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obtained, he would nevertheless decide to ignore it and come* In the latter event we would be on that much stronger ground if we were then unilaterally to prevent his attendance; but in the former event, we should have weakened our case for such action. 17. My own view is that there is not only no purpose in further Commonwealth consultations (except that the subject will come up naturally with Lord Thomson)\ but that we will do ourselves harm if we go round again. I think we now have to make tip out own tnirvin what to do without further advice. Conclusions 18# a) If we were to announce that we would not let President; Amiwt attend the Meeting, we should have to be prepared to act on this and refuse him entry if he did nevertheless ar.fi VP. If we refused him entry, or otherwise forcibly excluded him from the Meeting, it would damage the Commonwealth, it might incite Amin to take action against the British community, and we would be increasing the risk of similar action being taken against ourselves or others on some future occasion. b) There is, on present showing, no point in further consultation with members of the Commonwealth. V/e are on our own, although we should keep in touch with Mr Ramphnl* c) As things stand at present, it looks as if the least. damaging course will be to allow Amin to come if he wishes, and to treat him with cold correctness and as much indifference as possible. d) However, we should take no decision either way until Lord Thomson returns from his tour. Meanwhile, our pub.1 in line about attendance at the CHGM should continue to be ambiguous. If hard pressed, we might make it quite clear (cf the second part of the draft statement enclosed with, the letter of 4 February to No 10) that Amin will not be welcome here for the CHGM but we should add that the decision is one for the Commonwealth as a whole. e) We should avoid saying directly what the soundings of- Commonwealth Governments have revealed, since these governmrntn would then be questioned and might publicly disown us. f) Nearer the time of the meeting, we must tell Commonwealth Governments what we have decided to do; and we should seek their agreement to a form of words which would indicate that our policy had been formulated in the light of out assessment of what the Commonwealth consensus was* 8ECB1T T ; \6