An excellent programme had been arranged for us in Prague, including a call on Pavel Sadovsky, the Secretary General at the Foreign Ministry, with whom I had been delegated to raise a human rights question on behalf of CSCE (Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe) – a hard-faced communist apparatchik, flanked by three officials (sitting directly opposite me) who barely tried to conceal their agreement with all my arguments. The young man concerned was in fact released two days later – thereby constituting the only tangible diplomatic success of my career!
Our conversation in the Foreign Ministry was in full earshot of the students demonstrating in Wenceslas Square, and our ambassador and I later joined them (though we were not, I think, identified).
On Sofia, my most striking memory is of a call which ambassadors were invited to pay, and which I joined, on the new non-Communist President Mladenov and his Foreign Minister (the second of whom asked me to pass on particularly warm greetings to Douglas Hurd).
In Budapest, I recall particularly my discussion with László Kovács, the Secretary General at the Foreign Ministry, who was astonishingly frank about anti-Russian sentiment in Hungary, and their resentment at the continuing presence of Russian troops.
27 NOVEMBER 1989
The Prime Minister’s meeting with President Bush at Camp David (not accompanied by Douglas Hurd) seems to have been quite hard pounding, with Bush pressing her both on defence questions and on her attitude to the European Community. Meanwhile, Vietnamese boat people are receiving vast coverage in the press, in expectation of early repatriation.
28 NOVEMBER 1989
Douglas Hurd and I attended the memorial service at St Margaret’s Westminster for Derek Inchyra (for whom Douglas had worked as his private secretary, see page 134, above), with Alec Douglas-Home sitting on my other side. A large congregation of very old diplomats, including Lord Gladwyn and several half-forgotten faces from the 1950s. Inchyra’s heir, Robin Inchyra, told me he had had to tell his father that I was unavailable abroad, since he was in a rather wandering state, and had some worry about Italy and kept asking to see me. Robin thought that his father remembered having disobeyed some instruction during the war, and that it was preying on his mind.
29 NOVEMBER 1989
I attended Douglas Hurd’s weekly meeting of ministers and PPSs, at which there was a good discussion on German reunification, following Kohl’s speech in the Bundestag yesterday. Horst Teltschik, Kohl’s private secretary, briefed Christopher Mallaby and his French and American colleagues last night, revealing significantly that Kohl had been in close contact with Bush, Mitterrand, Gorbachev and Egon Krenz, but not Mrs Thatcher. She was due to see Genscher this afternoon, and Douglas tried to have a word with her beforehand to advise her on the line to take with him. When Stephen Wall proposed this to Charles Powell, the latter replied: ‘The Prime Minister knows perfectly well what line to take; but I suppose if the Foreign Secretary insists on seeing her first, that is his prerogative.’
I have also discussed with Douglas Hurd and William Waldegrave the embassy in Beirut, which the Prime Minister wants to pull out to Cyprus, in view of the high risk of a Syrian attack against General Aoun. I have persuaded Douglas to contest the PM’s decision; but an assessment by the JIC today makes it probable that she will insist on it. I am depressed (as is Douglas) at the thought of emptying yet another mission in the Middle East; Kabul, Damascus, Tehran and Tripoli are already without ambassadors.
30 NOVEMBER 1989
Douglas Hurd continued to fight today against the Prime Minister’s wish to close Beirut, and has gained at least another few days. He is being quite impressively tough with her. He told me this morning that she had again reverted to ‘FCO perfidy’ in Madrid, with explicit criticism of David Hannay. He had argued strongly that he knew David well, and that he had never heard him utter a word of criticism against her; on the contrary, David had fought staunchly for British interests. I have agreed to put a submission to him on top appointments before Christmas; but he is a joy to work with.
