CONFIDENTIAL
7
A
DSR 11C
to defend our policies to states with little direct
interest in them, and because of the Commonwealth
tradition of consensus, to be party to statements with
which we do not always agree.
iii) Our Commonwealth ties are on the whole no help and usually
a hindrance to our Community policies; though once again
this stems from our relations with the countries
concerned, rather than from the Commonwealth itself:
iv) The informality of Commonwealth bilateral relationships
can be a hindrance as well as help. Countries can come
to expect too much of us, and to react if we fall short
of their expectations: Malaysia may be a case in point.
Contributions to Commonwealth organisations costs us
[£8 million] a year, though much of this comes from the
aid budget and would be spent elsewhere if not on the
Commonwealth.
v)
ཙ",
12. These disadvantages are not seriously detrimental to our
interests. They do not outweigh the advantages; but they show
that the Commonwealth is something of a mixed blessing.
Anything we could do to tilt the balance further in our
favour by maximising the benefits to us and minimising the
costs would clearly be welcome.
13. One option would be to leave the Commonwealth.
Were we
to do so it would probably continue without us. But the
result of a decision to leave, thereby depriving the
Commonwealth of its wealthiest and most powerful member, around
whom the organisation had built up, would probably be a
Commonwealth still more oriented towards the Third World, and
at worst hostile, at best unsympathetic towards Britain, with
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