Interviewer
Prime Minister, you were at Camp David when the news from Prague came through. How did you react to it and how did the President?
Prime Minister
Well, it had been very well foreshadowed and so we were not surprised but pleased because we thought it a step to the people of Czechoslovakia getting their wish of a genuine democracy. It will take some time to bring about but they are taking very firm steps towards it. That is a good day for freedom!
Interviewer
And the role of the West will be what?
Prime Minister
The role of the West has been very significant. After all, it was the West which demonstrated that it is our way of life which brings both human dignity, liberty and economic prosperity and our preparedness to defend that way of life and engage in the battle of ideas helped to bring about these changes, plus the fact that we [end p1] were fortunate when Mr. Gorbachev came that he was willing to admit that Communism was really a failure in the sense that it did not bring liberty or prosperity and we shall carry on giving help as we have to Poland and Hungary, but the help really depends upon them coming to a democratic system.
Interviewer
And yet maintaining the existing power blocs?
Cannot we react more imaginatively?
Prime Minister
I think it is a very unwise suggestion of yours. You are suggesting that we should be rash and assume that the desire will come into effect, that they will have genuine democracy, a rule of law and economic reform. You never take risks with your defence if you value your liberty.
The way to go about it is to negotiate, as we are doing, between the NATO bloc and the Warsaw Pact, negotiate genuine balanced reductions, both of us keeping our security.
Great changes are themselves very unsettling. They are best carried out in a framework of security and that will be our aim.
Interviewer
Prime Minister, you have never been a great admirer of “get arsquouainted” Summits. What is the best that can come out of the one in Malta? [end p2]
Prime Minister
President Bush and Mr. Gorbachev have not met for such a general talk and I think they both felt that it would be a good thing to do so before they enter into the detailed Summit next year on which we expect decisions to be made and so I do not expect great pronouncements; I do not expect great surprises. I expect a reaffirmation of the direction in which things are going, which is a very good direction and understanding that realistically some of these things may take longer than we expect - but a reaffirmation of the direction and of the objectives.
Interviewer
Could they not, as Mr. Gerasimov suggested, throw the Cold War overboard?
Prime Minister
No. It is a phrase which means nothing, but if you are taking that kind of view - if you are breaking the ice, then when ice breaks up, things can get very very dangerous, if you are taking that analogy and because it is dangerous and uncertain at times of great change, you need to keep your defences strong.
Interviewer
Prime Minister, you have been in Washington many times. Have you ever before been asked, as you were this morning, whether you are a lame duck? [end p3]
Prime Minister
But I was not asked whether I was a lame duck. It was I who said that I have never been a lame duck and I am not going to be one now.
Interviewer
And your position now?
Prime Minister
Strong.
Interviewer
Depending on?
Prime Minister
Being returned at the next election, the fourth election.
Interviewer
Was it a tactical mistake to suggest there might be some finite limit on your term in office? [end p4]
Prime Minister
No. It was a tactical error to think that what I said might be construed in the way I meant it! I should have known that it would be taken in the worst possible way and I was quite horrified that some people interpreted it as retiring just after a fourth election because that had never entered my head nor indeed would it have been honest to stand for a fourth election with a view of stepping down quickly. I had thought that we should take quite a long time, but just to clear it up one says one would be perfectly ready and would like to go on to a fifth election so that there could be no doubt about it as one enters a fourth election which is quite a way away.