European Diary, 1977-1981

by Roy Jenkins

  50 Peter Jenkins, b. 1934, has been a political columnist on many newspapers and is married to Polly Toynbee.

  51 Callaghan had put a paper to Carter suggesting that the summer Summit in Bonn should concentrate on the five issues of: commitment to growth, maintenance of world trade, currency stability in the long term, use of capital surpluses and the conservation of energy. There was an element of being against sin about it.

  52 I.e. an outline without at this stage much substance.

  53 A committee under the chairmanship of Sir Harold Wilson had been appointed in January 1977 by his successor to inquire into the functioning at home and abroad of the financial institutions of the United Kingdom. It finally reported, without great excitement or import, in May 1980.

  54 Or August 1914, as it is called in the English edition.

  55(Sir) Kenneth Couzens, b. 1925, was a Second Permanent Secretary (Overseas Finance) at the Treasury 1977–82, and Permanent Under-Secretary, Department of Energy, 1982–5.

  56 Harold Lever, b. 1914, cr. Lord Lever of Manchester 1979, had been my Financial Secretary at the Treasury 1967–9, before entering the Cabinet as Paymaster-General. He also served in this office (and the Cabinet) 1974–9.

  57 David Ginsburg, b. 1921, Labour and later SDP MP for Dewsbury 1959–83; a friend since Oxford days.

  58 Robert Maclennan, b. 1936, Labour and then SDP MP for Caithness and Sutherland since 1966, in 1978 a junior minister, leader of the SDP 1987–8.

  59 Maurice Peston, b. 1931, cr. Lord Peston 1987, has been Professor of Economics at Queen Mary College, London, since 1965.

  60 Basil de Ferranti, 1930–88, was Chairman of the Economic and Social Committee (of the Community) 1976–8, and a (Conservative) MEP 1979–88.

  61 Emmanuel (Bobbie) de Margerie, b. 1924, French Ambassador to Spain 1977–81, became Ambassador in London 1981–4, before being transferred to Washington.

  62 Michel Debré, b. 1912, had been the first Prime Minister of the Fifth Republic 1959–62, and was subsequently Minister of Finance and then of Foreign Affairs 1966–9. His father, Professor Robert Debré, was a leader of French medicine.

  63 (Sir) Michael Howard, b. 1922, was then Chichele Professor of the History of War and has been Regius Professor of Modern History 1981–9.

  64 Sir William Hayter, b. 1906, was British Ambassador in Moscow 1953–7, and Warden of New College, Oxford, 1958–76.

  65 Irwin Ross, b. 1919, is a New York journalist/author, whom I have known since 1953.

  66 Then quite radical, and with more political content than today.

  67 (Sir) Larry Lamb, b. 1929, was editor of the Sun 1975–81, and of the Daily Express 1983–6.

  68 (Sir) Neil Marten, 1916–86, was the anti-Common Market Conservative MP for Banbury 1959–83.

  69 Aldo Moro, 1916–78, had been Prime Minister of Italy 1963–8 and 1974–6, and was at that time President of the Christian Democratic Party.

  70 I think his last; he died twelve weeks later.

  71 Francesco Cossiga, b. 1928, was Italian Minister of the Interior 1976–8, Prime Minister 1979–80, President of the Senate 1983–5, and has been President of the Italian Republic since 1985.

  72 On 11 May 4000 Zaïre rebels with alleged support from Russia, Cuba, Libya and Algeria had invaded Zaïre from Angola and captured the town and airport of Kolwezi. On 17 May the French decided to send in paratroops to restore the situation, and presented the Belgians, who believed they had special responsibility for the old Belgian Congo, with a fait accompli. Eventually, on 19 May, Belgian troops arrived too.

  73 The 2nd Lord Kennet, b. 1923, has been a Labour and then an SDP peer.

  74 Bülent Ecevit, b. 1925, was intermittently Prime Minister 1974–9, and intermittently imprisoned, following the military coup, 1980–2.

  75 Françoise Giroud, b. 1916, was a State Secretary in the Giscard Government from 1974–6, first for Women’s Affairs and then for Culture.

