Abstract
Michael Heseltine’s period at the Ministry of Defence had two main focuses, management and publicity. He arrived with the full support of the Prime Minister and left in complete disagreement. Circumstances allowed him to choose to leave the government at a propitious moment having significantly reorganised the central defence organisation, and, in the eyes of the Conservative Party, won the propaganda battle against nuclear disarmament.
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Notes and References
Adam Raphael, ‘Defence Staff Bid to Keep Heseltine Out’, Observer, 19 December 1982..
Personal communication.
Heseltine interview by Taylor.
Julian Critchley, ‘Man On The Ladder’, Illustrated London News, October 1974.
Critchley interview by Terry Coleman, Guardian, 5 September 1987. Ian Crawford, ‘So What’s New in the Wardrobe of a Young Man on the Way Up’, Evening Standard, 26 October 1960. Andrew Taylor and Michael Evans, ‘A Private’s Progress’, Daily Express, 8 January 1983. Evening Standard, 10 October 1977.
Heseltine interview by Taylor.
Ibid.
Personal communication.
Michael Heseltine, ‘The Only Way to Cure the Real British Disease’, The Times, 13 June 1975.
Ibid.
Personal communication.
Heseltine interview by Taylor.
Michael Heseltine, ‘Our Overly Civil Servants’, Independent, 8 September 1987.
Heseltine interview by Taylor.
Ibid.
Personal communication.
Heseltine interview by Taylor.
‘MINIS and the Development of the Organisation for Defence’, Defence Open Government Document 84/03 (London: HMSO) p. 14, para. 28.
David Omand, ‘MINIS in MOD’, Management in Government, 1983 (4), p. 266. The author was head of MAN(S)ORG 1982–85.
Bramall interview by Taylor.
DOGD 84/03, p. 1, para. 2.
‘Shuffling the Bits Won’t Pay for Trident’, Guardian, 15 May 1984.
‘Not Trident’, The Economist, 9 February 1985.
‘Defence Commitments and Resources and the Defence Estimates 1985/6’, Defence Committee, 1984/5, HC 37, Vol. 1, para. 36.
Hugo Young, ‘The Confidence Tricks of Mr Heseltine’, Guardian, 4 July 1985.
HCom., 1 February 1983, col. 64.
‘Efficiency and Effectiveness in the Civil Service’, 1982, Cmnd 8616 (London: HMSO).
Heseltine interview by Taylor.
Financial Times, 1 July 1982.
Heseltine interview by Taylor.
Omand, ‘MINIS in MOD’, p. 265.
Bell, ‘Management Audit in the Ministry of Defence’, p. 312.
Stanier interview by Taylor.
Cooper, ‘The Ministry of Defence’, in Gretton and Harrison (eds), Reshaping Central Government, p. 115.
Whitmore interview by Taylor.
Kitson interview by Taylor.
Heseltine interview by Taylor.
Omand, MINIS in MOD’, p. 263.
DOGD 84/03, p. 2, para. 3.
Between 1979 and 1986 the staff in the MOD fell from 285 900 to 201 700, Cooper, ‘MOD’, in Gretton and Harrison (eds), Reshaping Central Government, p. 121.
Cmnd 8616, 1982.
Sue Richards, ‘The Financial Management Initiative’, in Gretton and Harrison (eds), Reshaping Central Government, p. 25.
Cooper in Gretton and Harrison (eds), Reshaping Central Government, p. 125.
Ibid., p. 128.
The Times, 14 October 1987.
Personal communication.
See Heseltine’s evidence to Defence Committee, HC 37, Vol. 2.
Heseltine, HCom., 19 July 1983, col. 185.
Minute to the Defence Committee on ‘The Appointment of the CDP’, from the Secretary of State, 9 July 1985, HC 430, 1984/5 (London: HMSO).
Heseltine, HCom., 19 July 1983, col. 162.
Ibid.
Heseltine, HCom., 2 March 1984, col. 349.
Scotsman, 20 March 1984.
Defence Committee, HC 430, p. vi.
Heseltine interview by Taylor.
Heseltine, HCom., 12 June 1985.
HC 340.
Heseltine interview by Taylor.
Sir Clive Whitmore, ‘The Ministry of Defence Re-organisation: the Implications of Change’, RUSI Lecture, 28 November 1984.
Cmnd 9315, 1984.
DOGD 84/03.
Cooper in Gretton and Harrison (eds), Reshaping Central Government, p. 116.
Ibid.
HCom., 12 March 1984, col. 22. HCom., 18 July 1984, col. 321.
‘Defence Shake-up Welcomed’, Daily Telegraph, 19 July 1984.
Michael Hobkirk, ‘The Heseltine Re-Organisation of Defence: Kill Or Cure’, RUSI Journal, March 1985, p. 46.
Letter from Admiral Sir Henry Leach to The Times, 7 May 1984.
‘Responsibility Without Power’, Defence Attaché, 3/1984, p. 59.
