TNAG-1260-FCO40-1600-Briefings-for-Ministers-and-FCO-officials-on-the-future-of-H-1983 — Page 14

CONFIDENTIAL

be a decade in which it may be necessary to shed or

trim certain activities rather than trying to do

everything with declining effectiveness.

But shedding

some activities will carry a disproportionate penalty

We need to be sure that we in lost opportunities.

choose wisely.

X

21.

Diplomacy.

Successful diplomatic activity

requires friends. The relationship with the United States will always be special in quality and importance, permeating most of what Britain does in the world. The major priority in the next few years is to consolidate relations with President Reagan, with his successor if he does not stand again or stands again and is defeated, and with the Administration in Washington. This will require sustained efforts to harmonise British and American positions on major international subjects, to solve or at least contain the bilateral problems (mostly legal/commercial in

character) and to keep alive the network of

non-official relationships on which Anglo/American

understanding rests.

www.

22. Scarcely less important, at least in the Community context, are Britain's relations with European partners

and allies, especially Germany and France.

It will not

always be easy to reconcile these with our relations with the US. We also have a running machine of good

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