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4. I DID NOT DISCLOSE THAT YOUR AGREEMENT TO THE FIGURE OF £8.5 MILLION HAD ALREADY BEEN RECEIVED, AND IT IS CF PARTICULAR
IMPORTANCE TO ME THAT IT SHOULD NOT EVER BE DISCLOSED THAT WE HAD RECEIVED THIS AGREEMENT PRIOR TO EXECUTIVE COUNCIL BEING CONSULTED. ALL I SAID WAS THAT I HAD MENTIONED A FIGURE OF ABOUT THIS ORDER TO MINISTERS ON A NUMBER OF OCCASIONS AS BEING THE MAXIMUM I COULD SUPPORT, AND THAT IT WOULD THEREFORE CAUSE NO SURPRISE IN LONDON.
5. I DEFENDED THE £8.5 MILLION FIGURE AND THE PRINCIPLES ON WHICH IT WAS BASED AS VIGOUROUSLY AS WAS POLITIC AS THIS STAGE WITHOUT AROUSING ANY MORE RESENTMENT (THEY WERE HOWEVER CONSCIOUS CF AND RESPECTED THE DIFFICULTIES OF MY PERSONAL POSITION). 1 CONCENTRATED CHIEFLY ON TRYING TO IMPRESS ON THEM THAT FROM ALL THE DISCUSSIONS
I HAD MAD ON THIS SUBJECT I KNEW THAT:-
4) ATTEMPTING TO ARGUE THAT NO CONTRIBUTION SHOULD BE PAID (AS YOU KNOW, THE STRONGLY HELD VIEW OF ONE MEMBER) WOULD NOT BE
ACCEPTABLE SEMICOLO!!
B) IT WOULD BE EQUALLY UNACCEPTABLE TO SUGGEST TOKEN CONTRIBUTIONS UNLESS THEY WERE SUBSTANTIAL AND BASED ON UNDERLINE
NEXT WORD SOME RATIONALE SEMICOLON AND
(C) THAT THEY MUST CONSIDER THEMSELVES FORTUNATE
IF EVEN £8.5 MILLION WAS ACCEPTABLE TO HMG SINCE CONSIDERABLY HIGHER FIGURES HAD BEEN MENTIONED (E.G. BY MR. HEALEY) AT VARIOUS TIMES (SEE PARAGRAPH 4).
6. I SAID THAT I WOULD OF COURSE FORWARD ANY VIEWS THEY WISHED TO EXPRESS TO HMG, BUT I SAID THAT I MUST ASK THEM TO PUT THEIR REPRESENTATIONS IN WRITING AND SUPPORT THEM FULLY WITH ARGUMENT SINCE I MYSELF NO LONGER FELT ADLE TO PRESENT THE VIEWS THEY HAD EXPRESSED IN ANY FORM LIKELY TO BE PERSUASIVE, THE DIFFICULTY OF PRESENTING THEIR CASE MAY SERVE TO SEPERATE THOSE MEMBERS WHO ARE PURELY EMOTIONAL FROM THOSE PREPARED TO CONSIDER THINGS REALISTICALLY SEMICOLON I WOULD NOT HOPE FOR MORE FROM THIS EXERCISE.
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/7. IN ANSWER