740.00119 Council/11–2645: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant) to the Secretary of State
[Received November 26—5:35 p.m.]
2298. Personal for Secretary Byrnes. Situation serious. Unilateral action deeply resented by both Bevin and Cabinet. Bevin refuses to talk tonight or to attend conference Moscow. Information on suggested conference received last night by Foreign Office from Clark Kerr29 from Moscow without simultaneous notice to British.30 [Page 582] Bevin realizes that his own party has been seriously critical of his pro-United States position and effort to join with you in forcing recognition of democratic procedures in Eastern European countries. I have persuaded him to come to the Embassy tomorrow at 3:30 London time to talk with you on teletype. I am meeting him tomorrow morning.
- Sir Archibald Clark Kerr, British Ambassador to the Soviet Union.↩
- This sentence apparently refers to the fact that the British learned of the American proposal for a meeting of Foreign Ministers from their Embassy in Moscow before the Secretary’s message to Bevin (telegram 10236, November 25, to London, p. 580) was delivered to Bevin on the afternoon of November 26.↩