ATTITUDE OF BRITAIN

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27472, 5 October 1954, Page 13

ATTITUDE OF BRITAIN

‘End Of Years Of Aloofness’

(Rec 11.30 p.m.) NEW YORK, Oct. 4. Two influential New York newspapers said that the work of the British Foreign Secretary, Mr Anthony Eden, and a change in Britain’s traditional aloofness were the major factors in the success of the London Nine-Power inference. The “New York Times” said: “When Mr Eden appeared before the NinePower Conference . . . and pledged Great Britain to keep four divisions and a tactical air force at the disposal of the Brussels Treaty Organisation and N.A.T.0., he pronounced the end of 300 years of British aloofness and gave what may prove to be imperishable life to the ideal of European unity.” “In all the excitement attendirtg the conclusion of the London Conference we should not forget that the man who stood behind Mr Eden and who answered this call of history, as he did others in the past, was Sir Winston Churchill.” The newspaper said: “As Prime Minister, the great decision must have been his, and it was made with his flair for the dramatic moment. . . The New York “Herald Tribune” said that Mr Eden deserved a major share of the credit for the success of the conference. . “Germany has entered into the community of the west, ready to share in the common burden. “France has recognised that old fears cannot be the foundation for future progress, and Great Britain has recognised that something even so elemental as its island position is changed with time,” said the newspaper.