Behind Diplomatic Lines

by Patrick R. H. Wright

  13 JULY 1989

  Tristan Garel-Jones tells me he thinks the reshuffle will be on 24 July, and that Geoffrey will not be moved, since the PM could only get rid of the ‘big three’ if she was seen to promote younger people, of comparable status and ability, in their place; and that none had been identified. He agreed that Chris Patten was being strongly pushed forward; No. 10 had apparently planted some questions in the House this week to enable the PM to heap praise on him. But he could hardly be Foreign Secretary yet – perhaps Transport?

  I met the Israeli ambassador at the garden party (having failed to recognise him), and he asked if it was true that Geoffrey Howe had today met Bassam Abu Sharif of the PLO. I knew that this had been the plan, Bassam having been invited to come to London to see William Waldegrave; but I found it difficult to confirm, beyond saying that it was quite possible that Geoffrey had met him briefly. We are playing this down; but it is in fact the first time that a Cabinet minister has met a senior PLO figure, apart from a rather frosty and coincidental meeting between Margaret Thatcher and Arafat at Tito’s funeral. The PM is adamant that she will never meet Arafat again – but never say never?

  14 JULY 1989

  Bastille Day, and the economic summit in Paris, preceded by interviews with the PM on French radio, casting fairly offensive doubt on the value of the French Revolution, and claiming in effect that Magna Carta had thought of it first! Why does she always have to go to meetings facing, or provoking, a row? It will not have done her much good, particularly with pictures of her looking grim in the third row, between Gandhi and poor Mr Uno (said to be terrified that Mrs Thatcher would not shake his hand because of his trouble with geishas).

  17 JULY 1989

  Reports on the economic summit at my morning meeting revealed that the PM had appeared to be in a sunny mood throughout, concluding with a very warm meeting with Mitterrand, at which he himself suggested that he should fly over to see her before too long, and complained that the press on both sides of the Channel seemed to work hard to invent difficulties between France and Britain. The French planners told Robert Cooper last week that all their planning papers ended with recommendations that France should draw closer to Britain, but nothing ever seemed to happen.

  18 JULY 1989

  I discussed with Geoffrey Howe the Prince of Wales’s visit to Hong Kong, which David Wilson has recommended should be postponed. I told Geoffrey that he could not advise against postponement, if the governor had advised otherwise. We have today sought confirmation from David Wilson that his advice still holds, and that the government can quote him publicly.

  19 JULY 1989

  Speculation today that the Prime Minister may appoint a special Cabinet minister for Europe, with Lord Young’s name mentioned in several papers. Neither the idea, nor the personality, would be at all welcome to Geoffrey Howe, but it may be pure guesswork, and Lord Young is widely thought to be leaving government.

  The call by Bassam Abu Sharif on Sheikh Zayed at Buckingham Palace broke in the Evening Standard today. William Waldegrave told me that one newspaper had described Abu Sharif as one of Arafat’s leading advisers, and William himself as one of Abu Sharif’s advisers! There have been more attacks against William in the Mail on Sunday (‘Upper class twit and tool of the FCO’s Arabists’).

  I attended a meeting this morning with Lynda Chalker and Elspeth Howe on one side, and Mark Russell on the other, about women in the service. Tension between the two sides became quite intense, rather unfairly, since Mark has in fact done a great deal to improve the lot of women during his time as chief clerk. I pointed out that many of the proposals and practices – e.g. work-sharing – cost money that we simply could not get under the present running cost regime.

  20 JULY 1989

  Michael Quinlan called to tell me very privately that George Younger is leaving government to become chairman of the Bank of Scotland, and to consult me about the Soviet Defence Minister’s visit beginning on Tuesday morning, with the reshuffle set for Monday evening. After consulting Geoffrey Howe, I later passed on his advice that he and George Younger’s successor (whom Geoffrey, by a slip of the tongue, revealed as Tom King) should both take part in the visit. An odd arrangement, but probably better than trying to put off the visit at this stage. Otherwise, no further news on reshuffles, though the press speculated that either Alan Clark (of ‘Bongo Bongo Land’ fame) or Peter Tapsell might become the second FCO Cabinet minister.