Field Marshal Lord Carver, ‘Back to Mountbatten’, Defence Minister and Chief of Staff, 3/1984, pp. 20–23.
Major-General Edward Thursdon, ‘Chiefs of Staff have Cause for Concern’, Daily Telegraph, 10 July 1984.
Stanier interview by Taylor.
Whitmore interview by Taylor.
Rodney Cowton, ‘Can Brass Deflect a Heseltine Guided Missile’, The Times, 14 May 1984.
Air Cdre G. S. Cooper, ‘Whitehall Warriors for Heseltine Defence Plan’, Daily Telegraph, 28 March 1984.
Cmnd 9315, 1984, p. 1, para. 5.
Ibid.
Ibid., paras 6, 7, 8.
Ibid., para. 11.
Ibid., para. 13, 14.
Ibid., para. 17.
Ibid, para. 20.
Ibid., para. 21. See also Chapter 1.
Martin Edmunds, ‘Central Organisation for Defence in Britain’, in M. Edmunds (ed.), Central Organisations for Defence (London: Pinter, 1985) p. 105.
G. S. Cooper, ‘Single Service Chiefs Keep Operational Staff’, Daily Telegraph, 15 January 1985.
Personal communication.
Lewin interview by Taylor.
Cooper interview by Taylor.
Heseltine, HCom., 18 July 1984, col. 323.
Whitmore interview by Taylor.
Ibid.
Cooper interview by Taylor.
Personal communication.
Cooper interview by Taylor.
Ponting, Whitehall, p. 83.
Whitmore interview by Taylor.
Ibid.
‘The Second PUS Post’, Ministry of Defence, November 1985, p. 4.
Personal communications.
Younger interview with Taylor: ‘The Trident programme was given the go ahead way back at the beginning of the last Labour Government, 1974, and here we are in 1986 and we’re still waiting to get the first submarine underway. It’s a long-term business’.
Whitmore interview by Taylor.
Cooper interview by Taylor.
Personal communications.
See Appendix for LTC process.
Heseltine interview by Taylor.
Personal communication.
David Fairhall, ‘Heseltine Denies Savage Cuts in Defence’, Guardian, 26 November 1984.
Heseltine interview by Taylor.
See section on Pym in MOD in Chapter 3.
Hobkirk, ‘The Heseltine Re-organisation of Defence’, amongst others.
Barbara Castle, Diaries 1974–76 (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1980) pp. 596–7, 14.12.75. ‘It was clear to me he (Harold Wilson) could see the political importance of being seen to be tough over defence expenditure, but equally he wasn’t going to have to cut too much. So he suggested that by various devices (such as allowing £100 million for equipment slippage and cuts in HQ staff) Roy (Jenkins) could bring his £100 million up to £270 million.’
Personal communication.
Cooper interview by Taylor.
Lygo interview by Taylor.
Lewin interview by Taylor.
Personal communication.
R. P. Smith, ‘Cash Costs and Commitments’, Memorandum to the Defence Committee, HC 37, 1984/5.
Ministry of Defence Fact Sheet 7, 7/84. ‘Ministry of Defence Financial Definitions’.
D. L. Kirkpatrick and P. G. Pugh, ‘Towards the Starship Enterprise’, Aerospace, May 1983, p. 17.
Ibid., pp. 16–23.
Malcolm Levitt and M. A. S. Joyce, ‘Long-Term Trends in Public Expenditure: the Implications for Defence’, in John Roper (ed.), The Future of British Defence Policy, NIESR RIIA, 1985, p. 51.
Ponting, Whitehall, p. 85.
Personal communications.
Ponting, Whitehall, p. 119.
See Appendix for LTC procedure.
Zuckerman interview by Taylor.
Hill-Norton interview by Taylor.
Personal communication.
Martin Sherwood, ‘Norman Conquest’, New Scientist, 30 June 1983.
Ibid.
See Appendix for CSA department in MOD.
Personal communication.
Lewin interview by Taylor.
Personal communication.
Personal communication.
‘Selling to the Ministry of Defence’, (London: Ministry of Defence, 1986) p. 6.
1986 Public Expenditure White Paper, Cmnd 9702 (London: HMSO).
‘Value For Money In Defence Equipment Procurement’, Defence Open Government Document (DOGD) 83/01 (London: HMSO, 1983).
Ibid.
Ibid.
Statement on the Defence Estimates 1982, Cmnd 8529 (London: HMSO) Ch. 4.
Heseltine, HCom., 19 July 1983, col. 185.
Personal communication.
Personal communication.
Personal communication.
Many of these ideas are elaborated on in: K. Hartley, F. Hussain and R. Smith, Political Quarterly, January/March 1987, Vol. 58, No. 1.
Cmnd 1394, 1984.
Personal communication.
Personal communication.
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© 1990 Malcolm McIntosh
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McIntosh, M. (1990). Michael Heseltine, Secretary of State for Defence, 1983–6. In: Managing Britain’s Defence. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-10535-9_5
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