Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-06-07
by WILLIAM n. FRYE
CentFibuting Writer

UNITED NATIONS. NJ y
Omitted Nations diplomats who
know Britain's Selwyn Lloyd be-
ilieve there Is more than meets the
EYE to stories that before the end
of the year he may be eased out
of his job as Her Majesty's foreign
secretary.
The story has not been persua-
sively or categorically denied.
Prime Minister Harold Macmillan
told MIR. Lloyd he was aston
ished": but this could have been
establishment that word had leaked
out. Mr.. Macmillan said in Parlia-
'ment that he expected TO work
with Mr.. Lloyd "for q very long
time: but he did not say In what
capacity he expected MIR. Lloyd TO
serve.
The net effect of the denials has
been to give o general impression
that 10 Downing Street stands by
its brilliant and sometimes puck
ish Foreign once chief; London
scarcely could have done less IN
the midst Of a foreign ministers
conference. But enough doubt
nonetheless remains so that a new
element has been injected into the
Geneva equation.
Mr.. Lloyd has been the spear
head Of a drive within the West
ern alliance to accept the world
balance Of power, including par
tition Of Germany. as 1t Is, and
negotiate a sterilization and per-
petuation Of it.
A Possible Explanation
West Germany and France,
which oppose q deal Of this kind
with Russia. might at first glance
be suspected Of planting the story
in an effort TO pull the rug
from under Mr.. Lloyd. But this
is much too disingenuous an ex-
PLANTATION. The Times of London
would not be taken In by any
such maneuver. Nor would Paris
and Bonn be 80 inept as TO try II,
knowing that such an effort would
Immediately backfire.
The real explanation, u. N. peo-
pie believe, must be sought in the
probable impact Of the story on
Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei
Gromyko and on his boss, Nikita
8. Khrushchev.
Mr.. Khrushchev wants very
much to stabilize Russia's grip on
its satellite empire, and to that
end to reduce tensions, block the
atomic armament Of West Ger
many. and eliminate West Berlin
as a Western pressure point.
There Is a lot better chance Of
his accomplishing some Of these
things, at what would seem to him
to be an acceptable price. while
Selwyn Lloyd Is In the Foreign
Once than there would be II he
were out. At least, there is every
logical reason for Mr.. Khrushchev
to make that assumption.
This is not to say that Mr.. Lloyd
is soft" on communism, or an
appeaser; 1t Is simply a fact Of
life that his Interpretation Of the
Western interest leads him TO
want an East-West detente. In
Mr.. Khrushchev's eyes, O success
sor in the British Foreign Once
would be an unknown quantity.
Might Nudge Khrushehev
Thus If the Lloyd-ouster story
is believed in Moscow, 1t is likely
to nudge Mr.. Khrushchev In the
direction Of a more genuine effort
20 negotiate at Geneva now
while Mr.. Lloyd still Is one of the
participants. with direct influence
on Western policy.
Such personal factors play q
much larger part in the calcula-
tons of government leaders thar
the general public realizes. Where.
as much of the public thinks Of
great nations as battleships, ma
neuvering as single units, diplomats
think Of their adversaries as peo'