Australian High Commission, London, 12 July 1966
6856. Secret
Following my return from Chequers, I called on Wilson again at midday today accompanied by High Commissioner, Bunting and McIntyre. 1
He had with him Bottomley, George Thomson, Lord Shackleton2 and Charles Johnston, Burke Trend3 and other officials.
[ matter omitted ]
11. I asked Wilson to say something about Britain’s attitude to entry into the Common Market.
He reiterated that Britain would go in—‘indeed we are keen to go in’—if it could get the right terms.
This would involve changes in EEC agricultural policies, on which Pompidou4 and Couve de Murville had last week not shown themselves accommodating.
Other obstacles to Britain’s entry were disappearing rapidly: De Gaulle himself seemed to have killed the concept of federalism.
But it was still impossible to say how far De Gaulle would insist on British dissociation from the United States.
George Thomson thought that British entry was still a long way ahead: the French were being very ambiguous about their intentions.
He noted, in response to my question, that the Americans seemed to have replaced their original unreserved and over-simplified support for European unification by a more critical regard for what it would mean to American interests, e.g. agricultural.
[ matter omitted ]
1 Sir Laurence McIntyre, Deputy Secretary, DEA.
2 Edward Arthur Alexander Shackleton, Secretary of State for Air.
3 Cabinet Secretary.
4 Georges Pompidou, Prime Minister of France.
[NAA:Al838, 729/1 PART4]