Seven Days’ Humiliation

So the Afro-Asian members of the so-called Commonwealth have at last crowded Mr. Wilson into a corner and got that slippery customer roped and tied. Once more hypnotized by his legerdemain, the press presented as a triumph for the Prime Minister a face-saving communiqué issuing from the bitter Rhodesian debate that occupied seven of the eight- days of the Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ Conference ending in London September 15th. “Wilson Wins Time”; “A Last Chance for Mr. Smith”; “The Commonwealth Saved”; of such were the headlines. In reality, the agreement marked a major British defeat, sustained after seven days’ humiliation for the Prime Minister, which even his genius for doubletalk, self-deception and standing facts on their heads can scarcely conceal.

Wilson’s Ultimatum

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Elspeth Huxley

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So the Afro-Asian members of the so-called Commonwealth have at last crowded Mr. Wilson into a corner and got that slippery customer roped and tied. Once more hypnotized by his legerdemain, the press presented as a triumph for the Prime Minister a face-saving communiqué issuing from the bitter Rhodesian debate that occupied seven of the eight- days of the Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ Conference ending in London September 15th. “Wilson Wins Time”; “A Last Chance for Mr. Smith”; “The Commonwealth Saved”; of such were the headlines. In reality, the agreement marked a major British defeat, sustained after seven days’ humiliation for the Prime Minister, which even his genius for doubletalk, self-deception and standing facts on their heads can scarcely conceal.

Wilson’s Ultimatum