1948 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference

3rd Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference
3rd Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference
Host country	United Kingdom
Dates	11–22 October 1948
Cities	London
Participants	9
Chair	Clement Attlee; (Prime Minister of the United Kingdom)
Follows	1946
Precedes	1949
Key points
	Independence of India, Pakistan & Ceylon; economic, military and diplomatic co-operation

The 1948 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference was the third Meeting of the Heads of Government of the British Commonwealth. It was held in the United Kingdom in October 1948, and was hosted by that country's Prime Minister, Clement Attlee.

It was the first such meeting to be attended by prime ministers of recently independent Asian states: Ceylon, India and Pakistan. The growth in membership ended the previous 'intimacy' of the meeting.^[1] The issue of whether countries, specifically India, could remain Commonwealth members if they became republics was raised but was not resolved until the next conference in 1949.

Ireland was initially invited to attend the Conference. After Ireland announced the pending repeal of its last connection to the British king, this invitation was revoked.^[2] This was so even though at the time the British Commonwealth still regarded Ireland as one of its members. Ireland had not participated in any equivalent conferences since 1932.^[3] It had announced plans to adopt legislation severing all ties with the British crown, although at the time of the Conference, it had not yet brought that legislation into force.^[4] Irish Minister for External Affairs Seán MacBride and Minister for Finance Patrick McGilligan attended one day of the conference as observers.^[2]

The Final Communique issued by the leaders at the conclusion of the meeting saw a change in nomenclature. The terms 'Dominion' and 'Dominion Government' were superseded by 'Commonwealth country' and 'Commonwealth Government'. 'British' was omitted in front of 'Commonwealth of Nations' for the first time in the Communique.^[5]^[1]

Participants

Nation	Name	Portfolio
United Kingdom	Clement Attlee	Prime Minister (chairman)
Australia	Herbert Evatt	Deputy Prime Minister
Canada	William Lyon Mackenzie King	Prime Minister
Ceylon	Don Stephen Senanayake	Prime Minister
India	Jawaharlal Nehru	Prime Minister
New Zealand	Peter Fraser	Prime Minister
Pakistan	Liaquat Ali Khan	Prime Minister
South Africa	Eric Louw	Minister of Mines and Economic Affairs
Southern Rhodesia	Sir Godfrey Huggins	Prime Minister^[6]

References

^ ^a ^b Louis, William Roger; Brown, Judith; Low, Alaine M.; Canny, Nicholas P. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume IV: The Twentieth Century. p. 696.
^ ^a ^b Keane, Elizabeth. An Irish Statesman and Revolutionary: The Nationalist and Internationalist Politics of Sean MacBride. p. 53.
^ Mansergh, Nicholas; Mansergh, Diana (1997). Nationalism and Independence: Selected Irish Papers. Cork University Press. p. 157. ISBN 9781859181058.
^ The Republic of Ireland Act 1948 (Commencement) Order 1949 (S.I. No. 27 of 1949). Signed on 4 February 1949. Statutory Instrument of the Government of Ireland. Retrieved from Irish Statute Book on 8 August 2020.
^ By Commonwealth Secretariat, The Commonwealth at the Summit: Communiqués of Commonwealth Heads of Government, Text of the Final Communique of the Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Meeting 1948
^ Huggins was also Minister for Native Affairs

[oxhist-1] Louis, William Roger; Brown, Judith; Low, Alaine M.; Canny, Nicholas P. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume IV: The Twentieth Century. p. 696.

[keane-2] Keane, Elizabeth. An Irish Statesman and Revolutionary: The Nationalist and Internationalist Politics of Sean MacBride. p. 53.

[3] Mansergh, Nicholas; Mansergh, Diana (1997). Nationalism and Independence: Selected Irish Papers. Cork University Press. p. 157. ISBN 9781859181058.

[4] The Republic of Ireland Act 1948 (Commencement) Order 1949 (S.I. No. 27 of 1949). Signed on 4 February 1949. Statutory Instrument of the Government of Ireland. Retrieved from Irish Statute Book on 8 August 2020.

[5] By Commonwealth Secretariat, The Commonwealth at the Summit: Communiqués of Commonwealth Heads of Government, Text of the Final Communique of the Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Meeting 1948

[6] Huggins was also Minister for Native Affairs

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

v t e Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings
Colonial and Imperial Conferences	1887 1894 1897 1902 1907 1911 1917–1918 1921 1923 1926 1930 1932 1937
Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conferences	1944 1946 1948 1949 1951 1952 1953 1955 1956 1957 1960 1961 1962 1964 1965 1966 (Jan) 1966 (Sept) 1969
Heads of Government Meetings	1971 1973 1975 1977 1979 1981 1983 1985 1986 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2002 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2018 2022 2024 2026