 Smith said he understood this would irk the British , but insisted that he and his government were no longer willing to wait . He had repeatedly offered to respect the judgement of an impartial arbitration team , he reminded Johnston , but the British had shot this idea down each time . He therefore felt compelled to follow the advice given by his own legal team , which was that the appointment was legitimate . His government would not accept a lesser appointment in Lisbon than in Pretoria and Lourenço Marques . He dismissed Johnston 's threat to expel the Rhodesian representatives in West Germany , Japan and America ; relations with Portugal and South Africa were far more important , he said , as they were Rhodesia 's two closest neighbours geographically . 