  76 Morarji Desai, b. 1896, had been deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance 1967–9, was imprisoned by Mrs Gandhi from 1975 until 1977, and then became Prime Minister 1977–9.

  77 Cf. Helmut Schmidt, entry for 7 April 1978.

  78 David Ormsby Gore, 1918–85, succeeded as the 5th Lord Harlech in 1964. He was British Ambassador in Washington 1961–5. He married Pamela Colin as his second wife in 1969. (Sissie, killed in a car accident in 1967, was his first wife.)

  79 Lord Franks, OM, b. 1905, Ambassador to Washington 1948–57, Provost of Worcester College 1962–76.

  80 Sir Roger Makins, b. 1904, cr. Lord Sherfield 1964, was Ambassador to Washington 1953–6, and then Permanent Secretary to the Treasury 1956–9; Chancellor of Reading University since 1970.

  81 Douglass Cater, b. 1923, American academic and writer, was vice-chairman of the (London) Observer 1976–81.

  82 Mark Heathcoat Amory, b. 1941, subsequently edited the letters of Evelyn Waugh as well as those of Ann Fleming herself. He is now literary editor of the Spectator.

  83 Not to impose restrictions on imports from Third World countries.

  84 Tam Dalyell, b. 1932. Labour MP since 1962. Member of the European Parliament 1975–9.

  85 Gundelach, I had been told by some kind friend, had been making disobliging remarks about me in London. But see also the entry for 10 December 1979.

  86 Andreas Whittam Smith, b. 1937, became the founder editor of the Independent in 1986.

  87 Gräfin von Hardenberg was the Commission’s deputy Chief of Protocol.

  88 Bettino Craxi, b. 1934, had become General Secretary of the Italian Socialist Party in 1976. Prime Minister of Italy 1983–7.

  89 Brian Talboys, b. 1921, was Foreign Minister and Minister for Overseas Trade as well as deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand 1975–81.

  90 Charles Douglas-Home, 1937–85, was then foreign editor of The Times. He became editor in 1982. He was married to Jessica Gwynne.

  91 George Weidenfeld, b. 1919, cr. Lord Weidenfeld 1976, London and (now) New York publisher.

  92 Sir Claus Moser, b. 1922, Professor of Social Statistics at LSE 1961–70, and head of the Government Statistical Service 1967–78, was Chairman of the Royal Opera House 1974–87. Warden of Wadham College, Oxford, since 1984.

  1 Horst Schulmann was a senior official in Schmidt’s Chancellery; Bernard Clappier was the Governor of the Bank of France. They were both Summit ‘sherpas’. Their paper was a semi-secret Franco-German statement of methods and objectives for the Bremen European Council.

  2 For 1979 and 1980. A Commissioner is nominated for four years, but a President only for two, although he is normally then reappointed.

  3 Appropriate in view of the almost continuous tropical downpours with which the Bremen climate welcomed this European Council.

  4 (Sir) Thomas McCaffrey, b. 1922, became chief information officer of the Home Office under me in 1966, was inherited by James Callaghan and subsequently served him as his principal press officer throughout his public career.

  5 Tom McNally, b. 1943, was political adviser to the Prime Minister 1976–9, and subsequently first Labour and then SDP MP for Stockport 1979–83.

  6 Sir Geoffrey Howe, b. 1926, was then shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, became the real Chancellor 1979–83, and has been Foreign Secretary since 1983.

  7 Our Home Office relations had not been altogether smooth in 1965–6.

  8 Ralf Dahrendorf, b. 1929, had been a German-appointed member of the European Commission 1970–4, before becoming Director of the London School of Economics 1974–84, and Warden of St Antony’s College, Oxford, in 1987.

  9 Robert Triffin, b. 1911, is a Belgian-born economist who had been Master of Berkeley College, Yale, and achieved world fame as an international monetary specialist. Having returned to live in Brussels, he was of great assistance to us in the run-up to the EMS.

  10 R. A. Butler, 1902–82, cr. Lord Butler 1965, KG, holder between 1941 and 1965 of almost every Cabinet office except that of Prime Minister. Master of Trinity
College, Cambridge, 1965–78. Chancellor of the Universities of Sheffield and Essex.

