http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/a...on_050101001442
QUOTE
British government sought to shun "irrational" Nixon during Watergate
Fri Dec 31, 7:14 PM ET
LONDON (AFP) - While the British government remained officially friendly to US President Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal, behind the scenes, officials were urged to take "any measure open" to keep him away from London, newly-released archives showed
At the same time, Britain's then ambassador in Washington warned that Nixon had to be handled with care, as he was "vengeful" and "irrational".
Britain's prime minister of the time, Harold Wilson, fought hard to prevent Nixon going ahead with a proposed visit to Britain in July 1974, just a month before he resigned, which would have seen him feted by Queen Elizabeth.
With moves in Washington growing for Nixon to be impeached over the bugging scandal, the president's visit would prove a serious embarrassment, Wilson believed, according to April 1974 documents from his official files.
Wilson "did not relish the idea of a visit by President Nixon for what were evidently domestic electoral purposes", his private secretary, Robert Armstrong, wrote.
"He thought the president's (April 1974) trip to Paris had been brought about by similar motives and he wished to discourage a trip to London on the way back from Moscow in early July if possible.
"The prime minister therefore told me that he wanted the FCO (Foreign Office) to take any measure open to us to ensure that Mr Nixon did not come to London in the circumstances described."
Advice was sought from Sir Peter Ramsbotham, Britain's ambassador in Washington, who said London's close ties with Washington meant it could not risk an open snub to Nixon.
"His disappointment and disillusionment if we refused to receive him would be all the greater, and he is a vengeful man," Ramsbotham wrote, adding that "in a situation in which he feels hounded and even cornered, the president could be capable of the irrational".
A suggestion that US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger could be used as an intermediary to warn off Nixon in private was also fruitless, the ambassador said.
"The president will see his political survival at stake and I doubt he recognises any higher good," he wrote.
Fri Dec 31, 7:14 PM ET
LONDON (AFP) - While the British government remained officially friendly to US President Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal, behind the scenes, officials were urged to take "any measure open" to keep him away from London, newly-released archives showed
At the same time, Britain's then ambassador in Washington warned that Nixon had to be handled with care, as he was "vengeful" and "irrational".
Britain's prime minister of the time, Harold Wilson, fought hard to prevent Nixon going ahead with a proposed visit to Britain in July 1974, just a month before he resigned, which would have seen him feted by Queen Elizabeth.
With moves in Washington growing for Nixon to be impeached over the bugging scandal, the president's visit would prove a serious embarrassment, Wilson believed, according to April 1974 documents from his official files.
Wilson "did not relish the idea of a visit by President Nixon for what were evidently domestic electoral purposes", his private secretary, Robert Armstrong, wrote.
"He thought the president's (April 1974) trip to Paris had been brought about by similar motives and he wished to discourage a trip to London on the way back from Moscow in early July if possible.
"The prime minister therefore told me that he wanted the FCO (Foreign Office) to take any measure open to us to ensure that Mr Nixon did not come to London in the circumstances described."
Advice was sought from Sir Peter Ramsbotham, Britain's ambassador in Washington, who said London's close ties with Washington meant it could not risk an open snub to Nixon.
"His disappointment and disillusionment if we refused to receive him would be all the greater, and he is a vengeful man," Ramsbotham wrote, adding that "in a situation in which he feels hounded and even cornered, the president could be capable of the irrational".
A suggestion that US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger could be used as an intermediary to warn off Nixon in private was also fruitless, the ambassador said.
"The president will see his political survival at stake and I doubt he recognises any higher good," he wrote.