  21 JULY 1989

  Robin Butler told me very privately that Geoffrey Howe will go in the reshuffle on Monday, and be replaced by John Major. Geoffrey will get ostensible promotion as Leader of the House (and Deputy Prime Minister), but he will be very sad to leave the FCO. Lynda Chalker, who was visibly nervous and worried at the no. 1 board this morning, goes to the ODA, but not with Cabinet rank. Francis Maude joins us on promotion (good for him).

  Simon Glenarthur is, of course, leaving, but I do not yet know who replaces him. The PM is said to have resisted the idea of Simon Cairns. Next week should be fun! There is also the complication of the Yazov visit, on which it looks as though George Younger’s succession will be delayed for a week or two to enable him to act as Yazov’s host, with his successor taking occasional part.

  23 JULY 1989

  Virginia and I went to Glyndebourne this evening to see Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream as guests of Clifford and Pamela Chetwood (of Wimpey’s). I had earlier forecast that, with reshuffles in the wind, the one category we would not see this evening were Conservative politicians – all of whom would certainly be glued to their telephones, waiting for a call for tomorrow’s reshuffle. At dinner, however, we saw David and Lita Young, who told me he was now an ex-politician, having today left for the private sector.

  24 JULY 1989

  Geoffrey Howe was summoned to No. 10 at 9.10 a.m., to be told (without any prior warning) that he was to leave the FCO, and offered either the Home Office or leadership of the House. He told the PM that he did not want the Home Office, but wanted time to think. The PM apparently made it clear that one of her reasons for moving him was the way in which he had played their disagreement over EMS in the run-up to the Madrid summit last month.

  Stephen Wall called me at 9.45 a.m. to tell me that Geoffrey had returned to the office in distress, and had left immediately for Carlton Gardens to confer with Elspeth. I saw Geoffrey at about 11 – obviously stunned by the news, and deeply offended, both by the lack of any warning and by the PM’s failure to inform him about his successor. (I have not revealed to anyone that I have known the successor’s identity for three days.) Geoffrey had drafted a letter to the PM expressing his dismay; setting out various important foreign affairs questions on which he is engaged; and telling her he did not want either of the jobs on offer [i.e. a fairly tough resignation letter which would have done the PM no good at all, and a foretaste of the resignation speech which was later to bring Margaret Thatcher down].

  I advised Geoffrey not to tell his junior ministers until he had seen the PM’s reaction to his letter. In fact, Geoffrey read out the letter to the Chief Whip, who reported it orally to the PM. He was later invited back to No. 10, and offered the leadership plus the deputy premiership, which he accepted.

  Other moves also emerged during the day, and I wrote farewell letters to Tim Eggar (moved to Employment) and to Simon Glenarthur. Lynda Chalker is still in Turkey until Wednesday afternoon. Geoffrey Adams and I had to negotiate the somewhat delicate problem of Francis Maude wanting (quite understandably) to move in to her office tomorrow morning.

  John Major invited Stephen Wall to call this afternoon to discuss immediate moves, and later telephoned me in response to a message of welcome I had sent him. He has said that Geoffrey Howe can stay in Carlton Gardens for the time being, but John has to host a dinner there tomorrow for the premier of St Vincent.

  News of the full reshuffle did not emerge publicly until 7 p.m.; astonishingly, the row over Geoffrey’s move has not yet emerged. All the pr
ess were taking the line this morning that Geoffrey would not be moved. They also curiously failed to forecast George Younger’s departure. It has in fact been a massive reshuffle (which of course included John Major’s appointment as Foreign Secretary), and the FCO will have great difficulty in inducting four new ministers, with only William Waldegrave remaining. He is already asking me, very nervously, whether Francis Maude (who was previously his assistant whip) will outrank him.

