Mrs. Thatcher has dismissed the idea of a U.N. peace-keeping force being formed to operate in the Gulf, as suggested by the Soviet Foreign Minister, Mr. Shevardnadze. She was speaking at an international conference of Conservative leaders in West Berlin. From there, Diana Goodman reports: [end p1]

A statement issued by the party leaders attending the conference here did not mention the Gulf, but when Mrs Thatcher was asked about the idea of a UN force, she was keen to spell out her views:

Mrs Thatcher

“The moment you consider it you know full well it wouldn't work. Any United Nations force would have to be answerable, what, to about a hundred and fifty, a hundred and sixty nations. How are you going to get a decision on what kind of authority they have? How are you going to get commanders and then refer him back to that kind of whole forum? You wouldn't get the requisite decisions, that's why it just wouldn't work. It's not on.”

Goodman

On the wider question of dealing with the Soviet Union, Mrs Thatcher said it was important to judge the Soviets not on what they said but on what they did, and the Berlin Wall provided a reminder of the reality of East-West relations. And although she welcomed the imminent INF agreement as a triumph for the West, Mrs Thatcher said it was essential not to rush to early discussions about any further nuclear reductions in Europe.

Thatcher warning with praise for Gorbachev

Mrs Thatcher, the Prime Minister, yesterday gave a warning against unrealistic hopes for East-West relations following last week's announcement of agreement in principle on a superpower deal to eliminate medium and shorter range missiles.

Speaking after an international meeting in West Berlin of conservative leaders, she said it was substance not style that counted. Arms control could not be the only measure of Soviet intentions.

Conservative Party sources said she told the private meeting that the West should set the agenda and the priorities for the next stage in arms control.

Sources said that Mrs Thatcher had warned the congress, which was held behind closed doors, against hasty negotiations on short-range missiles. The Soviet Union should not gain the impression that the West would let itself be beaten down in bargaining over them.

She said the Soviet leader, Mr Mikhail Gorbachev, genuinely saw the need for change and was courageously pursuing it, but he remained dedicated to communism and Moscow still sought to change the world balance of power.

An equally firm line with the Soviet Union was taken by Chancellor Kohl of West Germany, who said that Western policy towards Moscow must be ruled by “realism not wishful thinking”.

In a “Berlin Declaration”, the congress of the International Democrat Union called for a worldwide ban on chemical and biological weapons and a reduction of conventional forces in Europe.

The leaders, including eight government heads, said that after a US-Soviet agreement on Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF), accords must be achieved on conventional arms, in which the Soviet Union had superiority. Further efforts must also be made to reduce armouries of short-range missiles.

Mrs Thatcher also ruled out a Soviet proposal for a United Nations peace-keeping force in the Gulf, and at the same time cautioned against unrealistic hopes on East-West relations stemming from arms control euphoria.

“It won't work, so there is no point in pursuing it any further,” she said of the UN force proposal, which was put forward by the Soviet Foreign Minister, Mr Eduard Shevardnadze, at the United Nations in New York on Wednesday.

Her views were far firmer than the line taken by Britain at the United Nations this week, where it has not dismissed the Soviet idea.