1 DECEMBER 1989
Charles Powell arrived late for his bilateral this evening, having had to cope with tantrums from the PM. He did not reveal what they were about; but Douglas Hurd told me yesterday that he thought the leadership election was fussing her more than she would admit. She is also following a ludicrously full programme. Even on foreign affairs, she has had a major appointment every day this week, including Wałęsa tomorrow, and Brussels (for Bush’s debriefing on the Malta summit with Gorbachev) on Sunday.
Percy Cradock called this evening, in near despair about the Prime Minister’s working methods. He says that meetings get worse and worse, though Douglas Hurd is considerably more effective at putting forward arguments than Geoffrey Howe was. He acknowledged that Douglas has put up a much stronger and more effective counter-argument about Beirut than Geoffrey would ever have agreed to do.
5 DECEMBER 1989
Michael Alexander called and gave me an account of yesterday and the post-mortem briefing by Bush in Brussels. The PM had been very upset by Bush’s second intervention on Europe, in which he called for greater ‘integration’, and appeared also to be supporting German reunification, and a follow-on meeting on CFE – all of them bugbears for Margaret Thatcher. She was apparently very angry when they left the meeting, muttering that this was the thanks one got for being a loyal ally.
She was also distinctly cool with Chancellor Kohl, looking extremely glum when he came up to greet her. Michael thinks that her anti-German obsession is very worrying, and that she really is in danger of marginalising us in Europe (though events in Germany this week certainly justify some concern over the German problem). Bush later telephoned her, having evidently been alerted by Henry Catto (who in turn had been alerted by Charles Powell), and reassured her that his remarks on integration were not intended to interfere in a European argument, but were purely designed to support the 1992 process.
The result of the leadership election this evening produced fifty-seven abstentions or votes against Margaret Thatcher – a result which most of the press, other than the Mirror, interpret as fairly good for her. But there is quite widespread feeling that she is losing her touch.
6 DECEMBER 1989
Douglas Hurd had a preparatory talk with Dumas in Paris yesterday (in advance of the European Council in Strasbourg), and later made a vivid impression by giving a rare British ministerial interview in French, having already impressed the Italians as Home Secretary by conducting talks in Italian.
President Egon Krenz of the GDR (German Democratic Republic) was sacked this afternoon, with a non-Communist appointed in his place; there were also reports of people breaking in to army barracks to steal arms.
Messages today about Vietnamese boat people from both Henry Catto and Antony Acland, arguing strongly against going ahead with mandatory repatriation, followed by a further, strongly worded message from Antony of the ‘grave damage’ to our image in the United States. I think we shall have to call off the first aircraft load scheduled for next week, particularly since Jim Baker is now due here on Monday.
7 DECEMBER 1989
Douglas held an early meeting to discuss Antony Acland’s advice on Vietnamese boat people, initially inclined to accept our official advice. But ministerial opinion won the day, largely on the grounds of the likely reaction in Hong Kong to further indecision in London. Douglas cleared this decision with the Prime Minister after Cabinet today.
Virginia went to a wives meeting at Lancaster House, to which the Duchess of York was invited. Judy Hurd did well, and spoke nicely.
8 DECEMBER 1989
At the European Council in Strasbourg today, the Prime Minister tried hard to whip up support for a meeting of the ‘Berlin Powers’ – though it was not clear whether this included the Russians or the Germans (i.e. the occupying powers or the Quadripartite Committee).
Meanwhile, the Soviet embassy telephoned me and read out a message from Shevardnadze, suggesting an ur
gent meeting of the ‘Berlin ambassadors’. It is clear that the Russians are very steamed up about potential chaos in East Germany, and early moves towards reunification.
Michael Alexander sent me a message today, reporting Bob Blackwill of the White House as again warning us that the United States government does not want Britain to appear isolated from the European Community, or from the integration process in Europe. The handling of Germany is now likely to preoccupy ministers even more than Vietnam, Hong Kong or Cambodia. But the pressures on the office at present are horrendous, and not made easier by the flu epidemic. We have received 16,000 letters this week on Cambodia alone.