  11 It persisted for three and a half weeks.

  12 (Sir) Robin Day, b. 1923, was already a political television interviewer and presenter of note, although not quite so pre-eminent as today.

  13 The purpose of such meetings was to decide which Commissioner handled which item and to determine some consistency of line.

  14 Under Article 85 of the Treaty of Rome a derogation to the ban on market-sharing agreements could be temporarily permitted to ease problems of overproduction. A request for such a derogation was first made by the synthetic fibres industry. Consideration of the validity of the request occupied much of the time of the various Community institutions in the second half of 1978.

  15 Sir Michael Stewart, b. 1911, Minister in Washington 1964–7, was Ambassador to Greece 1967–71, before becoming Director of the Ditchley Foundation 1971–6.

  16 Dick Taverne, QC, b. 1928, was Labour and then Democratic Labour MP for Lincoln 1962–74. He served with me at the Home Office and the Treasury 1966–70, and was the forerunner of the SDP.

  17 Gwynfor Evans, b. 1912, was Welsh Nationalist MP for Carmarthen 1966–70 and 1974–9.

  18 Jacques Chaban Delmas, b. 1915, Mayor of Bordeaux since 1947. President of National Assembly 1958–69, 1978–81, 1986–8. Prime Minister of France 1969–72. Candidate for the presidency 1974.

  19 Not exactly. That had been earlier in the House of Commons. This one (14 July 1940) said: ‘Should the invader come … we will defend every village, every town, every city…’

  20 Cledwyn Hughes, b. 1916, cr. Lord Cledwyn of Penrhos 1979, having been MP for Anglesey from 1951, and a member of the Cabinet from 1966 to 1970. Now leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords.

  21 The 7th Marquess of Anglesey, b. 1922, author and Chairman of the Historic Buildings Council for Wales, had married Shirley Morgan, daughter of the novelist Charles Morgan; she was then Chairman of the Welsh Arts Council.

  22 Roy Hattersley, b. 1932, has been Labour MP for Birmingham, Sparkbrook since 1964, was Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection 1976–9, and has been deputy leader of the Labour Party since 1983.

  23 Patrick Devlin, b. 1905, cr. Lord Devlin 1961, was a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary 1961–4 before unexpectedly retiring to authorship and occasional inquiries.

  24 Filippo Pandolfi, b. 1927, Italian Minister of the Treasury 1978–80, and later of Industry and of Agriculture.

  25 Over the summer of 19781 decided that the internal working of the Commission and its services needed improvement, particularly through a loosening of the rigidities which prevented the most effective deployment of personnel. This was the first point discussed that year at the cabinet strategy meeting at East Hendred in late July. A small outside committee of inquiry, seemed to me the best chance of overcoming national defensive-ness and innate conservatism. This committee took shape under the chairmanship of Dirk Spierenburg, a Dutch diplomat and former Coal and Steel Commissioner, with British (Dick Taverne), French, German and Italian members.

  At about the same time President Giscard d’Estaing conceived the idea of having ‘Three Wise Men’ to look at the relationship to each other of all the European institutions. This obviously embraced the external powers of the Commission, but not its internal working. The two inquiries were slightly confusingly parallel to each other, but not strictly overlapping. Neither transformed Europe, but I think mine produced more practical result than did his.

  26 Raimundo Bassols y Jacas, b. 1925, was Spanish Ambassador to the Community throughout my presidency and later Ambassador to Morocco.

  27 Renée van Hoof was (and is) the head of the excellent Commission interpretation service. She became Madame Haferkamp in 1986.

  28 I did not think that I could dictate to a senior vice-president who should and who should not be in his party for a particular visit. He said that he needed her for interpretation purposes, not with the Chinese but within his multinational team.

  29 Sir Derek Walker-Smith, b. 1910, cr. Lord Broxbourne 1983, Conservative MP for Hertfordshire and a middle-rank minister 1955–60, was a Member of the European Parliament 1973–9.

