European Diary, 1977-1981

by Roy Jenkins

  WEDNESDAY, 12 JULY. Brussels.

  Commission completed in the morning, owing to a light agenda. I then had an agreeable lunch with Brunner and Ralf Dahrendorf.8 Dahrendorf talks very well and Brunner, despite his faults, is also a good conversationalist. It was a great contrast with the gloomy lunch I had had at the same restaurant with the British a few months previously.

  SATURDAY, 15 JULY. Brussels and Bonn.

  In the early evening Crispin and I drove to Schloss Gymnich, this side of Bonn, for the Western Economic Summit. We dined there with the Canadians: Trudeau, Jamieson, the Foreign Minister whom I know quite well and like, and Chrétien, the fairly new Finance Minister whom I met in Ottawa and who can hardly speak English. An agreeable but not enormously pointful dinner.

  SUNDAY, 16 JULY. Bonn.

  A beautiful morning: cool (maximum temperature that day was 63°F), settled sun and low humidity, a remarkable and lucky combination for the Rhine Valley in mid-July. Helicopter to the Chancellery grounds. The first session was from 10.00 to 12.30. In sharp contrast with the London position fourteen months before, there was no question of my being excluded from any of the meetings. The only mild indignities were in relation to meals, where I was not allowed to lunch or dine with the heads of government, except at the large general lunch given by Scheel, and invited to do so with the Finance Ministers. But in the meetings, which was far more important, I was given full treatment as a head of delegation, and invited to speak frequently by Schmidt. Callaghan, a little brazenly I thought, passed me a note early on saying, ‘Isn’t it extraordinary that all that trouble that Giscard made about your attendance last year should now have disappeared so completely?’

  At the first session we devoted most of the time to a general tour de table. Quite good, quite short contributions were made. I hadn’t prepared anything, but thought it essential to speak, and therefore made a ten-minute intervention after the heads of delegation.

  We reassembled from 3.15 until 4.20, had a break for Schmidt to go and brief the press, and then met again from 4.50 to 6.35. This third meeting was the crucial one at which we discussed international monetary matters. It did not go very well. This was partly but not entirely bad luck. Giscard opened at Schmidt’s invitation, and while he was doing so Schmidt passed me a note saying that I must ‘back up Valéry’ on this as it was very desirable to get something helpful in the communiqué.

  I pondered exactly what to say, but did not for the moment have to do anything because after Giscard’s opening Fukuda spoke and made some highly critical remarks about the dollar, delivered quietly and politely but nonetheless biting home quite hard, and saying, which is probably exaggerated, that the main reason why everything had not gone well since the London Summit—in the Japanese case at any rate—was due to the neglect of the dollar by the Americans. This nettled Carter, who replied rather defensively, and I think put him in a bad temper altogether. I then spoke after this, and tried to still American and to some extent—though this was less necessary—Japanese fears about the EMS, and I hope did so reasonably persuasively, but I am not sure.

  After this Schmidt himself spoke at considerable length, and I thought too provocatively against the Americans, and for once not persuasively at all. He and Carter got involved in a sharp argument, which certainly made Carter sound much more reserved towards the EMS scheme than we were told afterwards he was briefed to be or had intended to be. The American officials went round the corridors that evening saying that the US position was more favourable than the impression which had come out. But, of course, the fact that the Americans sounded so reserved in the session itself eased the position of the British, and certainly gave Callaghan, Healey and Owen the feeling that they were less in a corner than they might otherwise have been.

  After this unsatisfactory session I set off to go back to Schloss Gymnich by helicopter. No sooner had we taken off than one of the pilots came plunging back into the cabin of the large helicopter looking panic-stricken, losing his helmet on the way, and scrabbled about at the back, failed to do what he was trying to do, and then came forward signalling desperately to the other pilot to put the machine on the ground, which he proceeded to do in a cornfield just the other side of the Rhine.