I lunched with Robin Butler, mainly to gossip about the Prime Minister, who has been sweetness and light since the leadership election earlier this week. We discussed the possibility that she might give up in the spring, and I reminded Robin that John Major had twice referred to that possibility with me. Robin recounted a curious story that Denis Thatcher had said that once a leader was challenged, there was unlikely to be any turning back – as if he expected an early departure.
11 DECEMBER 1989
Although business at the European Council in Germany has been conducted with remarkably good humour (Margaret Thatcher even winning a round of applause for some gracious remarks she made about the European Community), she is very steamed up about German reunification, and the danger of violent reactions in East Germany.
I joined Douglas Hurd’s talks with Jim Baker over lunch today. Baker opened with a deliberate statement about the special relationship (following the PM’s reaction to Bush’s remarks about European integration in Brussels). Charles Powell told me later that she had been pretty cool with Baker, when he repeated his statement to Douglas. But she is obviously working hard to soften her image, following the leadership elections.
12 DECEMBER 1989
Douglas Hurd’s meeting with ministers and PPSs was mainly concerned with Vietnamese boat people. In spite of TV shots of screaming refugees, and predictable allegations of ‘shameful behaviour’ in press and Parliament, the operation in fact went off very smoothly, with all fifty-eight boarding and leaving the aircraft without any show of force, or even persuasion. Tim Raison and David Ennals are to visit Hanoi shortly to monitor their condition.
Robin Butler called this afternoon to urge that John Weston should keep in close touch with the Cabinet Office over Eastern Europe. John is being very resistant to the idea that the FCO (and particularly himself) should lose control of the subject. I spoke to him at the News Department Christmas party this evening, but also told Stephen Wall that I thought that both John Weston and William Waldegrave (whom Douglas has asked to take control of the German question) would need frequent injections of ‘Basingstoke’. [This is a reference to W. S. Gilbert’s Ruddigore, where Mad Margaret can be calmed by shouting ‘Basingstoke’, and which I was surprised to discover, when I joined the board of De La Rue, meeting in Basingstoke, several years later, was unknown to any other member of the board.]
15 DECEMBER 1989
Right of abode for Hong Kongers has blown up into a political row in the Conservative Party, with the right wing, led by Norman Tebbit, stirring up opposition to any grant of citizenship. The decision by OD(K) to grant citizenship to about 230,000 against the wish of the Home Office will go to Cabinet on Wednesday.
Douglas Hurd seems to have had excellent quadripartite talks in Brussels, obviously establishing good relationships with Dumas and Genscher; the latter is particularly important, given the PM’s poor relationship with Kohl. I had a word today with John Weston about a potential conflict between departments on dealing with Eastern Europe and Germany, as well as Waldegrave’s tendency to harness Assistant Under-Secretaries, as he has with David Gore-Booth. The Waldegrave–Gore-Booth mafia needs to be watched.
Michael does not find Tom King a particularly thoughtful or effective Defence Secretary, though better than his earlier experience of him in Employment had led him to expect. Michael welcomed the idea of another Chevening meeting.
19 DECEMBER 1989
Trouble has broken out in Romania this week, with what our ambassador, Michael Atkinson, described as a massacre in one of the mainly Hungarian towns near the Hungarian border. William Waldegrave went slightly over the top this evening, calling for all countries to help bring down Ceaușescu’s regime. I asked for the text to be flashed to Michael Atkinson, since it would, for most governments, be a pretext to break relations, or at least to chuck out the ambassador. When I went to William’s Christmas party in the Durbar Court this evening, William looked distinctly nervous, asking me if he had got us into trouble; he probably has, though his remarks will be widely applauded.
20 DECEMBER 1989
The Americans invaded Panama overnight, in an attempt to capture Noriega; but the bird had flown. Bush telephoned the PM early this morning, who characteristically expressed immediate and full support (though legal adviser Arthur Watts pointed out later that it was very difficult to give any clear legal justification for what they had done). No other European or other government expressed support at all, and some (such as Spain) came out with quite strong condemnation.