  29 JULY 1989

  William Waldegrave sent me an early telephone message to say that he needed to speak to me urgently before John Major arrived. The latter in fact turned up ten minutes early, before Stephen Wall and myself were there to greet him (thereby causing him to make a remark to the press about fooling ‘the mandarins’ – for which he later apologised).

  William Waldegrave meanwhile turned up, looking very worried, and anxious that he should not lose any of his present portfolio, having allegedly heard Francis Maude announcing that he would be dealing with both the European Community and East/West relations. I calmed him down, and asked if he would like to add Africa to his portfolio? He said that he would be happy to add anything, provided he didn’t lose anything.

  Stephen Wall and I had half an hour with John Major, reaching quite quick agreement on portfolios, though suspending a decision, at my request, on which minister should sit on the no. 1 board. I want first to test the new personalities, though Francis Maude told me later that he was very keen to do it. [A foretaste of his campaign, many years later, as minister for the Cabinet Office, to allow ministers to remove and select their permanent secretaries?]

  John Major has a very easy manner, and admitted that he was feeling fairly daunted by it all, having – like Geoffrey Howe – had no warning at all before yesterday morning. This is not what John says in his autobiography, where he claims that Tristan Garel-Jones had tipped him off three days earlier – as indeed had Robin Butler to me; but John had not believed him!

  He is likely to go cautiously at first, and obviously wants to brief himself very thoroughly before making speeches or meeting his opposite numbers. I had another two and a half hours with him this afternoon, mainly discussing Hong Kong and Cambodia (with David Gillmore also present). But we also had a general discussion on how he wants to do the job. He is very conscious of press comment and told us both that the PM had no idea what his views are on Europe (though he is reputed to be strongly Thatcherite on EMS); and that he did not want to ask No. 10 for approval unnecessarily, though it would be tactically important to keep them up to speed. He was curiously adamant that he will not report to Cabinet this week on his proposed meeting with the Chinese Foreign Minister in Paris this weekend.

  I asked if Norma Major would want to involve herself in his travels, and with the service, on which he gave a fairly negative reply. They live in Huntingdon and have two children at school. He has been offered Chevening, and Geoffrey Howe has been offered Dorneywood, though it seems very unlikely that he will use Chevening in the way the Howes did.

  I had half an hour with William Waldegrave and Francis Maude separately this afternoon. William is now fussed that his office (both staff and space-wise) will be inadequate for his expanded portfolio. Their respective seniority is clear, though Lynda Chalker is no longer Deputy Foreign Secretary – just Minister for Overseas Development – with, in declining order, William, Francis, Lord Brabazon and Tim Sainsbury.

  As for Lord Brabazon, I have succeeded in concentrating all administration – minus personnel operations department – in his portfolio, which should diminish the extent of ministerial interference in the running of the service.

  Tim Sainsbury was the last minister to be appointed, and reported to John Major at 5 p.m. John Major told me this morning that he expects great difficulty with Tim, both as the oldest and most experienced of his junior ministers, but nevertheless the most junior – at fifty-seven, he is eleven years older than the Foreign Secretary, and about fifteen years older than either William or Francis. He has also just had a major row (no pun intended) with the Treasury, having virtually told them to jump in a lake. I met him later; he certainly seems perfectly civil and friendly. William Waldegrave speaks very highly of him, particularly on his performance in the House of Commons.

  Virginia and I had arranged a farewell drink for Mark Russell this evening, but turned it into a joint farewell also for Geoffrey Howe, Simon Glenarthur and Tim Eggar. I also invited John Major, who considerately said it would be easier for Geoffrey and myself if he stayed away.

  I later received the following letter from Geoffrey, having also sent all three departing ministers an appropriate letter of farewell:

  MY DEAR PATRICK,

  It was very good of you to write as you did, even before the end of Black Monday – and then to speak so kindly when you allowed me to gate-crash Mark Russell’s party.

  Elspeth and I have greatly appreciated all the kindnesses we have enjoyed from Virginia and yourself. They have helped to turn fascination with the job into fun as well. And we really have valued the sheer professionalism, zeal & loyalty of all with whom we have dealt in the Service – most particularly, perhaps, in private office and news department. (PUSs are in a class of their own, of course.)

