Downing Street Years - Margaret Thatcher [99]
I liked and respected Mrs Gandhi. Her policies had been more than high-handed, but only a strong figure with a powerful personality could hope successfully to rule India. Mrs Gandhi was also — perhaps it is not just myth to see this as a female trait — immensely practical. For example, she always insisted that what India required was basic — what to some seemed primitive — means of assistance to allow its peasants to produce more food. Like me, she understood the immense benefits which science could bring and indeed was already bringing in new varieties of grain and techniques of cultivation. Her weak spot was that she never grasped the importance of the free market.
Apart from my talks with Mrs Gandhi and others, I saw three different aspects of the new India. On Thursday I addressed the Indian Parliament. On Friday I visited an Indian village where the efficiency of peasant agriculture was being transformed. On Saturday I walked around the Bombay Atomic Research Centre. The Indian visit was, I felt, not only predictably fascinating; slightly less predictably, though without any dramatic developments, it had been a success. I was sorry to leave India so soon: each visit makes me want to return for an extended stay.
On Sunday I left for Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. I had to have clothes specially made for this visit because it was important to conform to the customs of these conservative Muslim societies. Contrary to what one might have thought, they were in no way disconcerted to meet their first western woman prime minister. Later I discovered how important the wives of leading Arab figures are. Indeed, many of these women are highly cultivated, very well educated and well informed. Their influence is greatly underrated in the West and an evening’s conversation with them is a highly stimulating occasion.
I was the first ever British prime minister to visit these states. But Britain’s links with the area were traditionally strong, dating back to the days when we provided the defence of some of the Gulf states, long before oil was discovered. I always regretted, even at the time, the decision of Ted Heath’s Government not to reverse the Wilson Government’s withdrawal of our forces and the severing of many of our responsibilities east of Suez. Repeatedly, events have demonstrated that the West cannot pursue a policy of total disengagement in this strategically vital area. Britain has, however, continued to supply equipment, training and advice.
In Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states I sought to reassure my hosts that whatever decisions were made about a Rapid Deployment Force (RDF) then being discussed, which some of them feared might pave the way for direct military intervention in the Middle East, nothing of the sort would occur without their knowledge and consent. The Iraq-Iran conflict was continuing, though at a lower level of activity. No one knew how serious the threat of Islamic fundamentalism might become. Too overt a western presence might provide an excuse for it: too little support from the West might provide an opportunity. The Gulf Co-operation Council had been formed to bring together the states in the region to guarantee their mutual security: this was clearly a welcome development. It was also important that they should have the right military equipment and be trained to use it. In this our old defence links reinforced our commercial interest. Some British aeroplanes and tanks were eminently suitable for this area.
Abu Dhabi, where I arrived on Tuesday 21 April, is the largest of the members of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Sheik Zaid, the Amir and President of the UAE, spoke for all the world like an Arab poet and was a man of great charm. He knew Pakistan well because like other Gulf Arabs he regularly went there to hunt with his hawks. The Gulf Arabs therefore learned much of interest about developments in Pakistan and Afghanistan. We supplied the UAE with a good deal of military