740.0011 E. W./6–1645: Telegram
No. 73
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant) to the Acting Secretary of State
6104. Sequence of events connected with Churchill’s invitation to Attlee as leader of the opposition to attend Three Power Conference was as follows: (1) On Thursday Churchill announced to Commons that he had invited Attlee to accompany him. (2) On Thursday evening Harold Laski, Chairman of Labor Party, issued following statement: “It is of course essential that if Mr. Attlee attends this gathering he shall do so in the role of an observer only. Obviously it is desirable that the leader of the party which may shortly be [Page 105] elected to govern the country should know what is said, discussed and agreed at this vitally important meeting. On the other hand the Labor Party cannot be committed to any decisions arrived at for the Three Power Conference will be discussing matters which have not been debated either in the Party Executive or at meetings of the Parliamentary Labor Party. Labor has a foreign policy which in many respects will not be continuous with that of a Tory dominated coalition[;] it has in fact a far sounder foreign policy. It is therefore essential that though Mr. Attlee should attend the Three Power talks Labor and he should not accept responsibility for agreements which on the British side will have been concluded by Mr. Churchill as Prime Minister. It is essential also that Mr. Churchill himself, Marshal Stalin, and President Truman should be fully aware of the position”. (3) Yesterday the following letters were exchanged between Churchill and Attlee settling the whole issue: Mr. Churchill’s letter says “I now send you a formal invitation to come with us to the forthcoming tri-partite conference in the near future. Since I announced this intention to Parliament I observe that a statement was made last night by Professor Harold Laski, the Chairman of the Labor Party, in which he said ‘It is of course essential that if Mr. Attlee attends this gathering he shall do so in the role of an observer only.’ His Majesty’s Government must of course bear the responsibility for all decisions but my idea was that you should come as a friend and counsellor and help us on all the subjects on which we have been so long agreed and have been known to be agreed by public declaration. In practice I thought the British delegation would work just as they did at San Francisco except that as I have already stated you would not have official reponsibility to the Crown otherwise than as a Privy Councillor. Merely to come as a mute observer would I think be derogatory to your position as the leader of your party and I should not have a right to throw this burden upon you in such circumstances. I hope, however, I may have your assurance that you accept my invitation”. Mr. Attlee replied “I thank you for your letter of today’s date. I had already on your informal intimation to me of your intention to invite me as the leader of the Labor Party to accompany you to the prospective conference in Berlin consulted my principal colleagues in the House of Commons. They agreed with me that the offer should be accepted on the basis which you have set out in your letter. There was never any suggestion that I should go as a mere observer. I have therefore the pleasure of accepting your invitation. There seems to me to be great public advantage in preserving and presenting to the world at this time that unity on foreign policy which we maintained through the last five years. I do not anticipate that we shall differ on the main lines of [Page 106] policy which we have discussed together so often. I understand of course that responsibility must rest with the Government but I take it that we should consult together upon the issues that arise in order to present a policy consonant with the views of the great majority of the people of this country. The parallels which you draw to the arrangements at San Francisco are I think apposite. I appreciate that you have made this offer in view of the special conditions existing at the present time and that I should not base any claims to a precedent on the fact of its having been made”. (4) Laski said last night “Everything has now been satisfactorily cleared up. Mr. Churchill had not made the position quite clear in the House of Commons, but now with the exchange of letters and now that the sphere of responsibility has been defined the position is entirely satisfactory”.