The Benn Diaries: 1940-1990 (85 page)

‘That’s absolute rubbish,’ he said.

Thursday 7 December

Cabinet, and on the EMS summit Jim had little to say. Sterling was firm and the final decision of both the Irish and the Italians on the EMS had been deferred. At Brussels Jim had stated our unwillingness to join the exchange-rate mechanism to be set up on 1 January 1979, while being prepared to participate in other aspects of the system.

He then said that a proposal had come up that there should be an informal summit meeting between Schmidt, Giscard, himself and President Carter on the island of Guadeloupe to discuss political and security developments.

‘Where is Guadeloupe?’ asked Peter.

‘It’s a French island in the Caribbean,’ said Jim, obviously pleased that he had been included, because it showed he was still part of the big league. ‘But keep it very quiet because the French don’t want it to get out.’

A few minutes later someone came in and handed Jim a note. He then announced, ‘I can tell you that the
New York Times
have published the news so we can now refer to it.’

Jim’s psychology is quite extraordinary.

Then we discussed the issue of low-paid workers, and Albert Booth said it was a real problem. ‘I would like a £3 minimum rise, that’s to say nobody who is low-paid should get less than £3 as a result of the 5 per cent. Some of the lowest-paid will get only £2.15 or £2.25 on the present guidelines. The poorest people in the community are no better off now than they were in 1949; indeed, the lowest quarter of all are worse off.’

Michael Foot supported Albert, and Jim said, ‘It’s just a moral issue.’

Denis intervened, ‘Child benefit and other assistance of that kind have helped the low-paid. Employers in the private sector couldn’t afford to pay £3.’

Monday 11 December

I had a report from my Under-Secretary, Robert Priddle, about the oil-tanker drivers’ dispute, for which the Civil Contingencies Unit had produced Operation Drumstick. There are two options: to mobilise troops before Christmas, which would of course be very provocative to the unions; or wait till after Christmas, which might be too late to prevent a serious oil shortage. I decided to go for the slower option and try to get the guidelines slightly fudged – which the Prime Minister would endorse. If an emergency arose, we would then ask the unions themselves to maintain essential services, thus avoiding the use of troops.

Tuesday 12 December

The press attacks go on. The
Daily Mail
wrote an article implying that when the House of Lords was abolished we would have no more Elections in Britain – a scandalous comment.

EY Committee began at 10.10 with Gerald Kaufman reporting on a recommendation from a study group that we accept BSC’s proposed closure of Shotton steelworks. This would be a direct breach of a clear pledge given by the Chairman, Charles Villiers, and by Eric Varley last year that Shotton would not be closed until 1982–83.

Kaufman said there was substantial overcapacity in the steel industry and the situation would deteriorate further with the coming on stream of the new integrated steel plants at Ravenscraig and Redcar. ‘BSC now proposes major closures at Corby and Shotton in 1979–80. These are the best closures to choose if we are going to follow this course. It would involve 5,000 redundancies at Shotton in North Wales, affecting Merseyside, and 5,500 at Corby. Male unemployment in Shotton would double, and at Corby it would increase from 20 per cent to 28 per cent. But the failure to close Shotton would cost £29 million and defer the viability target for BSC beyond 1980 to 1981.’ He said the Foreign Office and the Department of Trade feared that keeping the plants open would give rise to American and Common Market objections.

Eric Varley said it would be very difficult for him because in Merseyside Dunlop were about to announce another 3,000 redundancies.

Jim asked, ‘Why, with all these redundancy announcements, are the figures for unemployment going down?’

‘Because the service industries are picking up redundant workers,’ said Denis.

Friday 15 December

The Government was defeated in the Commons over the use of economic sanctions against Ford, following their settlement of 17 per cent with their workers last month.

Sunday 17 December

Worked at home this morning, and in the afternoon Lissie and I sat and watched the end of
The Railway Children
and I had a good weep.

I must say, the more I think about the political situation, the more it looks as if the whole atmosphere is clouding over. I can see a series of disputes starting in the early part of the year. The oil-tanker drivers’ dispute could drag on, and then we go into the spring with a deepening world recession as a result of the impending oil price rises.

