 On 5 September , the Salisbury Sunday Mail reported that Smith was standing firm on Reedman 's absolute independence in Lisbon , and that Portugal had accepted the envoy . British Foreign Secretary Michael Stewart reacted with alarm , convening an urgent meeting the same day with Hughes and Sir Archibald Ross , Britain 's ambassador to Portugal . Here Hughes proposed hauling Portugal over the coals , insisting that the Lisbon mission represented " creeping independence " for Rhodesia , and therefore had to be stopped . 
