Successor has strong belief in military strength

Press, 11 January 1986, Page 8

Successor has strong belief in military strength

NZPA-Reuter London Britain’s new Secretary for Defence, Mr George Younger, heir to a title and a veteran of the Korean War, has been Secretary for Scotland since Mrs Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister in 1979. Commentators say he is a polite but deft charmer and a firm believer in military strength as a basis for foreign policy. Mr Younger, aged 54, is a supporter of the European Community but pundits put him on the liberal wing of the Thatcher Government. He is heir to the Scottish Viscountcy of Leckie and comes from a family which made its money brewing beer and has a long parliamentary' tradition. His peat-grandfather was chairman of the Conservative Party and parliamentary business manager for David Lloyd-George when he was Prime Minister and was the author of his downfall in 1922. At 19, as a national service conscript, Mr Youngerwas among British troops serving with United Nations forces in the Korean War. He also served with British forces in Germany. A member of Parliament since 1964, he served briefly as a junior Minister of Defence under Mrs Thatcher’s

predecessor as party leader, Edward Heath, in 1974. He has always had an interest in defence. Early in his political career he warned that Britain’s territorial army reservists had too few experienced soldiers. In 1984, as Scottish Secretary, he bypassed a local planning inquiry to approve plans for a new trident nuclear submarine base at the Scottish Faslane Naval Base. Yesterday the West German Chancellor, Dr Helmut Kohl, said he regretted the resignation of the Secretary for Defence, Mr Heseltine. In Brussels, officials of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (N.A.T.0.) expressed sadness and puzzlement over Mr Heseltine’s resignation. ■ — In The Hague, the Dutch Deputy Minister of Defence, Jan van Houwelingen, a close associate of Mr Heseltine’s in arms co-operation, also expressed regret at his departure. N.A.T.O. had no official comment on his departure or on the battle between Europe and United Statesled industrial groups for a stake in Westland, but several officials were privately dismayed at what they saw as a setback for European armaments co-operation.