Downing Street Years - Margaret Thatcher [523]
I now pressed home the attack on Michael’s approach in a Times interview with Simon Jenkins where I drew attention to Michael’s long-standing corporatist and interventionist views. This appeared on Monday and was promptly criticized in some circles as being too aggressive. But there was nothing remotely personal about it. Michael Heseltine and I disagreed fundamentally about all that is at the heart of politics. MPs should be reminded that this was a contest between two philosophies as well as between two personalities. It was a sign of the funk and frivolity of the whole exercise that they did not want to think anything was at stake apart from their seats.
On Saturday evening 17 November Denis and I had friends and advisers to dinner at Chequers — Peter Morrison, the Bakers, the Wakehams, Alistair McAlpine, Gordon Reece, the Bells, the Neuberts, the Neales, John Whittingdale and of course Mark and Carol. (George Younger could not attend because he had another engagement in Norfolk.) We had an enjoyable dinner, and then got down to business. My team gave me a run down on the figures which seemed quite favourable. Peter Morrison told me he thought he had 220 votes for, 110 against and 40 abstentions, which would be an easy win. (To win in the first round I would need a majority of at least 15 per cent of those entitled to vote.) Even allowing for a ‘lie factor’, then, I would be all right. But I was not convinced, telling Peter: ‘I remember Ted thought the same thing. Don’t trust our figures — some people are on the books of both sides.’ Everybody else seemed to be far more confident, and indeed spent their time discussing what should be done to unite the Party after my victory. I hoped they were right. Some instinct told me otherwise.
AT THE CSCE SUMMIT IN PARIS
The next day (Sunday 18 November) I departed for the CSCE summit in Paris. It marked the formal — though sadly not the actual — beginning of that new era which was termed by President Bush a ‘new world order’. In Paris far-reaching decisions were taken to shape the post-Cold War Europe which had emerged from the peaceful defeat of communism. These included deep mutual cuts in conventional armed forces within the CFE framework, a European ‘Magna Carta’ guaranteeing political rights and economic freedom (an idea I had particularly championed), and the establishment of CSCE mechanisms to promote conciliation, to prevent conflict, to facilitate free elections, and to encourage consultations between governments and parliamentarians.
As usual, I had a series of bilateral meetings with heads of government. The Gulf was almost always at the forefront of our discussions, though my mind kept turning to what was happening back in Westminster. On Monday (19 November) I had breakfast with President Bush, signed on behalf of the United Kingdom the historic agreement to reduce conventional forces in Europe, attended the first plenary session of the CSCE, and lunched with the other leaders at the Elysée Palace. In the afternoon I made my own speech to the summit, looking back over the long-term benefits of the Helsinki process, emphasizing the continued importance of human rights and the rule of law, pointing to their connection with economic freedom, and warning against any attempt to downgrade NATO which was ‘the core of western defence’. I later talked with the UN Secretary-General about the situation in the Gulf before entertaining Chancellor Kohl to dinner at the British Embassy.
It was characteristic of Helmut Kohl that, unlike the other leaders I had met, he came straight to the point, namely the leadership election. He said it was good to talk about these difficult issues rather than bottle them up. He had been determined to devote this evening to me as a way of demonstrating his complete support. It was unimaginable that I should be deprived of office.
Given that the Chancellor and I had strong differences on the future course of the European Community and that my departure would remove an obstacle to his plans — as, indeed,