  Apparently a door was open. I wasn’t greatly frightened, though thought it disagreeable, and was glad when we were on the ground and knew what was happening. However, after that we got back safely to Schloss Gymnich, had a quick change and returned to Bad Godesberg where I dined, not particularly rewardingly, with the Finance Ministers in Le Redoute, a familiar place from old Königs-winter days and, indeed, other meetings since. I think there was no conversation of any particular significance, except for one or two of Denis Healey’s pronouncements. Denis said that he was certain there would be an election in October. He was confident of the result, but he would not remain Chancellor of the Exchequer after a Labour victory. Dinner was over early but it was too dark for helicopters. I gave Jean Chrétien a lift back to Schloss Gymnich having to talk French the whole way, because it actually seemed easier than his strangulated English.

  MONDAY, 17 JULY. Bonn and Brussels.

  Up early on a fine morning and ran from 7.30 under the somewhat bewildered gaze of the many security guards standing around in the agreeable grounds of Schloss Gymnich. A meeting on MTNs with Denman and Crispin at 9 o’clock, and then helicopted in for the third Summit session, which took place from 10.30 to 1 o’clock. After a preliminary period on hijacking and anti-terrorism measures we got down to the MTN discussion, which I opened. The Trade Ministers—Strauss of America, Deniau of France, Lambsdorff of Germany, Dell of Britain—were wheeled in instead of their Finance Ministers for this item. There were obvious differences within the Community, which meant that after the opening I felt I had to lie back. The French were quite skilful—particularly Giscard, though Deniau to some extent as well—and undoubtedly moved the Americans a little without getting into any sort of impasse. They presented their case better than did the Germans and had some reason to be pleased with themselves afterwards, as they noticeably were.

  We then walked across to the Villa Hammerschmidt for Scheel’s ceremonial lunch, which went on too long so that the afternoon session did not begin until 3.30. It then continued on until 6.15. This was mainly communiqué stuff with problems about energy and the Third World, though the more specific remaining point to be settled was the figure for the various growth targets, and the German one in particular; eventually it was agreed that this should be raised by 1 per cent of GNP, whatever exactly that means.

  So the much-heralded Summit came to an end. It was not vastly exciting, but probably better than the London one because more precise. It was certainly better from our Commission point of view, and just good enough to present to the press and the world as an achievement rather than a setback. Then we went off to the press conference which was held in some vast auditorium, but I think was deeply unrewarding for the press because it merely took the form of nine statements with no questions. (It was agreed that I should sit in the front row but not make a statement, although I at least had a microphone, unlike in London!) This was over by 7.20, and we all ‘ran for the bus’, in my case a Mercedes to Brussels.

  TUESDAY, 18 JULY. Brussels.

  I saw Ortoli at 11.15, and had a brief meeting about Italian steel problems with Donat-Cattin, the only disagreeable man in the Italian Government.

  I then had Willy Brandt at noon for an hour’s talk followed by an enjoyable lunch. Then, at 3.55, Fukuda arrived early so that when I got downstairs he was already out of his car but that, as the Japanese were very free to admit, was their fault and not ours. I had a reasonably satisfactory private meeting with him for nearly an hour, and then received the presentation of a large picture of a waterfall by the ‘second best-known artist in Japan’, as they quaintly put it. We gave Fukuda in return a rather beautiful late eighteenth-century Italian celestial globe, with the signs of the zodiac, which Crispin had cleverly bought. Then
an hour’s Commission meeting with Fukuda, followed by a forty-five-minute press conference, and after that a respite.

  To Val Duchesse in good time (this time) to receive the Japanese and, after dinner, partly at the prompting of Crispin, who thought they had been slightly offended by Haferkamp, I made a prepared, warm, friendly speech, which was generally thought to have smoothed any ruffled feathers, and meant that they left in a good humour and reported themselves subsequently as very pleased with the visit.

  WEDNESDAY, 19 JULY. Brussels and London.

  Commission for three hours. Then to Simonet’s house in Anderlecht, where he gave a useful and enjoyable lunch for Van Ypersele, the Belgian Chairman of the Monetary Committee, Professor Robert Triffin,9 Lahnstein of the German Finance Ministry and maybe one other. An optimistic discussion about the state of play after Bremen and Bonn.

