 In the British House of Lords on 26 July , Brockway pressed Lord Taylor , the Under @-@ Secretary of State for the Colonies , on Rhodesia 's claims , arguing that failure to block the Lisbon appointment would amount to conceding de facto recognition to Rhodesia as an independent state . Taylor 's response was that Britain remained committed to upholding its ultimate purview over Rhodesian overseas relations . Brockway then asked how Rhodesia had attained its independent office in Pretoria ; surely , he said , this provided " a precedent which was rather dangerous ? " Taylor replied that Pretoria and Salisbury had exchanged High Commissioners before South Africa left the Commonwealth in 1961 , and that Britain had granted Rhodesia special dispensation to retain the Pretoria mission thereafter . He stressed that in Britain 's eyes this was no precedent for Lisbon . 
