840.50/753: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 24—1:29 p.m.]
5953. In reply to your 5143, October 19, 1 p.m. I asked Sir Kingsley Wood45 the reason for the Dominion representatives in question coming on here. He told me that they were here for “a purely informal exchange of views between officials which will be entirely confidential.” He said, “The discussions are on the lines which Sir Frederick Phillips had with our friends in America”. He also told me that “if we wanted any further information he would be glad to supply it” and that the decision to call these Dominion representatives was only made after we had decided not to send a group here for informal discussions as I had suggested in messages to you and in conversations I had with you when I was in Washington. I think it simply means that instead of having such discussions with us first and afterwards with the Dominions the British have reversed the order and are now holding informal discussions with the Dominions represented. I was told through another source that the question of the form which the financial assistance to Britain from Canada will take in 1943 will probably be considered in talks with Mackintosh.
- British Chancellor of the Exchequer.↩