1948 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)
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 Commonwealth of Nations. It was held in the United Kingdom in October 1948, and was hosted by that country's Prime Minister, Clement Attlee.

The meeting accepted the newly independent Dominion of Ceylon's application for membership in the Commonwealth and was the first meeting attended by the prime ministers of independent India, Pakistan and Ceylon. 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 not invited to attend the Conference, although at the time the British Commonwealth still regarded Ireland as one of its members. Ireland had not participated in any equivalent conferences since 1932. 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.

Participants

Nation	Name	Portfolio
United Kingdom	Clement Attlee	Prime Minister (Chairman)
Australia	H. V. Evatt	Minister for External Affairs
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