  I must say it’s a funny world in which so many ‘partnerships’ can be called up at such disastrously short notice; yet there’s so much achieved that’s worth trying to preserve.

  My warmest thanks for all your help & understanding.

  As ever,

  GEOFFREY

  Charles Powell said that Geoffrey Howe had had it coming to him ever since the morning of Madrid, when he’d had the gall to threaten to resign. When I said that it was surely an honest difference of policy, Charles was extremely dismissive, accusing Geoffrey Howe of leaking yesterday’s row in the press, and saying that I at least now had a Foreign Secretary on the way up, rather than one on the way down. I said that I thought Geoffrey had been treated disgracefully, and that while John Major was clearly a delightful and able man, I very much regretted Geoffrey’s departure. Could the PM, I asked, not even have had the courtesy to warn Geoffrey in advance? Charles asked, in reply, what good that would have done.

  26 JULY 1989

  The press is full of speculation today about the motives behind the reshuffle, with much talk about the attempt to get the FCO in order, and to bring Foreign Office policies on Europe more in line with the PM’s thinking. There is much speculation in the press that John Major is closer to Margaret Thatcher on European policies, and that he had got one over on his officials (i.e. Stephen Wall, Christopher Meyer and me) by arriving early at the Foreign Office yesterday. He told me that he had slept last night for five and a half hours but was still worried about the press, including their hounding of Norma, who had been pursued while distributing Meals on Wheels. A Huntingdon journalist has apparently camped outside their house for two days.

  I tried today to sort out the problems of precedence among Foreign Office ministers, on which the press are taking an intense interest, particularly since The Independent published the list with Francis Maude as no. 1 and Lynda Chalker as no. 4! After checking with both Charles Powell and Robin Butler, I have recommended that William Waldegrave should stand in for the Foreign Secretary at Cabinet, where necessary, and not Lynda. I received a message from her at Heathrow today, on her return from Ankara, to say that she needed to talk to me urgently about the supervision of Personnel Operations Department, I told her later that the Secretary of State had not yet taken a decision on this. But I have in fact advised John Major not to give it to Lynda – not because she does it badly, but because she is, after all, a minister in charge of a home civil service department.

  As John Major came to us from being Chief Secretary, I asked him whether he could tell me anything about the prospects for the diplomatic service bid in the public expenditure exercise. He told me yesterday that unfortunately his move had been so rapid that he could not remember the Treasury’s fallback position
on the FCO bid. John Anson, Second Permanent Under-Secretary at the Treasury, had told me yesterday that John Major had shown no particular interest in the FCO; John Major himself told me that he had confidently expected to get Transport.

  He also told me how successful Geoffrey Howe had been with the FCO bid through sheer doggedness and refusal to give in. I said that I hoped he would do likewise.

  27 JULY 1989

  Lynda Chalker called on me this morning to talk about her visit to Ankara, and about her own position. On the latter, she pressed her case to supervise Personnel Operations Department, and to remain on the no. 1 board. I said I was doubtful about this, since it would look very odd, both in the FCO and the ODA, to have a minister in charge of a civil service department sitting on a diplomatic promotions board. I later discussed this again with John Major, who is attracted by the idea (presumably to be kind to Lynda, who is still feeling very bruised), but agreed to suspend a decision until after the holidays. My present preference would be Tim Sainsbury; but I shall have to discuss this with the board.

  Tony Favell, John Major’s PPS, called on me at 10 a.m. and stayed on for my morning meeting. John Major later described him to me as someone he had inherited from his Treasury predecessor – ‘a nice and friendly man’. I scored a bit of a coup with him by contradicting him when he said that he well understood that the FCO’s main objective was to develop and maintain good relations with foreign countries; I pointed out that the FCO saw its role as promoting British interests abroad, and that good relations were sometimes (but not always e.g. Romania) a means of achieving that. He seemed quite agreeably startled to hear this from an FCO mandarin!