Downing Street Years - Margaret Thatcher [471]
John Major was not at first very keen on becoming Foreign Secretary. A modest man, aware of his inexperience, he would probably have preferred a less grand appointment. But I knew that if he was to have a hope of becoming Party leader, it would be better if he had held one of the three great offices of state. I should add that I had not, contrary to much speculation, reached a firm decision that John was my preferred successor. I had simply concluded that he must be given wider public recognition and greater experience if he was to compete with the talented self-publicists who would be among his rivals. Unfortunately, because of Nigel Lawson’s resignation, he had no opportunity to show what he was made of at the Foreign Office before returning to the Treasury.
In moving Nick Ridley to the DTI I was generally seen to be responding to the criticisms of him by the environmental lobby. This was not so. I knew he wanted a change. I was, of course, quite aware of the fact that the romantics and cranks of the movement did not like it when he insisted on basing policy on science rather than prejudice. I also suspected that from Chris Patten they would get a more emollient approach. Certainly, I subsequently found myself repeatedly at odds with Chris, for with him presentation on environmental matters always seemed to be at the expense of substance. But I also wanted Nick in the second most important economic department because of the need to have his support on the key issues of industry and Europe.
Ken Baker’s appointment as Party Chairman was an attempt to improve the Government’s presentation. Ken — like Chris Patten — had started off on the left of the Party. But unlike Chris, Ken had genuinely moved to the centre. In any case his great skills were in publicity. And I never forgot that for every few Thatchers, Josephs and Ridleys you need at least one Ken Baker to concentrate on communicating the message. I was also happy now to appoint John MacGregor with his Scottish devotion to Education as the right person to deal with the nuts and bolts of making our education reforms work. My appointment of Ken Baker to the chairmanship was a success. He served me with vigour and enthusiasm right to the end, however hot the political kitchen became. We had never been close political allies, so I was doubly indebted to him for this.
The immediate impact of the reshuffle was much worse than I had expected because of the stories of what Geoffrey had or had not been offered and demanded. Once the initial reaction had passed, it was clear that we benefited from the new look the Government had acquired. More seriously, though, Geoffrey was still well placed to make trouble for me and the balance of the Cabinet had slipped slightly further to the left with the promotion of Chris Patten and John Gummer and the departure of John Moore more than compensating for the arrival of Norman Lamont, who was on the right. Of course, none of this mattered as long as crises which threatened my authority could be avoided.
THE FRANCO-GERMAN AXIS — AND ‘POLITICAL UNION’
In fact they came not in single spies but in battalions. The winter of 1989 saw those revolutionary changes which led to the collapse of communism in eastern Europe. In the longer term the emergence of free, independent and anti-socialist governments in the region would provide me with potential allies in my crusade for a wider, looser Europe. But the immediate effect, through the prospect and then the reality of German reunification, was to strengthen the hand of Chancellor Kohl and fuel the desire of President Mitterrand and M. Delors for a federal Europe which would ‘bind in’ the new Germany to a structure within which its preponderance would be checked. Although these matters are best dealt with later in the context of East-West relations, they formed the background to the ever more intense battles on monetary and political union in which I henceforth found myself engaged.
After Spain the European Community presidency passed to France. Partly in order to ensure that eastern