TNAG-0709-FCO40-875-Control-of-appointments-in-Dependent-Territories-under-Colon-1978 — Page 64

Mr Duff

has Gresu

HKA 431/8 You time Dale.

cc Mrs Gregory..VED IN 7

Miss Moulder

PY NO.

1 AUG 1978

kday

NO 581.

Reference

Mr Hall

Mr Money

Mr Pirnie

DESK OFFICER

MOEX

PA

REGISTRY

Acton Taken

3

May

1

То

see

disins

E. Gregory

Sahe 18-77

63

3/5

1. You said in a minute a while ago (I forget the subject) that when you suspect something fishy is going on or some trouble is brewing, your finger tips tingle: with me its a prickling sensation at the base of my neck and there are prickles there now.

2. Excluding the Turks and Caicos who are a case on their own, there appears to be some tensions and stresses appearing in our relationships with our DTs. Recent reports on events in all 4 of our normally fairly well behaved and responsive DTs (particularly BVI and Caymans) seem to indicate a flexing of political muscle and a testing of our resolve to retain control as the administering power. My unease has no real evidence to back it up, yet it is there. What is happening, I think, is an intensification of efforts by local politicians to further erode our capacity to ensure good government prevails. This is not because they want bad government, but more a government better suited to their style, which in some cases is risky. This has been going on for years, but I suspect we can now expect the pressure to come on even harder.

3. What makes the base of my neck tingle sufficiently to write this minute? One of the contributory factors is, I believe, the shackling effect the new budgetary aid procedures have on local politicians' aspirations. I suspect budget fiddles in earlier and more laisser faire days were far easier to do than now under the new system where the annual budget exercise is done "eyeball to eyeball". Also, control of project aid under Sir Bruce's regime is an ever tightening process and is probably beginning to hurt a bit. At the same time, local ministers, in the political environment of the Caribbean, seem to be more mettlesome and less inclined to listen to Auntie Whitehall. This is all healthy development representing the "related pressures" which Sir Andrew Cohen described in his book "The Charging Face of Africa" published, I think, in 1960 and which in other DTs has led to a demand for independence. But with our Caribbean

DTS, the intransigence to our colonial rule, as yet inchoate but growing, is most unlikely to lead to a demand for independence, but will express itself in an ever increasing demand for us to loosen our control over their in ernal affairs; if this is allowed to happen we will end up with what in effect is a new bunch of associated states with the unwanted consequence of us having responsibility without pover.

4. One aspect of this pressure and an immediately dangerous one at that to our continuing ability to control events, is the appearance of demands by local politicians for localisation of top posts AG, FS and C of P posts in BVI, magistrate in Anguilla, and abolitoin of CS post in TCI are examples, and there will doubtless be more. This may of course represent legitimate political aspirations for locali ation, but it can also be one of the prongs of the attack to redu e our power to control events. Local politicians are obviously ell aware by now that any

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