Monday 18 December

At 4.301 had what turned out to be a very useful meeting on the dispute with Albert, Moss Evans and Jack Ashwell, national officer of the TGWU. I explained the problems if the strike started on 3 January and we had to call the troops in, we would have to put people on alert immediately. I told them I would like to get the goodwill of the T&G.

Jack said, ‘That’s OK.’

Moss Evans asked Jack Ashwell if the strike could be deferred and Jack said no.

‘Of course,’ said Moss, ‘we don’t want the troops used.’

‘Neither do we,’ I told him, ‘but if I need to use them I will have to declare a state of emergency.’

Tuesday 19 December

To Cabinet, and Jim was in a frightfully cheerful mood and joked, and the atmosphere was very jolly. The first item was the tanker drivers’ dispute, and I had to give a report. ‘Prime Minister, I shall have to carry the can – the only one with petrol in it!’

Cabinet ended at about 12.20, and I had a drink with Peter Shore and Stan Orme. Jim came up to us and said, ‘Do you know, I just feel that 1979 is going to be my year. I think everything is going to come right.’ I thought for a moment he was joking, but I am sure he was serious. I nearly asked, ‘Have you tried walking on water, and will you rise on the third day?’, but thought it irreverent.

Saturday 30 December

Got the train to Stansgate and joined Lissie, Caroline, Stephen and June.

I sat down to write a memorandum called ‘The Maintenance of Essential Services during Industrial Disputes’, urging that the trade unions take on responsibility by agreement with the Government. If I write it as a Cabinet paper, it becomes classified, and nobody will ever know about it. However, I think I will send it to Len Murray, and if the TUC is favourable put it to the TUC–Labour Party Liaison Committee.

Monday 1 January 1979

Snowed in at Stansgate. Melissa is writing something called ‘Fight Sexism in
the Benn Family’ in which she denounces the men for leaving all the work to Caroline.

Thursday 4 January

At 8.30 this morning I had a phone call from Bill Burroughs, my Private Secretary, to say that Texaco drivers had gone on all-out strike.

Frances Morrell has been invited to a nomination meeting as Labour candidate at Birkenhead, Edmund Dell’s constituency. It would be lovely if she could get selected there; she has certainly earned it.

Friday 5 January

The Texaco strike is worse, and Manchester, the North East and parts of Scotland are running out of oil.

Sunday 7 January

As a result of Melissa’s campaign, I cleaned the house from 10.30 till 7 and did five loads of washing. In the
Observer
there was a complete account of the paper I am presenting to a Cabinet committee tomorrow on miners’ pay.

There was a most interesting radio phone-in programme about Iran. That terrible Tory, Michael Charlton, was the presenter and he interviewed a close colleague of Khomeini, the Muslim leader who lives in Paris. It was extremely good; an Iranian woman caller asked if women would have rights in an Islamic republic. He said, ‘Yes, absolute full voting rights, but we are not prepared to have women turned into sex symbols.’

On ‘The World at One’ Mrs Thatcher was reported calling for a state of emergency and saying she would take away social security payments from strikers.

Monday 8 January

At 1.30 I went with Robert Priddle to Shellmex House to the emergency committee which Dick Mabon has been chairing. As I entered the room, I couldn’t but remember that these were the biggest companies in the world and any common interest that a Labour government might have with them at this moment is strictly temporary. John Greenborough, the President of the CBI and Chairman of Shell, was present.

Well, the new year has begun with a vengeance. I would like to believe that, if a left-wing policy were being pursued, we wouldn’t be having all this trouble with the unions. But the truth is that our society is so vulnerable through its centralisation and interdependence, that whatever policies you pursue you can’t avoid problems like this. Having said that, the situation is made worse by the Government’s philosophy, which is still basically anti-trade union. There will have to be a fresh deal with the trade unions to involve them more closely with the business of government because, frankly,
they have got too much power to be excluded – thank God. That’s what the planning agreements and industrial democracy were all about, and we’ve done nothing about implementing them.

Thursday 11 January

At 10.40am Jack Cunningham came to report on the emergency situation. The oil-tanker drivers’ dispute is resolved, and there is no point in having a state of emergency for the road haulage drivers because the troops couldn’t provide emergency coverage of that magnitude.

