Downing Street papers prove officials concealed Geoffrey Howe’s plea in 1986 for the PM to attack apartheid as ‘totally repugnant’Downing Street officials decided to “bury deep” a Foreign Office memo in which Sir Geoffrey Howe urged Margaret Thatcher to design “a strong attack on apartheid” to dispel the strong impression in the Commonwealth that Britain was “the main defender of the South African government and of apartheid”.
Downing Street files released on Friday prove that Howe,who was then foreign secretary, made his plea on 16 July 1986 as the Commonwealth Games due to take place in Edinburgh were facing a mass boycott. The plea also came days after the Queen had let it be known she feared Thatcher’s opposition to sanctions against South Africa could lead to the breakup of the Commonwealth.
Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com