It may be argued, perhaps I shall be told, that this is not a difference of fundamental principle. Well, in the sense that the objective of all foreign policy is the maintenance of peace, that "is, of course, perfectly true. But in international affairs can anyone define where outlook and methods end and principles begin (cheers)? If the Government of this country is to speak with undivided voice in international affairs, it is essential that the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary should have a similar outlook and wish to pursue similar methods. The more intense the interest which each one of them takes in the conduct of international affairs, the more imperative does this unity become.
My right hon. friend has strong views on foreign policy, and I respect him for it (cheers). And I have strong views. too (cheers). Since^we are, as I know, both of us conscious that those views have resulted in a divergence, not of aim, but of outlook, and of approach, it is clearly in the national interest that unity should be restored at the earliest possible moment.
Of late the conviction has steadily grown upon me that there has been too keen a desire on our part to make terms with others rather than that others should make terms with us (cheers). This never was the attitude of this country in the past. It should not, in the interests of peace, be our attitude to-day.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.