Cabinet, and there were Jim and Sir John Hunt, all bronzed.

Jim reported on Guadeloupe. On the SALT talks, Schmidt and Carter had drawn attention to the fear of Russian domination in the grey areas of strategic arms limitation.

Elwyn Jones said, ‘I wish the importance of these Guadeloupe discussions could be understood and explained to the public because you, Jim, had a very bad press when you were away.’

‘I expected that. I tried to explain that I didn’t think there was a crisis when I got back but I got kicked on the shins for it.’

I realise that Jim felt guilty about being in Guadeloupe. He had had a bad press and had done poorly on television, and he was worried about the situation. But at the same time it was a historic Cabinet at which we were warned of a higher level of defence expenditure and of a possible break with the TUC. A Cabinet to remember.

Sunday 14 January

In the evening we had a party with about thirty people, including Chris Mullin, Eric and Doris Heffer, Frances Morrell, Michael and Molly Meacher, Albert and Joan Booth, Bryan and Gill Gould and others. It was the first party we had ever given where everyone was on the left. It was a great liberation really.

Monday 15 January

At Cabinet Jim asked what was the case against having a state of emergency. Clearly that was what Jim wanted, but Merlyn said the Tories were only demanding a state of emergency for cosmetic purposes. Denis Healey said we would only need it if we required extra powers, which we didn’t at present.

‘Well, is there a case for having a cosmetic state of emergency?’ asked Jim.

‘It’s too early,’ muttered Shirley, and Roy Mason said, ‘No, because it raises false expectations that we can solve the problem when we can’t.’

‘When should we have it, then?’ asked Jim.

Elwyn Jones advised us to consider very carefully whether the Prime Minister wasn’t in fact right, but John Morris thought it would do us damage.

Joel Barnett was against it. ‘The tanker drivers’ dispute proved that we can get out of difficulty without a state of emergency.’

Bruce Millan remarked, ‘The TGWU could do a better job than the troops, and the General Officer Commanding Scotland thinks that the use of troops would worsen the situation.’

Jim said, in a very threatening way, ‘The key to all this is trade union power. They have got us and themselves into a real difficulty. Thatcher, trade union power, secondary picketing: these are the real issues. The trade union solution of their moving emergency supplies doesn’t help. It is having a very strong effect on the middle classes and many of our own people. This is a setback, but we must not desert our policy now.’

He went on, ‘How should we cope with the matter? I would like a new deal with the TUC but they must face their responsibilities or the Tories will mangle them. The 5 per cent policy was right; Methven, the Director-General of the CBI, said so last night.’

I tried to make a speech but was cut short by Jim. ‘I don’t want to hear all that,’ he said.

It was an exhausting Cabinet.

Tuesday 16 January

Today I began a regime which will probably last for twenty-four hours. I jogged in the bedroom for about twenty-five minutes and did some exercises. Resolved not to eat any bread, potatoes or sugar, and to stop smoking. It’s terrifying the extent to which one is dependent on drugs. If I tried to give up tea as well, I think I would go mad!

Heard Mrs Thatcher in the debate called for by the Opposition on the industrial situation. She launched into an attack on the trade union movement, and Jim then paid a warm tribute to her speech. He offered a few sops to the trade unions on low pay and comparability but basically he stuck to the pay policy and tightening the rules on picketing.

It’s 10.45 pm and I still haven’t smoked.

Sunday 21 January

Had my first pipe for about five or six days. Somehow the pressure of not smoking made me think of nothing but my pipe.

Wednesday 31 January

Brian Sedgemore came up to me in the Lobby and told me that John Biffen had warned him that someone from the BBC was spreading a story that I had two children in nursing homes in London. It was decent of Biffen to tell Sedgemore, and it indicates that the scandal factory is beginning to go into full production again.

Thursday 1 February

The local-authority workers and the Health Service unions are out on strike and the manual workers in the water industry are engaged in spasmodic disputes. There is a general sense of unease all over the country. We are in an atmosphere of siege and crisis which the media are continuing to play up.