Volume 2
Events, Dear Boy, Events
With the passing of time, the benefit of hindsight and the vagaries of memory I will continue meandering through random incidents and events of that past era.
The trade unions and militant left flourished under the paranoiac Harold Wilson, brought about the downfall of the truculent Ted Heath and virtually destroyed the beleaguered Callaghan with their industrial anarchy. Then there was Margaret.
I make no apologies for using Margaret Thatcher as a touchstone, a mile post down memory lane. I can see her now quite clearly addressing the cameras outside number 10 Downing Street in 1979 when she was about to take occupancy for the first time and in doing so, herald in, with a contribution at the end by John Major, 18 years of Tory government with Labour very much in the wilderness.
Her little ‘spontaneous’ remarks, no doubt worked on and slaved over by her speech writers in Central Office for days beforehand, were as follows:
- where there is discord, may we bring harmony
- where there is error may we bring truth
- where there is doubt, may we bring faith
and
- where there is despair, may we bring hope
She had the good grace however, to admit that the script had been prepared by St Francis of Assisi some eight centuries earlier. Love her or hate her it cannot be denied that she made a big impact and will leave a big imprint on history. I think she is the only British Prime Minister to have an "ism" after her name.
Her policy: "spend only what is in the nation's purse, cut tax and have less government." A simple ideology, if somewhat naïve, was welcomed by a country in disarray. She took power when the nation was in an absolute shambles and brought discipline when it was badly needed. Did she bring harmony, truth, faith and hope? For much of the time in office yes, but it quickly descended into discord, error, doubt and despair.
Was it not Harold Macmillan who on answering the question, "Prime Minister, what concerns you most in the weeks ahead?" replied, "Events dear boy, events." Margaret Thatcher certainly had more than her share of "events" to deal with. She was re-elected in 1983 and she might not have attracted much affection but she was an inspired leader and won easily no doubt with the help of the Falklands War.
Let us take stock: in 1982 General Galtieri and the Falkland War, 1984 Arthur Scargill and the miners, Saddam Hussein and the Gulf War, there was the EEC to battle with, in 1990 the Poll Tax and in between all that the IRA had blown up Lord Mountbatten and others in his yacht over in Ireland in 1979, (I have reason to remember that incident), and even an attempt to assassinate her and her Cabinet in Brighton in 1984. Yes, ‘events’. She had a few. Those who lived through these Tory years which ended with the sleaze-ridden, Cash for Questions, major administration had their own tales to tell.
But can I recall of the wider events? Let me start with the most recent, Afghanistan. In 1979 the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and after 10 years of fighting had to concede defeat. One would have thought we would watch and learn but, as we know now, not a bit of it. Churchill once said, "The further back we look the further forward we can see." Personally, I think he had that one wrong. Britain can look back two centuries to her involvement in that region, then more recently, Russia had her turn and now America and her allies are having a go. Russia wanted to install an acquiescent government. We wish to install a stable government. It does seem that ‘realism’ disappears when it comes to external interference with a fanatically tribal Afghanistan. The fighting continues.
Looking further back I distinctly remember Ronald Reagan becoming the United States’ President. This probably comes to mind because his election coincided with a visit from an American friend and his charming wife. He was an ex Admiral and Commodore of the United States nuclear submarine base in the Holy Loch and, being a military man, he was almost bound to be a Republican, and being a Republican, he was delighted to have Reagan as Commander-in-Chief and, being an American. he did not hide his feelings.
From a very young age I have had a keen interest in politics but have made a point of never getting directly involved in party politics. But, it must have been roundabout then, on the River Earn fishing for salmon, I received chapter and verse of the sorry state of the Labour Party from one of my guests who was political correspondent for one of the national newspapers. I remember the event mainly because it had been one of the most successful days on the river for some time.
The morning started with me landing, after a 30 minute battle, an 18lb fresh run fish, then a 7 pounder. In the afternoon a 3lb sea trout and the day ended with me catching on the fly a 12lb hen salmon which I put back in the river to allow her to spawn. Today it would be expected that all fish, possibly other than the first caught, would be returned into the river.
