Postscript
PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL
One matter which I did not want to put into the main body of this letter, and which is therefore something of a personal postscript which I think you will understand, is that, were I to stay, I would fervently hope there could be some change of attitude to me, and to what I am trying to do, at the Depart- mental level in ODM. I have long been reluctant to explode formally and officially about it partly because I did not want, in the interests of my people here, to shoo away the goose which I have most gratefully managed to encourage to lay some useful golden eggs, albeit at a cost in travail and exasperation; and partly because I thought it might not be opportune if ODM's future policies were to come under some new scrutiny. I forebore taking up the point with Sir Peter Preston when I met him, at your instigation, last year and indeed found him to have a sympathetic understanding of my general aims which it would be helpful if it could be shared lower down the line.
I doubt, however, if there is much that can be done about this, for the moment, and if so perhaps you would regard this addendum to my letter as an ephemeral one, written more to get some sore feelings off my chest.
JR W Parker
PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL