Letters to persons leaving the Government (Butler, Fletcher, Macfarlane, Stradling Thomas)

Dear Adam ButlerAdam,

I wanted to let you know how very highly I have valued your work and your companionship in Government and in Opposition. You were a tremendous source of help and strength as my Parliamentary Private Secretary in my first days as Leader of the Opposition. Your subsequent service to the country as Minister in three key departments has been of the highest distinction. I recall in particular the outstanding work which you did to promote industry and stimulate foreign investment in Northern Ireland and, more recently, your successful implementation of our policy of greater competition in defence procurement. I send you my warmest thanks for all that you have done for the Government as well as the help which you have given me personally. The continuing support for the Government from the backbenches which you so generously offered when we spoke will be a great encouragement to us.

With warm good wishes. Yours ever Margaret.

Dear Prime Minister,

As you know, for some time now I have been considering my future as a member of the Government and I now believe that I should return to the Backbenches where I shall continue to promote Government policy, whilst being able to devote more time to my constituency.

I have very much enjoyed my time, both at the Scottish Office and the Department of Trade & Industry. During the past two and a half years, I am particularly glad to have had responsibility for competition policy and the changes that are taking place in the City and in the financial services generally. I believe that these are in the best interests of a free market economy and the consumer.

May I take this opportunity to wish you and the Government every success in the years ahead. Yours ever Alex [end p1]

Dear Alex FletcherAlex

Thank you for your letter of 2 September. I fully understand your wish to return to the backbenches.

May I say how very grateful I have been for your assiduous work since 1979, first as Parliamentary Secretary in the Scottish Office, and most recently as Parliamentary Secretary in the Department of Trade and Industry. You have done so much in both Departments to help the policies with which we both agree. I am especially grateful for your invaluable contribution to developing the policies on the City of London which will form the basis of the measures which will be put before Parliament in the new session. You have played a leading role too in developing our competition and consumer policies, to the benefit of the efficiency of industry and to a better service for the consumer.

Thank you for your continued support and for all the work that I know that you will continue to put in in promoting the Government's policies.

I wish you every success in the future. Yours ever Margaret.

My dear Neil MacfarlaneNeil,

I want to express my deep gratitude to you for all the distinguished service you have given during your past six years in Government, first at the Department of Education, and for the last four years at the Department of the Environment.

As Minister for Sport at the DOE you have worked with great diligence—and success—to promote British sport and sporting industries both at home and overseas. You have presided over a period of great development in the work of the Sports Council and helped bring about the improvements in accountability and efficiency. You have also had to face the distressing and difficult problem of football hooliganism. I am particularly grateful for your determined efforts to reduce this appalling menace to British sport.

As the Minister responsible for countryside and heritage matters in the Department, you helped to see through improvements to the legislative framework and to create the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission. More recently as Minister responsible for planning you have worked to improve the planning system, so that it encourages new development without increasing the threats to our environment. [end p2]

This is a truly formidable catalogue of achievement, and I pay the warmest tribute to what you have done.

I know that I can continue to count on your support and I wish you every success in the future. Yours ever Margaret.

Dear Prime Minister,

I made it quite clear to you in our recent conversation that my office was entirely at your disposal and on relinquishing the post of Minister of State at the Welsh Office in your administration, I am writing to let you know that it has been an honour to have served the Party in the House of Commons both in Government and in Opposition continuously since 1971.

My only regret is that the position of Minister of State at the Welsh Office has not been retained. Yours ever, John. [end p3]

My dear John Stradling ThomasJohn,

I write to you to give you my heartfelt thanks for your co-operation in placing your office at my disposal. You have served the country and the Party with enormous distinction for well over twenty years, beginning in local government and for the last fifteen years at the centre here. You have had the special distinction of joining the front benches only eighteen months after becoming a Member of Parliament and remaining there for almost fifteen years. I want to pay special tribute to your work as a Whip. You maintained the best tradition of the Whip's Office and, in those vital first four years after the 1979 Election, you were pivotal, as Deputy Chief Whip, in helping pilot through the legislation on which our programme of reform was based. I also pay tribute to the unique relationship which you established, while you were at the Whip's Office, with Members on all sides of the House.

I know that I can continue to count on your support and I wish you every success for the future. Yours ever, Margaret.