Anyway, during the lunch break he described in graphic detail the sorry state of the Labour Party, dominated by the trade unions and strongly influenced by the far left. Callaghan would shortly resign and give way to Michael Foot as leader of the Labour Party thus making it unelectable. It might have been all so different if Foot's successor, the able and impressive John Smith, hadn't suddenly died. But, as we now know it got worse and became an ineffectual opposition for some years to come.
In 1980 I took little notice of the fact that Iraq went to war with Iran other than that the former was ‘good’ and America and her allies supported Saddam Hussein, supplying him with weapons because Iran was ‘bad’ and Russia, in turn, was supplying her with weapons. That war lasted for eight years during which, we heard albeit years later, Saddam Hussein carried out some atrocious deeds and later still, war crimes against the Kurds villages. The irony of it all was that three years after that war ended the United States and the Western allies would be at war with Saddam Hussein, now considered ‘bad’.
Surely that cannot be right, my memory must be failing me. No, I have not got it wrong. He was our friend. We supplied him with weapons which where used in carrying out his war crimes then he became our enemy and we condemned him for those atrocities. Condemned? He was damn-well hanged! (“Eat your heart out George Orwell.” How is that for doublespeak?).
In 1981 John Lennon was shot and killed leaving his New York hotel. I can hear you say, “How does he remember something like that?” Well let me let you into the secret. There is no mystery. It was only by association. At that time I had commissioned a finance broker to arrange funding of some multi million pounds for my Northgate office developments. He telephoned me from his New York hotel to report on progress with the Sumitomo Japanese Bank and said, “By the way, John Lennon, the ex-Beatle, was shot and killed outside my hotel this morning.”
Financial negotiations were successfully concluded and a year or two later Joyce and I were his guests for dinner in his fine house in Nob Hill, San Francisco and had the pleasure of meeting his wife and, as it turned out, his charming, Scottish mother-in-law.
It is amazing how one single item can trigger off a sequence of events in one's mind. I was sure, in the great scheme of things, events happen irrespective of Government. In the medium to long-term Governments have little effect, and their instinctive move towards over-government often exacerbates the problem. But I was soon to be straightened out on that point. I need no flashbacks of memory to recall that time. The Gulf War had been declared, in which our son Ewan, now Wing Cdr Fraser RAF, was heavily engaged. This was our first experience of having a son at war and we were greatly worried at the loss of RAF fighter bombers on low flying missions over Iraqi air fields.
That was just the beginning of Gulf War 1. Little did we know then that he would be engaged in war thereafter from 1999, without a break, against the Yugoslav forces in Kosovo, Serbia and Montenegro and then again in 2003, Gulf War 2.
These events became an episode, a stressful chapter in our life. Joyce and I got some insight as to how our parents must have felt during the Second World War. But no, of course we didn't. Things have changed as we were always aware as to what was happening. This was the television age and many a time I cleared my Board Room of my colleagues so that I could watch the news reports of the latest bomber shot down.
Our parents’ anxiety must have been worse. Long months of not knowing what was really happening and the added worry of they themselves being bombed and the real fear of invasion. Joyce and her parents had to live through the Clydebank blitz in the Second World War in which many relations and friends were injured or lost their lives. The two-day bombing raid was said to be the most intensive enemy bombing of any town in the United Kingdom. Nearly 600 civilians killed, a large number of casualties and all but seven houses destroyed or damaged beyond repair. Maybe that explains Joyce's revulsion to the American tactics, ‘shock and awe’ used in the second Gulf War on Baghdad - more or less indiscriminate bombing of civilians.
Few if any of us can remain unaffected by ‘events’. However, I have discovered that one's memory operates like the Internet in as much that one incident can trigger off some other loosely-related one. For example, the mention of Clydebank brought to my mind an entirely different event. My mind flashed back to a hot, sunny day. Joyce and I, as VIPs, attended the John Brown Shipyard, Clydebank, when Her Majesty launched the liner, Queen Elizabeth II. I remember the embarrassed silence as the great liner remained motionless for a full two minutes before graciously sliding down the slipway into the River Clyde to the great relief and cheers of the crowd.
