§ 85. Mr. Dodds-Parkerasked the Secretary of State for Defence what factors he took into account in deciding when to announce the withdrawal from Aden.
§ Mr. HealeyThe paramount consideration was that, having reached the decision to withdraw, it would have been dishonest and unfair to South Arabia to pretend that we had not. The Government felt itself under the strongest 27W obligation to give the local people and their leaders the earliest possible notice of our intention to withdraw from the base and thus leave the maximum time in which they and we could tackle the heavy tasks of making South Arabia ready for independence.