Mr Heseltine’s way out or up

Press, 15 January 1986, Page 16

Mr Heseltine’s way out or up

From the beginnings of the affair that eventually resulted in the resignation of the British Secretary of Defence, Mr Michael Heseltine, it looked as if this might be a challenge to the British Prime Minister, Mrs Thatcher. The fact that Mr Heseltine has continued to criticise Mrs Thatcher from outside the Cabinet confirms the view that a leadership bid is not far away. The ground on which Mr Heseltine chose to fight was interesting. Britain’s only helicopter firm, Westland, has been running at a loss and the injection of a large amount of capital was needed to save it from being wound up. Two offers of cash were forthcoming. One was from the American helicopter firm, Sikorsky, maker of the Black Hawk helicopter, and Sirkorsky’s associate, Fiat of Italy. The other offer came from a European consortium. If the Sirkorsky offer were taken, Westland would manufacture the Black Hawk. If the offer from the European consortium were taken, Westland would become part of a European effort to design and make a helicopter to be bought by at least four countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. The bid to rationalise helicopter production in Europe would have been part of a bigger plan by Mr Heseltine to get a bigger share for Britain of the project to build a new European fighter aircraft.

Mrs Thatcher said that she was content to leave the decision about which offer should be accepted to the board of directors of Westland. Mr Heseltine argued that Mrs Thatcher was saying this publicly but was really favouring the bid by the American firm. She had apparently said that, if the American offer

were accepted, she would see that an arrangement made by the Ministry of Defence to buy European battlefield helicopters would be cancelled, so that the Government would be free to buy Sirkorsky’s Black Hawks. Sir John Cuckney, the chairman of Westland, put only the American offer before Westland’s shareholders, though others circulated the shareholders with the European offer. Within the Cabinet, Mr Heseltine took the view that, if a senior Minister believed a matter should go to Cabinet, the Cabinet room was where it should be discussed. Mrs Thatcher took the view that the setting of the Cabinet agenda was her prerogative. In the end, the Cabinet backed Mrs Thatcher, as it must to avoid disarray. Mr Heseltine resigned. One of the fears expressed by Mr Heseltine — and by some of the European firms which would be in the consortium — was that if Westland went to Sikorsky, this would be another example of American technological domination. This is an old fear in Europe perhaps best expressed in the 1967 book, “The American Challenge,” written by the French journalist and politician, Jean-Jacques ServanSchreiber.

If a leadership struggle for the British Conservative Party is based on technological rivalry between Europe and the United States, there could be some serious complications for American-British relations in the event of Mr Heseltine’s being successful. However, the struggle for leadership may be based on the increasingly cantankerous manner with which Mrs Thatcher appears to be running the Government. Mr Heseltine may be on to a safer way to the top.