I submitted two pieces of Christmas reading to Douglas Hurd today: one a selection of papers on German reunification, CFE and European architecture; the second a massive paper by John Boyd on top appointments, for discussion on 3 January.
Percy Cradock spoke to me very privately today about Margaret Thatcher’s health and mood; he suspects that she is taking pills or vitamins for her perpetual colds (one of which we had witnessed when she visited us in Luxembourg in the late 1970s), and combining this with occasional drinks. He is finding her much less lucid than usual.
I went to a series of Christmas parties, including lunch with Tim Sainsbury. He told a nice story about his grandfather, who was a keen huntsman, and was once serving behind the counter in Sainsbury’s store in Kensington High Street, when a smart hunting woman came into the shop and said, very haughtily: ‘Mr Sainsbury, I’m surprised to see you serving in a shop,’ to which he replied: ‘I’m surprised to see you doing your own shopping.’
21 DECEMBER 1989
Romania appeared to be going up in flames today, with pro-government demonstrations turning, as in Prague, into protests against the President and the police. The Prime Minister and Douglas Hurd decided today to recommend removal of Ceaușescu’s GCB – the first such case since the Emperor of Japan during the war.
Douglas commented again on the PM’s more relaxed mood, saying that she kept mentioning the need for ‘diplomacy’ in the present crisis, and has been giving a lot of thought on how to handle Kohl. The trouble is that her gut dislike of Germans is far too obvious, though Kohl was quoted in the press today as making some very complimentary remarks about her.
Virginia joined me this evening for Mike Shingler’s Christmas spectacular in the Durbar Court – an extremely well organised affair, with some very good singing and readings (including by both Douglas Hurd and William Waldegrave). I accompanied ‘Jingle Bells’ on an electronic piano towards the end, while Father Christmas appeared on successive balconies of the court. [Shingler is a born impresario, who was later to organise my retirement party, also in the Durbar Court, in June 1991.]
22 DECEMBER 1989
Romania flared up again today, and it was clear by late morning that Ceaușescu had fallen and fled. Fierce fighting continued in Bucharest and elsewhere. The Romanian ambassador, Soare, had asked to call on John Fretwell at 11.30 a.m. to deliver a long complaint about British statements and alleged interference in Romanian internal affairs. John Fretwell countered by informing the ambassador a) that his President was being stripped of his GCB; and b) that his government had fallen. The ambassador appeared not to have heard the news, and again complained that John’s remarks were unwarranted interference. (Soare, having appeared on TV at Heathrow, on leaving London for home, later appealed for medical help for the victims of the uprising – a confused gentlem
an!)
The rapid fall of Ceaușescu has confounded most of the forecasts, including my own, who told several people earlier this week that I thought Ceaușescu could hang on until death; ironically, a Christmas card arrived today from Hugh Arbuthnott (formerly ambassador in Bucharest, and now in Lisbon) saying that he did not think Romania would go the way of the other ‘reformers’.
The Prime Minister was persuaded last night to send a message to Gorbachev to ask for his support for a Security Council debate on Romania, and to bring his influence to bear on Ceaușescu – another first.
Panama meanwhile looks bad; ironic that American action on the Canal should coincide with a major upsurge in Eastern Europe – compare Suez and Hungary in 1956, though in that case Suez blanketed the Hungarian uprising, at least in the British media.
1990
CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR
2 JANUARY 1990
Virginia telephoned Veronica Atkinson, who was evacuated from Bucharest with other dependents, having spent hours in the residence cellar with three children, and the Securitate tramping around upstairs, shouting and looting, until they were rescued by the German embassy. The residence was later badly damaged by fire, with the Atkinsons losing most of their belongings.
Behind Diplomatic Lines Page 19