Cabinet papers throw new light on 1953

Press, 10 January 1984, Page 14

Cabinet papers throw new light on 1953

NZPA-AP London The former British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, and the former United States President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, clashed over chances for a new deal with the Soviets after Josef Stalin’s death, according to 30-year-old British Cabinet papers released on January 1. The papers also show that Britain Was eager to arm the young State of Israel; that the Shah of Iran had a “pathological distrust” of London; and that the British Government tried desperately to conceal the effects of a stroke suffered by Churchill. The documents are from 1953 — the year of the Soviet dictator’s death, the start of the Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya, and the year of increased tension over the Suez Canal.

Under the so-called 30-year rule, government papers are available for inspection after 30 years but documents deemed sensitive on . grounds of security or national interest can be withheld. Observers said the number of papers kept back this year was greater than in recent years. Cabinet papers said Churchill’s personal physician, Lord Moran,

thought the then 78-year-old Prime Minister might die after suffering a stroke on June 26, 1953. A decision was made by three leading press barons, who were close friends, not to tell the public or even the Cabinet

Churchill recovered and returned to work in August but was forced to postpone the Bermuda Conference with Eisenhower and the French Prime Minister that had been scheduled to discuss an allied approach to the Soviet Union after Stalin’s nearly. 30-year dictatorship.

In a top-secret message to Eisen.hower on April 12, after Stalin’s death, Churchill said: “It ought now to be possible to proclaim our determination to resist Communist tyranny and at the same time declare how glad we should be if there were a real change of heart” within the new Soviet hierarchy.

Eisenhower, who had just been inaugurated, disagreed. The documents quoted him as saying: “The whore has changed her clothes but must still be driven from the streets.”

The Americans were pushing for the liberation of Russia’s Eastern European satellites — an idea Britain strongly opposed. A

The Bermuda Conference was eventually held in late 1953, but because of Churchill’s illness, Eisenhower had the upper hand and the British pitch for a new deal with the Russians never materialised.

After reading the final Bermuda Communique, Churchill wrote to his Foreign Secretary, Anthony Eden, saying he saw nothing to indicate “an easement of relations with Russia.”

During 1953, Britain, despite its resistance to establishing the Jewish State of Israel, was ready to help the five-year-old nation build up its military strength. A memorandum from the Acting Foreign Secretary, Lord Salisbury, said that the Cabinet’s defence committee had agreed to help Israel increase its armed strength for defence and to contribute to stability in the Middle East. Elsewhere in the Middle East, reports on acrimonious negotiations after Iran nationalised the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company said -that the late Shah of Iran feared that British Governments were too ready to topple Iran’s rulers. Britain had thrown out the previous dynasty in Iran.