  Commission for another three hours, which was long without being killing, and I then saw Vredeling who told me, not entirely to my dismay, that he had decided not to take on Personnel from Tugendhat. 8.35 plane to London. A substantial amount of late-night work in Kensington Park Gardens on my Essex degree speech, which was intended to be one of substance about the post-Bremen position.

  THURSDAY, 20 JULY. London and Colchester.

  11.30 train from Liverpool Street to Colchester and up to the university for an enjoyable lunch with old Rab Butler,10 the Chancellor, on one side of me, and Mollie Butler on the other. Rab looked in an appalling condition, with bits of him coming off, but interesting to talk to as always. A short congregation in the afternoon, during which I spoke for about twenty minutes, as far as I could tell quite successfully, then a quick tea and a train to London.

  FRIDAY, 21 JULY. London and East Hendred.

  To the Bank of England to lunch and address their EEC Committee, a gathering of about seventy to whom I spoke without a text and, as a result, better than usual. After that, feeling that I had broken the back of the summer’s work, I drove with Jennifer to East Hendred.

  SATURDAY, 22 JULY. East Hendred.

  It should have been a very good day for morale, having got so much work over, but, alas, I woke up with a sore throat and a cold which I didn’t at first take at all seriously, but mistakenly so.11 Robin Day12 came at 12.30, and I put to him the proposition that he might become head of the Commission’s London office. He seemed attracted, while rightly reserving his position.

  MONDAY, 24 JULY. Brussels.

  Formal opening session of Lomé II, from 10.30, a vast gathering -which went on until about noon, and at which I had to make rather a routine speech. Lunch with the Council of Economic and Finance Ministers, which was mildly interesting because it gave me a good idea of how their follow-up meeting at Bremen had gone.

  A Coordination Meeting,13 fairly brief, before the Foreign Affairs Council. A farewell call from David Marquand, three ambassadors with credentials, an hour’s meeting with Dohnanyi and the Germans and then a dinner with him alone. This was enjoyable in spite of my cold.

  WEDNESDAY, 26 JULY. Brussels and London.

  Final Brussels morning of the summer. Commission from 10.10 to 1.05, going along rather well and easily apart from a slight difficulty about ‘Crisis Cartels’14 at the end, which we had to adjourn until the afternoon. Lunch with Crispin and Hayden, to discuss the autumn term, and Commission again until 5.45. We got through Crisis Cartels, having twisted Davignon’s arm, but it was time that that was done on this issue. However, it was a more difficult Commission to bring to an end in time than had been the previous pre-holiday ones, and I eventually left in some disorder, without being able to say goodbye to anyone much, let alone have the customary glass of champagne with the cabinet. Just caught the 6.25 plane to London, got home in time to go to Solly’s very agreeable Zoo dinner of about twenty for us. I sat between Joan (Zuckerman) and Caroline (Gilmour) and afterwards had a long talk with Evangeline (Bruce) for the first time since David died. A very good evening, but late.

  THURSDAY, 27 JULY. London.

  To the opera with the Mosers (also Jennifer and the Donaldsons) -Bellini’s Norma. A fairly but not spectacularly enjoyable performance, much though I like the opera, a very weak tenor, but Bumbry acted magnificently throughout and sang well in the second part. And anyway my cold was fairly awful.

  FRIDAY, 28 JULY. London and East Hendred.

  I gave a long background interview to Stephen Milligan for his Granada television programme on the various Summits, which is to be presented in December. Lunched with the Bar Council at Grays Inn because their President, David McNeill, was an old Oxford acquaintance and he had there assembled about twelve legal luminaries, including Leslie Scarman, whom I was particularly glad to see, Elwyn-Jones and Peter Rawlinson. I drove to East Hendred on a rather attractive day, not settled weather, but good light and good, clear sky, thinking that I had a long and not undeserved summer holiday ahead.

  MONDAY, 31 JULY. East Hendred.