The mention of the River Clyde also throws up another forgotten instance. In 1973 the destroyer, HMS Glasgow was making a courtesy visit to the city and as dates coincided with the Clyde Fair celebrations, the Royal Navy contribution to the festival was to put the ship at my disposal for a day. I and some dignitaries would meet the ship at Greenock and they would lay on an exercise for us. The ship was to detect, with the help of a Westland helicopter, a submarine submerged somewhere in the Firth of Clyde. As I came aboard I was met by the Captain who asked, "Mr Allan Campbell Fraser?" Then saluted and said, "Sir, we are at your command." I thought then, “Not bad for a boy who only made sergeant in the local Boys Brigade!”
It was a very interesting exercise. They did locate the submarine with the help of the helicopter trailing a sonar instrument in the sea. At the end of manoeuvres I was called to join the Captain on the Bridge and asked to make signal to the submarine Captain. Surprised and unprepared I could only manage a signal something like, “Well done. Most interesting. Thank you. Disengage and return to routine duty.”
Later, in the Wardrobe, over a drink, the Captain complimented me but we both agreed it was not quite the Nelson touch. I was telling him that one of the most memorable signals in recent times must have been Captain Cairn's, from the destroyer HMS Amethyst, on escaping from the Red Army in the Yangtze River, “Signal to Admiralty, HMS Amethyst has rejoined the fleet.” The world was enthralled to hear that modest signal.
We had a most interesting conversation about naval signals and the Captain told us that as a young Signals Officer for Admiral Sir James Cunningham KBE, on handing over command of the Mediterranean Fleet to Admiral Sir George Kingsley KBE, who had just been made a KCVO, he was told to make signal, “Congratulations, twice a night at your age - well done.”
And I surprise myself at times, once I start recalling it is like opening up Pandora's Box. By reason of word association I am led into remembering the Westland Affair of 1986 which ended in Michael Heseltine resigning from the Cabinet. I remember having a confidential conversation with a very senior civil servant who was in the position to know. It was much more than helicopters with Heseltine; pushing for a European consortium and the Prime Minister determined to deal with an American company. I knew there was some chicanery if not skulduggery involving Leon Britain and a leaked letter. I knew that's when the simmering animosity between Thatcher and Heseltine came to a head.
My friend would not be drawn further other than to say that from then on Margaret Thatcher became even more dictatorial; her ‘man-management skills’ non-existent and conspiracy simmered within the Cabinet. Her colleagues waited four years to get their revenge but, when it came, it was to her, a cruel betrayal.
My friend would break no confidences but during the course of a fascinating dinner I got an insight into the intrigues of government. Now, I will tell you how.
We would discuss Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and I and I alone would, in my mind’s eye, recast the characters: Thatcher as Caesar, welcomed and popular to begin with, soon to become tyrannical; Heseltine like Cassius, with his lean and hungry look and thirst for power; Geoffrey how in the roll of Brutus, striking the final fatal blow; Nigel Lawson as Cimber and Leon Britain, who was rewarded for his part in the plot, with a highly paid post in Europe, as Tillius Casca. Then there was John Major, Margaret's prodigy, who did not turn up when she needed him, (he claimed he had toothache), as Mark Anthony, however I could not quite place Edwina Curry in the role of Cleopatra; and Tony Blair would complete the story as Octavius. It was enthralling, without, at any time betraying his position. I got the whole intriguing account by relating it to Shakespeare's plot.
I remember the Iron Lady winning the General Election in 1987 against Neil Kinnock. The year coming to an end with the country in fiscal and economic crisis and me heavily engaged in building my legacy… landmark developments of stone and steel.
