CH GODDEN
STAFF IN CONFIDENCE.
1. Mr Godden has had an unusual career having started life as a boy messenger in the GPO in 1937.
The major part of his time since leaving the armed forces at the end of the last war has been spent in the Colonial Office. In 1964 he transferred to the CRO and thence into the Diplomatic Service in 1966 as a Grade 7E officer.
2. Mr Godden has had a long series of excellent reports. He did very well in the Colonial Office and was highly praised for the work he did during a secondment to the Government of British Honduras (1961-64). (His work during a return visit to Belmopan in 1975-76 was similarly commended.) He spent five years (1966-71) as a Private Secretary, first to the Colonial Secretary (Mr Lee) and then to Ministers of State in the CRO and FCO, successively Mrs Hart, Lord Shepherd and Lord Lothian, earning a succession of outstanding reports. He was reported to be a man of energy, resilience and adaptability, he was said to have worked well under crisis conditions, to be thorough and to have a capacity to master the essentials of a new subject quickly. His success in such a long period as Private Secretary suggests that he has a good deal of political flair. He was considered for bridging in 1969.
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3. His appointment to Helsinki in 1971 was not, at first, a success. There was a personality clash with Mr Roy Fox, the Commercial Counsellor. Mr Elliott noted that Mr Godden seemed to lack initiative and to have been "perhaps too deferential". There is a rather similar comment in his latest CR from Mr Drinkall in Kingston. Mr Drinkall notes more than once that Mr Godden "likes guidance". However Mr Drinkall has added (on the telephone) that this may owe a good deal to Mr Godden's innate modesty: when he was left in charge of the Mission in Kingston for three months, he did very well. Both Mr Drinkall and Mr Posnett, for whom Mr Godden worked during his second tour in Belmopan, think that Mr Godden would do the job in Anguilla very well indeed.
4.
As regards Mr Godden's ability to cope with the loneliness of life on Anguilla, Mr Drinkall commented that he is "very self-contained". He would be able to keep himself happy and would be unlikely to be disturbed by the lack of amenities. Mrs Godden is apparently a very quiet woman who is, according to Mr Drinkall, totally undemanding. Drinkall was confident that Mr and Mrs Godden would be able to arrange matters "to their mutual satisfaction". Their children are grown up.
Mr
1.
STAFF IN CONFIDENCE
15.