Canberra, 11 July 1961
37. Secret
I have just completed my talks with the Australians. You will see in the communique that they have said that they do not feel ‘entitled to object’ to our opening negotiations. With a general election in a few months’ time, in which the farmers’ vote will be of great importance it would have been unrealistic to hope that we could get an expression of approval.
2. Unfortunately, Menzies insisted on including in the communique a paragraph expressing anxiety that Britain’s entry into the Common Market would weaken the Commonwealth relationship. He has a bee in his bonnet about this.
3. Except over the drafting of the communique, which caused a certain tension, the atmosphere throughout our talks was most amicable and constructive. Though they cannot say so in public, the Australian Government accept the fact that, if we decide to join the Common Market their trade will to some extent be adversely affected. While expecting us to do what we can to minimise the consequences for them, they did not at any stage suggest that regard for their interests should determine our course of action on an issue which was of such crucial importance for Britain.
4. During the course of my visit, I have had several heart-to-heart talks with Menzies and I think I have been able to dissipate some of the misunderstanding which grew up in his mind as a result of the Prime Ministers’ Conference.1 In spite of his worries over the Common Market, I think you will find that the air has been cleared quite a lot. He asked me to tell you that you need not worry about his attitude of friendship towards you. He needed a little time ‘to convalesce’ at the end of which he felt sure our relations would be just as close as they always had been. He will be writing to you personally very shortly.
1 At the March 1961 Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ Conference in London, Menzies had felt let down by Macmillan in his handling of the problem of the retention of South Africa in the Commonwealth as a republic. Menzies had argued against excluding South Africa for its racist apartheid laws, but felt that Macmillan had been too willing to listen to the views of African and Asian members. In the aftermath of the conference Menzies reflected privately: ‘I have a feeling that the “Winds of Change” are blowing a little too strongly’. NLA: Menzies Papers, MS4936 Series 1, Box 14, Menzies to Harrison, 30 May 1961. See also Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge (CAC): Duncan Sandys Papers, DSND 8/18, ‘Memorandum of Conversation with Sir Eric Harrison’, 24 May 1961.
[UKNA: PREM 11/3558]