I think it was in 1989 that Russia was forced to retreat from Afghanistan, the Berlin Wall came down, and if so, it was also the year of the student riots in Tiananmen Square, Peking. In 1990 the inevitable happened. Margaret Thatcher was forced from office by her own colleagues and John Major took over. In 1992, against all odds, Major fought and won his first election. This was in opposition to Neil Kinnock with his embarrassing Sheffield rally punching the air as though he was a conquering hero and illustrating to us all why he could never be a Prime Minister. Having failed and failed miserably he trotted along the well trodden corridor to the Other House in the grand Gothic Palace of Westminster, received a Peerage and a few lucrative appointments for himself and his family.
The Comeback Kid, Lord Mandelson was not far behind. He also picked up some well-paid appointments in Europe, and the failed ex-speaker, Michael Martin now Lord Martin, also moved to the Other House. This behaviour of Parliamentary cronyism is not new and crosses party lines, thus it has always been and always will be, but in this age of transparency it reflects badly on our Parliament. However, before we make sweeping condemnation and say, “A plague on both their houses,” we should recognise the many hard-working and dedicated members in both houses.
Undoubtedly, with all the perks and privileges, the Commons and the Lords must be considered; the two best clubs in the country and, irrespective of what is said to the contrary, there is always a great demand for membership.
Take The House of Commons, a restricted membership of about 646 and unfortunately more than its share of miscreants. While it can be said that there are very many dedicated members, sadly it is an observable fact that too many operate under an ethos resulting, to put it in football parlance, club before country. Sadly too, there is much evidence to show that many of those members in the Lords, inflicted with the culture of exploitation, have come to that house through the Commons.
A quick change of subject. I recall an interesting conversation, one of many, I had with my good friend, the late Sandy Trotter, - well known newspaper editor about the growing habit of the media manufacturing (events), and structuring circumstances to create so-called news items. We can all recite many examples. Sandy had seen it all. In his early years he had been an apprentice to Rudyard Kipling while in India. He had been an international newspaperman since the 30s, the editor of the Scottish Daily Express from 1934 until 1959 and then chairman of Beaverbrook Newspapers from 1959 until 1970. Lord Deans, James Cameron, Alistair Cook and Alistair Dunnett are a few that can be numbered amongst his contemporaries and colleagues as can the wartime commentators, Richard Dimbleby and Wilfred Thomas.
In the 1950s Sandy, with the help of the Daily Express, organised a very successful campaign to eradicate tuberculosis from the West of Scotland and was deservedly made a CBE. His life has been filled with many “events”.
Back in the 1970s he was deeply saddened at the lowering standards of some of the once great newspapers and felt strongly that the press and television had a privilege responsibility to the public and must always guard against betraying that trust. I remember him saying that the media must always deal in honesty, corresponders and reporters must show due impartiality, television and newspaper reports should include enough details necessary for readers to identify with the subject, one way or the other; in essence, a focal point to measure from and form opinion.
He would be horrified if he could see now a present-day edition of his beloved newspaper. Obviously these are changed days but I am sure he was right. After all from the beginning, for mankind man to survive, he has had to relate, measure and appraise events in life. From biblical times onwards the individual required his place in history pinpointed by answering the question, “Where were you when…?” The relevance to the question, and the purpose of the answer, being to establish in your psyche when some great or memorable "event" took place. For example, “where were you when…you heard that President Kennedy had been killed?”
Well, as for me, I will tell you. Joyce and I were in the basement of the Kelvingrove Art Gallery that evening at a private showing of thousands of objects of art and artefacts that could not find space upstairs for exhibition to the general public. It was quite amazing to view these hidden treasures.
In my book, ‘I’m Beginning To Forget What I Look Like,’ I mentioned giving an after-dinner speech to the Royal College of Physicians in February 1996. I remember it well; the general election was only a few months away. Major’s discredited government facing Tony Blair and his New Labour Party. I was asked to give a short talk describing my business activities. The chairman, Dr Stanley Cant introduced me warmly and, faced with a large audience of medical experts and their friends, I could not resist changing the subject of my talk. I started by saying, “Gentlemen, I am not going to talk about architecture, surveying, building or property development. Nor am I going to bore you by describing various property financing methods, such as single asset property companies, network of co -ownership, off balance sheet financing, or deep discount bonds, with drop lock loans, etc. not even the field in which I am a recognised expert, incorporating artificial intelligent into office buildings. I hope your Chairman will forgive me for altering his program for this evening.”
