It is a very great pleasure indeed to welcome you on this your third visit to our country, but for the first time to No. 10 Downing Street, the home and office of Prime Ministers of this country for over 250 years. It is, I have to say, a slightly more modest establishment than the Kremlin, where you kindly greeted me during my visit two years ago. We cannot match the majesty of St.George's Hall or the splendour of the Painted Hall where we dined with you. Nonetheless, here in this house, a great deal of our nation's history has been enacted and now we welcome you, Sir, Mrs. Gorbachev and your delegation, as a further chapter in that history. You are our honoured and distinguished guests (applause)
Although it is your third visit to Britain, you have come each time in a different capacity: first, in 1984 as a Member of the Politburo; then, in 1987, as General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party; and now, on this third visit, as Mikhail GorbachevPresident. You will not be surprised that we flatter ourselves that visits here are an excellent boost for career prospects! (applause) [end p1]
But it is not just the offices which you hold that have changed. In barely more than four years since your first visit, we have seen changes in the Soviet Union which could only be described as a “peaceful revolution” . We very much admire the vision and the boldness which have inspired those changes.
We do not for a moment underestimate the scale of the problems which remain to be overcome. There will be setbacks — there always are. People like to believe that the future is a Promised Land which will arrive if you just sit and wait for it, but it is not like that at all. It has to be earned by effort — not someone else's effort, but the effort of each and every person.
We believe you have been absolutely right to perceive, Mr. President, that economic change can only come about as a result of political change. Economic change certainly takes longer, but increasing freedom releases people's energies and inventiveness, brings new opportunities and responsibilities which have previously been denied. It encourages them to exercise their own initiative, rather than just wait for instructions.
Your recent elections, Sir, were followed almost as closely in this country as in the Soviet Union. Public opinion was given the chance to express itself through constitutional means and the results were exciting. Above all, they were a firm endorsement of your new thinking. To us, it seems that they brought out hitherto untapped qualities in the Soviet people. [end p2]
It is only through the exercise of democracy that perestroika will be made irreversible and it requires a leader of great determination to carry out the most difficult task of all — that of changing attitudes. That is what you are trying to do, Mr. President, and with all our mind and strength, we want you to succeed (applause).
There is an enormous fund of goodwill in this country for the Soviet people. You saw it in the response to the earthquake in Armenia and the great outpouring of goodwill and generosity which followed, and it is against that background that we also welcomed the new thinking in your speech at the United Nations last December, with its emphasis on freedom of choice and the need to seek negotiated solutions to conflicts. There is now more confidence between East and West than when I visited Moscow two years ago.
NATO has always been a defensive organisation that threatens nobody. Now, we are encouraged by the new emphasis in the Soviet Union on what is called “sufficiency in defence” and by your proposals, Mr. President, for unilateral reductions in Soviet forces. The Intermediate Nuclear Weapons Agreement is being successfully implemented and we are negotiating to reduce the conventional forces of both sides in Europe.
You,Sir, have faithfully carried out your promise to withdraw from Afghanistan.
The Five Permanent Members of the United Nations Security Council are increasingly working together. [end p3]
We are seeing progress towards solving some longstanding regional problems, for instance, in southern Africa and I pay tribute to the Soviet Union's role in securing agreement on Angola and Namibia. It is, of course, very important that all parties observe that agreement strictly. It matters to the whole future of southern Africa, and if only we can finally see an end to apartheid in South Africa, I believe that great country could become the motor for the economic development of southern Africa as a whole.
We very much welcome the increase in the numbers of people allowed to leave the Soviet Union and the greater tolerance shown towards those who want to practise their religious beliefs.
We welcome, too, your statement, Sir, that class values have been succeeded by human values.
On so many things we increasingly see ourselves as citizens of one world tackling together the great problems which affect us all. All this we welcome and praise,Mr. President.
We are by nature, a people who like to think the best of others; who want to return friendship with friendship; understanding with understanding. We are not afraid of new ideas or new thinking, but one thing we shall never do — and nor would you — is base our policies on wishful thinking rather than on reality, and it is on that basis that you and I have built up so much mutual respect.
Of course, we welcome arms control agreements but we look, too, at the weapons which remain and those which continue to be produced. [end p4]
Of course, we welcome the doctrine of sufficiency in defence but each side must always have regard to its global strategy and its capacity to defend itself in an unpredictable world.
The belief in the fundamental right of each country to its security was one of the points we found in common when we first met at Chequers in 1984, but both our countries know from bitter experience that conventional weapons do not deter war in Europe whereas nuclear weapons have done so for over forty years. As a deterrent, there is no substitute for them.
Our course, we welcome greater openness — indeed, it is essential to build confidence.
We worry very much about chemical weapons and the difficulty of verifying the precise position. We worry, too, about the proliferation and use of those weapons in the Middle East.
Of course, we are pleased when families are reunited and those who want to emigrate can do so, but we also look forward with keen anticipation to the changes in the law of which you spoke in your New York speech, which make these the rights of every person so that they can be claimed and enforced and not given as privileges which one day can be taken away. I think that is one of the most exciting prospects of the things which you have enunciated in your new thinking.
Of course, we embrace the principle of freedom of choice. It is fundamental to our own society. We want to see it fully applied in all aspects of national and international life. [end p5]
We believe in peace. Not peace at any price, but peace with freedom and justice, because it is only that that brings dignity and prosperity.
Establishing trust and confidence is a long process, but we have made progress. Indeed, relations between Britain and the Soviet Union are better now than they have been at any time since the Second World War. Every move towards better understanding, every sign of willingness to work together, every step towards more democracy and human rights is a step in the direction of creating a better world for our children and grandchildren.
Mr.General Secretary and Mr. President, I hope you have felt the genuine warmth of this country's welcome for you and for Mrs. Gorbachev and the admiration and respect in which you are held as the leader of a great country.
As we enter a new era, we wish you and the Soviet people the success, the prosperity and happiness you seek and we work for an ever closer friendship between our two countries.
May I ask all of you to rise and drink a toast to the President and Mrs. Gorbachev, to the success and happiness of the Soviet people and to the ever closer bond of friendship between our two countries (applause)