CONFIDENTIAL
D
B
C
Recommendations.
1 recommend that the Secretary of State should send the attached draft minute to the Defence Secretary, which arques
(1)
that we risk losing POLAR CIRCLE as a long-ter
replacement for ENDURANCE unless we can make a fire C
to purchase, given the Italian Government's known interest.
in chartering the vessel;
(ii)
that the cost of replacing HMS ENDURANCE is a proper charge to the Ministry of Defence alone;
(iii) that we need now to discuss the whole issue of the
defence of our Dependent Territories in the wider context
rather than on a case by case basis.
Background
3.
The Defence Secretary has not responded to the Secretary of
State's proposal in June that there should be a discussion about all
the elements in the defence of our Dependent Territories and not just of ENDURANCE. This unwillingness to address the wider issues
has been a mark of the MOD approach so far on ENDURANCE. Their aim
appears to be to secure a bareboat charter to replace ENDURANCE for
this season alone, and to argue that since there is no defence need
for a longer term replacement other "interested departments" (presumably ourselves and the Departments of Education and Science
and the Environment) should meet the costs of any long term
replacement.
4.
The Chief Secretary has intervened to say that if there is to
be a continuing naval commitment in Antarctica, he will want
interested departments, collectively, to meet the costs. The
Secretary of State for Education has argued that a replacement for ENDURANCE is not indispensable for the continued operation of the
British Antarctic Survey in Antarctica, and that if there is to be a
replacement it should be based on defence and diplomatic rather than
scientific priorities.
PHIADE/2
CONFIDENTIAL.