“With an audience like this and the general election only months away I could not pass up this opportunity. It is just as well, because on the rare occasions I now speak in public, it is more or less relative to the health of the economy, and it is somewhat daunting therefore, to be confronted by those charged with the health of the individual.
Or is it? On reflection, the two are, in most respects, interdependent. Although one would not think so if we listened to some of our politicians. Over the next 12 months or so we will be bombarded from all Political Parties with bribes and promises on health, welfare, education and law and order etc, in their efforts to gain, (or retain), political power.
Rarely admitting or in many cases, even understanding, the close relationship involved; and the corresponding need for holistic policies that are complimentary to and not in competition with each other - or not? On reflection, the two are in most respects interdependent. Although one would not think so if we listened to our politicians. Over the coming months we will be bombarded with bribes and promises the debate on crime prevention and welfare, education and law and order in their rush to gain political power. For instance, wouldn't it be nice if once (just once), we could see a manifesto that adumbrated a temporal sequence of events linking the health of the economy to, say, the health and well-being of the individual.
In reality they have their surgeries, they have their spin doctors, but when questioned on the subject the most they express is - a casual connection between the two issues. When pressed further they will pompously claim something to the effect that they will solve the problem with a single-mindedness of purpose as opposed to the others, whoever they may be, with their diversity of interests. So now we know. What could be clearer? Nothing vague about that? Now we can proceed with our forward planning. Who are they kidding? I ask - do they all suffer from tunnel vision? Stanley, your Chairman and renowned eye surgeon, said, “You may say so - I could not possibly comment!” A pity, however, that your profession cannot find a medicine or cure for the election fever before it gets out of hand and reaches epidemic proportions?
The symptoms are easily identified: self delusion, deception - or both. You could have quarantined them at the very first signs. But alas no, and, anyway, it is probably now too late. However, at this stage the more we can keep their hands off what is going on the better. You see it is in the nature of things that most electioneering politicians in full flight cannot resist meddling in matters they know little about; peddling quack medicine, and quick fixes as instant cures for all the evils of mankind.
This fever infects most politicians at this time. They become addicted to dealing in hyperbole and humbug to the point at which they have effectively devalued the currency of their communications and can only resort to sound bytes or photo opportunities and the like - reasoned argument has gone.
Gentlemen, you may say, “It is really a small price to pay for democracy.” And you may well be right. But surely, the stench of political sleaze and failure in some quarters is bad enough without the flatulence of hypocrisy.
Admittedly, there have always been those few who see politics as the conduct of public affairs for private advantage and an honest politician one who, when bought, will stay bought. Thus has it always been. But it may soon become the only profession in which the words principles, loyalty and ethics are commonly used as terms of abuse.
Gentlemen, as the medical profession cannot effect a cure for this election fever, I appealed directly to a Higher Authority and prayed, “Of all the plagues, good Lord in Heaven, thy wrath can send, save, save, oh save us from our honest political friend.” And the great Surgeon General in the sky replied, “For politicians, neither love nor hate, few will cross this Pearly Gate. And you ask, what makes them wise, and see through all things with half shut eyes? Some are noble and not all are bent but very, very few intelligent.”
Gentlemen, my apologies twice over. Clearly my expenditure of speech not only exceeded my income of ideas but also exceeded my allotted time, Thank you.”
That was the year 1996. A light-hearted satirical after-dinner speech delivered with much body language. Not to be taken seriously - or so I've thought. Soon after that evening however much of it came to pass with the politicians conducting their vicious election campaign, culminating in Tony Blair winning power - and with him came the spin doctor of all spin doctors, Alistair Campbell.
Posted November 2009 Events, Dear Boy, Events