Evening star., 1953-10-09
Mr.. Eden on Britain and America

The news from Margate has undergone
marked change for the better. Last week dur
ing their annual convention there, the British
LaboriteS-particularly the left-wing minority
LED by Aneurin Bevan-had many harsh,
muddled and divisive things to say about
American foreign policy. But now, meeting at
the same place. Prime Minister Churchills Con-
servative Party is demonstrating that the gov
ernment Of the United Kingdom is in full
accord with the essentials of that policy, and
there is ample reason to believe that most
Britons feel the same way.
At any rate, in their opening session at
Margate, the MISUNDERSTANDING through
Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden-have made
mlncemeat of Laborite criticism blaming the
United States for the failure of the Western Big
Three to get together with Russia in heads
ot-government conference designed to end the
cold war and promote peace Mr.. Eden, looking
fit after his long illness, has hit back hard at
this gross and ineXcuSabe distortion. AS he
has put it, ITO read some comment you would
think that four-power meeting at the highest
level was some magic formula which only the
Americans prevent us from enjoying. That is
OF course the greatest nonsense"-a fairy tale
that does violence to reality by ignoring the
hard fact OF Soviet nay-Sayng
This nay-saying can be found in what the
with their Peiping and Pyongyang puppets to
delay the Korean political negotiations. It can
be found, too in their persistent refusal to
respond aHrmatively to the Western proposal
Tor foreign ministers conference on Germany
and Austria. Indeed it can be found in so
many other of their acts of omission and COM
mission that Mr.. Eden has given voice to
typical British understatement in declaring
that they have shown mo eagerneSs for meet
ing on any level-high, low or medium So
the LaboriteS, as he has made clear, are far off
base in their criticism of the United States, few
things being more obvious than where the
blame really lies for the continuing failure to
stage productive Big Four get-together.
However, despite the Kremlin's negativism,
Mr. Eden has reaf1rmed that Britain, given a
sincere and firm approach" from the Russians,
will be happy to take part in any four-power
conference (which seems to be practicable or
profitable" This statement although it does
not entirely rule out the idea tends to knock
down recent reports that Prime Minister
Churchill will press for early action on his pro-
posal for headS-of f-government meeting with
Premier Malenkov; it suggests, instead, that
Sir Winston is now in substantial agreement
with President Eisenhower's view that such
meeting would hardly be worth holding unless
it were preceded by concrete evidence of Soviet
good faith in dealing with issues like Germany
at the foreign ministers level
AS for essentials of policy, Mr.. Eden has left
no room for doubt that the Churchill govern
nlent is as one with our own in being deter
mined to maintain the unity and strength of
the Western alliance and in recognizing that
the preservation of freedom depends on the
closest cooperation between the British Com
monwealth Europe and America" resolution
to that erect has been unanimously adopted by
the Conservatives at Margate. The contrast
between their proceedings and the Labor Partys
is truly refreshing-and reassuring.