  The day of my cabinet meeting at East Hendred, which last year had been held in the garden in such spectacular sunshine that poor Renato Ruggiero nearly melted. This year there was pouring rain, which never ceased throughout the day. They struggled in, some from Brussels and some from London, in time for us to start at 11.40. We were thirteen altogether, including Jennifer, and John Harris from outside. In the morning we mainly discussed plans for reorientating the work of the Commission so that it concentrated on major issues where there was a chance of progress rather than flogging horses which were minor as well as dead; this meant certain consequential changes in personnel policy and greater flexibility in moving people around. In the afternoon we dealt with the Common Agricultural Policy and questions of the transfer of resources to poorer countries. I did not think the discussion was as good as last year, but the others seemed reasonably satisfied by it. We ended at 6 o’clock and most people left pretty rapidly to catch their planes.

  FRIDAY, 4 AUGUST. East Hendred and Norfolk.

  Drove via Kettering (lunch Bradleys) to stay with the Zuckermans at Burnham Thorpe for four days.

  MONDAY, 7 AUGUST. Norfolk.

  Solly, Jennifer and I drove over to the rather oppressive shrines of Walsingham about 6.00. Then back for a young man whose work was much admired by Joan Zuckerman (though less so by Solly) to attempt a drawing of me. He was very dissatisfied with the result and refused to let me have it and went off in a state of gloom. We rang him up during dinner and said that he could come back the next morning and have another go, which he duly did. Dined in and then stayed up late that night writing the greater part of the foreword to Joan Zuckerman’s book on Birmingham (which I finished the following morning), having just previously written a Times piece about John Mackintosh, who, alas, had died the week before.

  TUESDAY, 8 AUGUST. Norfolk and Suffolk.

  Weather still as awful as ever. We left at 12.15 and drove to Norwich, which was immensely crowded, I suppose because so many people had been driven in from Cromer, Yarmouth, etc. by the appalling weather. I have never seen a church so full of sodden people as was the cathedral. We lunched in the Maid’s Head Hotel, a splendid old fossilized 1930s (if not earlier) restaurant. Very bad food, rather nice service, with two tables looking as though they were occupied by people out of the film of The Go-Between. Then drove, still in pouring rain, to the Rothschilds at Rushbrook, near Bury St Edmunds, for dinner and the night.

  FRIDAY, 11 AUGUST. East Hendred.

  Lunch with the Rolls, who had Kingman Brewsters (the American Ambassador in London), Robert Marjolin and Michael Stewarts (ex-Ditchley)15 to lunch at Ipsden. The good view I had formed of Brewster on the brief occasion when I had had a drink with him in London a few months before, was sustained. Not primarily serious conversation, though about half an hour on the political aspects of monetary union.

  MONDAY, 14 AUGUST. East Hendred.

  Diana Phipps, George Weidenfeld and Nicko Henderson to lunch with Jennifer at the Blue Boar. An enjoyable lunch, Nicko ebullient, George agreeable and unp
ushing in every way, I suppose because his ambitions are now fulfilled. I have never known him so well informed on a wide range of issues. The Annans came to East Hendred for several sets of tennis between 5.30 and 7.30.

  TUESDAY, 15 AUGUST. East Hendred and Sare.

  Plane to Bilbao. Drove across the French frontier to reach the Beaumarchais’ at Sare by 6.00. Jacques had his foot in a plaster case as a result of a broken bone and was therefore rather immobile and subdued.

  THURSDAY, 17 AUGUST. Sare.

  The first fine day for a long time. I collected the Tavernes16 from Bayonne Marina and brought them back to the Beaumarchais’ for lunch. They were on very good form, both elegant with completely grey hair, Dick Viking-like in a sort of naval casquette, but balanced and sensible in his judgements: a highly attractive and intelligent man.

  MONDAY, 21 AUGUST. Sare.

  The weather had cleared again. I drove into Biarritz with Jennifer and Marie-Alice and swam, then lunched in, read, and worked on a review of Arthur Schlesinger’s Robert Kennedy. Dined at the Fagoagos’ (a local doctor) to meet the Spanish-Basque nationalist leader, Monzón, who has lived in St Jean-de-Luz since the civil war, and was a typical exile, interesting culturally, but totally unrealistic politically. He wanted an independent Basque state, which would form some sort of loose Iberian federation with Spain on the same basis as, he suggested, Portugal should do. He slightly reminded me of old Gwynfor Evans.17