Aung San was to all intents and purposes prime minister, although he was still subject to a British veto. British Prime Minister Clement Attlee invited Aung San to visit London in 1947 in order to negotiate the conditions of Burmese independence. At a press conference during a stopover in Delhi, while on the way to meet Atlee in London, he stated that the Burmese wanted "complete independence" and not dominion status, and that they had "no inhibitions of any kind" about "contemplating a violent or non-violent struggle or both" in order to achieve it. He concluded that he hoped for the best, but was prepared for the worst. He arrived in Britain by air in January 1947 along with his deputy Tin Tut, who he considered his brightest official. Attlee and Aung San signed their agreement on the terms of Burmese independence on 27 January: following the Burmese election in 1947 Burma would join the British Commonwealth (like Canada and Australia); though its government would have the option to leave, its government would control the Burmese Army once Allied armies had withdrawn; a constitutional assembly would be drawn up as soon as possible, with the resulting constitution presented to the British parliament as soon as possible; and, Britain would nominate Burma's entrance into the newly founded United Nations. The agreement was not unanimous: two other delegates who attended the conference, U Saw and Thakin Ba Sein, refused to sign it, and it was denounced in Burma by Aung San's critics, including Than Tun and Thakin Soe. No delegates representing Burma's ethnic minorities were present, and both Karen and Shan leaders sent messages warning that they would not consider any agreement signed at the conference legally binding to their communities.