CONFIDENTIAL
Clark is concerned to see action taken in Central America
and elsewhere that will help the President domestically,
Mr Shultz remains an influential figure with the support
of the White House. Apart from that, the Reagan
Administration is rather less prone to in-fighting than
some of its recent predecessors.
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OBJECTIVES
5. This will be the Prime Minister's first visit to
Washington in her second term of office. Its main
purpose is to cement the Prime Minister's personal links
Strengthen with President Reagan and the relations of the British
Government with our closest ally. The Prime Minister
will be aiming to secure agreement on the handling of
selected world problems and will pursue a number of
specific British interests, not forgetting the need to
ensure that understandings reached at the highest level
are transmitted down to the Washington bureaucracy.
The visit is particularly timely given current
developments in East/West relations and arms control
questions and the current situation in Lebanon.
6.
Additionally, for Britain, the visit will have
important public relations aspects. At present, our
standing in the United States is high and the Prime
Minister's personal popularity is probably greater than
that of any other foreign leader. We can expect
considerable public and media interest in the visit which
will provide us with an opportunity, for example in the
Prime Minister's Churchill Award speech, to reaffirm our
position as America's closest ally and our common stand of
two countries
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CONFIDENTIAL