§ Q4. Sir Knox Cunninghamasked the Prime Minister what further progress has been made by the Commonwealth Secretary General towards calling a Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference; and if he will send an official invitation, before the House rises for the Summer adjournment, to all Commonwealth Prime Ministers asking them to attend an early meeting in London.
§ The Prime MinisterI would refer the hon. Member to the Answer I gave on 18th July to Questions by the hon. Member for Moray and Nairn (Mr. G. Campbell) and my hon. Friend the Member for Woolwich, West (Mr. Hamling).— [Vol. 768, c.271.]
§ Sir Knox CunninghamI am glad to know that a date, even next year, has been found since my Question went on the Order Paper. Would the Prime Minister seek some urgent way of exercising Commonwealth pressure on the problem of Nigeria? As regards Rhodesia, will he again be in a position to tell his Commonwealth colleagues that punitive sanctions will succeed in weeks, not months?
§ The Prime MinisterThe hon. and learned Gentleman can always be relied upon to denigrate any subject which he touches, including the Commonwealth. I am disappointed that the date of the conference is as late as it is, but we had 270 to reach a date which was acceptable to 25 Commonwealth Governments. We should have preferred it to have been held this autumn. I thought that the question of Nigeria was fully debated by the House yesterday when two very full Statements were made by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs. On Rhodesia, the hon. and learned Gentleman will find some interesting food for study in the decision of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council this morning, which proves that all that he and other hon. Members have said has been totally wrong from start to finish.
§ Dr. GrayIn future, will my right hon. Friend try to ensure that these meetings are held not only in London but in different Commonwealth capitals each year?
§ The Prime MinisterYes. We have tried to ensure that. Indeed, I think that I was the first British Prime Minister to attend a conference in Africa. That was at Lagos in 1966. On the question of the present Conference, we put forward the suggestion of Canada as a suitable location at an early date, but, in the event, the Commonwealth as a whole decided on this date and chose London for this occasion.