U.K. Ministers Sent To Moscow And Washington

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31378, 25 May 1967, Page 13

U.K. Ministers Sent To Moscow And Washington

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) LONDON, May 24. Mr Harold Wilson, after a three-hour emergency Cabinet meeting, last night sent British Ministers to Moscow and Washington in new moves to keep the peace in the Middle East. >

The Foreign Secretary, Mr George Brown, arrived in Moscow early today for talks two hours after a Kremlin statement blaming current tension on Israel and “Imperialist circles.”

British officials said he will stay in Moscow until Friday. He is due to begin talks today with the Soviet Foreign Minister, Mr Andrei Gromyko, who was at the airport to meet him. The Foreign Secretary was originally due in Moscow last Friday for a week’s visit, but

postponed the trip because of 1 the Middle East situation. As well as conferring with Mr Gromyko, Mr Brown had , a noon appointment with the i Prime Minister, Mr Alexei j Kosygin. i Informed sources said he . might also meet the Cominun- i Ist Party general secretary, Mr Leonid Brezhnev. , The job of the British De- i puty Foreign Secretary, Mr 1 George Thomson, who is now ■ on his way to Washington, 1 was to avert a split between ; Britain and America over the .

Middle East crisis, the “Dally Telegraph” said today. The differences between Britain and the United States sprang from differing interpretations of their 1950 pledge, with France, to take action to prevent violation of Arab-Israeli borders, the newspaper said. “America is keen to take physical action, whether under a United Nations umbrella or not, to safeguard the freedom of shipping through the Straits of Tiran at the southern end of the Gulf of Aqaba. She would expect Britain to join in,” the “Daily Telegraph” added. Britain’s attitude was that the 1956 Suez intervention and subsequent events had turned the 1950 pledge into a dead letter, though it had not been formally revoked. The newspaper said a direct refusal by Britain to contribute forces, even if only for a token, peace-keeping operation, could have “the worst possible affect” on AngloAmerican relations. “It would almost certainly result in a loss of American

support in difficulties which lie ahead for Britain in giving independence to South Arabia and withdrawing from Aden,” it said.