members to the Answers I gave to Questions on this subject on Tuesday last to which as yet there is nothing to add.—[Vol. 751, c. 1496–1502.]
§ Mr. WallDoes the Prime Minister agree that the six principles were embodied in the Constitution initialled on board H.M.S. "Tiger" last year, and, if the Rhodesian leaders are prepared to take the Constitution as the basis of a settlement, is he prepared to modify the formula for a return to legality imposed upon him by the Commonwealth Prime Ministers?
§ The Prime MinisterThere is agreement between both parties on the need for a return to constitutional rule, and for the acceptance of the six principles. If I were to take at face value what Mr. Smith stated yesterday in his own Parliament, I should be extremely depressed about the prospects of reaching agreement; equally, if I took account of their savage maltreatment of the Conservative Party conference's findings on Rhodesia. I would be prepared to make available to the Library the statement issued by Rhodesia's Fascist-controlled television and radio service which was most unfair to right hon. Gentlemen opposite, and treated the right hon. Member for 1885 Streatham (Mr. Sandys) as though he were the biggest enemy that Rhodesia ever had—which he is not. But we must leave this to the statesmanship of the talks which may come and not take too seriously statements made in the Rhodesian Parliament.
§ Mr. SandysOr here in London.
§ Mr. JohnsonIn view of my right hon. Friend's answer on Tuesday that a lie has been carefully fostered about Nibmar, is he aware of a similar lie which has been fostered on the other side about the Secretary of State's visit; in other words, that we wish for some kind of settlement on terms which do not suit us? Would he shoot this one down again today?
§ The Prime MinisterI am not responsible for the lies fostered in any of these places. Everything that I have said to the Rhodesian Prime Minister—and there has been no precedent in British history —has been published afterwards and made available to the House. We are prepared to have a settlement with them, provided it is in accordance with the terms laid down by the House. It makes me a little anxious that, of the six principles to which all parties in the House are signatories, in the last two months the Rhodesians have thrown over in their public statements principles 1, 2, 3 and 6. They have never accepted principle 4, and now they are throwing out principle 5. Nevertheless, with statesmanship, I hope that we can still reach agreement on the basis of the six principles.