  30 And as it turned out the only time.

  31 Stanley Johnson, b. 1940, was an official in the Commission’s Environment and Consumer Protection Service 1973–9, a Conservative MEP 1979–84, and is now back in the service of the Commission.

  32 I had seen a Home Office man the previous week.

  33 Konstantinos Tsatsos, b. 1899, philosopher and lawyer, was President of Greece 1975–80.

  34 Pope Paul VI had died on 6 August. His successor Pope John Paul died on 28 September.

  35 Konstantinos Mitsotakis, b. 1918, was Greek Minister of Coordination and Planning 1977–80, of Foreign Affairs 1980–1, and has been leader of the new Democratic Party since 1984.

  36 George Mavros, b. 1909, had been a Minister or Governor of the Bank of Greece for much of the time between 1946 and 1966 and again briefly in 1974. Imprisoned under the Colonels. In Opposition in 1978.

  37 Andreas Papandreou, b. 1919, was leader of the Opposition 1977–81, and has been Prime Minister of Greece since 1981.

  38 Samuel Brittan, b. 1933, has been principal economics correspondent of the Financial Times since 1966.

  39 Rather a euphemism for the transfer of resources to the poorer countries to encourage them to come into the EMS.

  40 René Monory, b. 1923, was French Minister of Industry and Trade 1977–8, of Finance and Economics 1978–81, and of Education 1986–8.

  41 Technical term for an attempt to reconcile differences between the two arms of the budgetary authority.

  42 Donald Bruce, b. 1912, cr. Lord Bruce of Donnington 1975. Labour MP 1945–50, MEP in the last years of the indirectly elected Parliament.

  43 Curiously, it subsequently emerged that the British thought they were on stronger legal ground on one or two of the minor ones than on the major one—the size of the so-called Norway pout box (an area closed to fishing for this type of fish) - on which our own legal services were so doubtful.

  44 I suppose, in retrospect, that we were sensitive to the story because, while strictly non vero, it had its ben trovato element.

  45 Following the death of Pope John Paul I on 28 September, his successor Pope John Paul II, formerly Cardinal Wojtyla of Cracow, had been elected on 16 October.

  46 Lady Benson, 1907–81, was married first to Condé Nast and then to the English banker, Sir Rex Benson. She was the mother of Leslie Bonham Carter and the owner of Bussento, the house in the south of Italy which we frequently visited.

  47 Milton Gendel, b. 1924, is an American art historian who is the widower of Judy Montagu, the daughter of the recipient of so many Asquith letters.

  48 It was advanced as a ploy to teach the French not to play anti-communautaire games, and while I thought it a good joke, I did not have time to spare to serve on a leisurely committee of inquiry.

  49 The four big countries had ten votes, the Netherlands and Belgium five, Denmark and Ireland three and Luxembourg two. The importance of getting away from eighteen was that it set a precedent for flexibility when Spain and Portugal came in.

  50 A few years later this disappeared, and after my return to the House of Commons in 1982 my relations with this angular and insular but exceptional and distinguished English eccentric (b. 1907, Labour MP for Battersea 1946–83, President of the Board of Trade 1964–7, cr. Lord Jay 1987) were happily repaired.

  51 Josef Ertl, b. 1925, a Bavarian member of the FDP, was German Minister of Agriculture 1969–83.

  52 The power of the American Government to waive so-called ‘countervailing duties’ was due to expire on 3 January 1979. Unless they took urgent legislative steps to extend this power the effect on European imports into the USA was likely to be considerable and the climate in which MTNs were carried on substantially worsened.

  53 Jelle Zijlstra, b. 1918, was Prime Minister of the Net
herlands 1966–7, and head of the Dutch Central Bank 1967–81.

  54 Paolo Baffi, b. 1911, was Governor of the Bank of Italy 1975–80.

  55 Paul Volcker, b. 1927, was President of the New York Federal Reserve Bank 1975–9, and Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System 1979–87.

  56 Ten years later that particular bit of the future has still not arrived.

  57 Emile van Lennep, b. 1915, Treasurer-General of the Dutch Ministry of Finance 1951–69, then became Secretary-General of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation and remained there until 1984.