122
Private Secretary
c.c.
Lord N Gordon-Lennox
NAD
Mr Clift (HK & G Dept)
Mr. Willings. Jou
The Komm 210/11 301 1982
HICK 340/1
See HKK
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY NO. 51
1 1 NOV 1980
DESK
мо
& 12.11.
SECRETARY OF STATES INTERVIEW WITH MR- INDE
THE INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE
On
REGISTRY
Action Taken
Awk/
1.
The Secretary of State's oft-postponed interview
with Mr Joe Fitchett of The International Herald Tribune, is
to take place at 4.00 p.m. on Monday, 10 November. I shall
attend. The latest postponement, from 24 October, was partly
because that was Lord Carrington's only day in the Office
between the State Visit and the visits to Luxembourg and
Eastern Europe, and partly because Mr Fitchett wished to be
the first American correspondent to interview Lord Carrington
after the US Presidential Election.
2.
·
The interview has grown in importance since it was
first mooted. Mr Fitchett tells me that he wishes to discuss
the major current international issues, and also to be able
to present to his readers a portrait of ''Lord Carrington the
Statesman'' His editors believe that Lord Carrington's
contribution is currently too little understood, and part of
his purpose is to redress this balance. He sees Lord Carrington
as a senior European political figure with a strong interest
both in the development of Europe and the cohesion of the
Alliance, and would like to highlight this theme.
3.
The interview will be on a background basis, but
it will be clear to the reader that it' derives from an
interview with Lord Carrington, and Mr Fitchett will seek my
agreement afterwards to include a few specific representative
quotes. He has given an absolute undertaking not to quote
anything which we veto. He hopes thereby to induce the Secretary of State to speak more frankly. I, in turn, have undertaken to exercise the veto sparingly.
4./