2007 - Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (18 page)
Read 2007 - Salmon Fishing in the Yemen Online
Authors: Paul Torday,Prefers to remain anonymous
The Prime Minister:
I do not know whether the honourable member opposite expects a serious answer to his question, if indeed there was a question there. But yes, this government and the preceding governments from this party are proud of their record in introducing democratic ideals through the mechanism of political and sometimes, regrettably but inevitably, military intervention in the Middle East and central Asia. And history will show us to be right. In the matter of the Yemen salmon project, which I believe has led somehow to this line of questioning, if private individuals who share an interest in the sport of angling wish to come together and create what will be, I may say, a miracle of science and engineering, a veritable flowering of the desert, then speaking as an individual, I can only applaud such efforts. I might also add, I believe such efforts will lead to greater harmony between nations, just as the sports of cricket and, perhaps more widely, football have done.
[Interruption: ‘The Prime Minster wasn’t at the game between England and Holland last Friday night then?’]
Mr Hamish Stewart:
I am grateful to the Prime Minister for his clarification of the government’s position, although I regret to say I am not much clearer about what the government’s position in this matter is, or is not. Would the Prime Minister find time today during his meetings with ministerial colleagues to discuss with them the failed assassination attempt last week on the life of Sheikh Muhammad ibn Zaidi bani Tihama by a member of the al-Qaeda network at his residence in Scotland? Would the Prime Minister not agree that, in terms of his earlier statement when he referred to the government’s wish to remove any unnecessary obstacles to the Yemen salmon project, the successful assassination of Sheikh Muhammad would perhaps have represented a significant obstacle to the project?
[Uproar on all sides of the House]
[Pause while the Prime Minister consults with the Home Secretary.]
The Prime Minister:
I refer the question to my honourable friend and colleague, the Home Secretary.
The Home Secretary (Mr Reginald Brown):
My department is not at this time aware of any such attempt, and I would be grateful if the honourable member would in due course share with my officials any sources he has for such allegations.
Mr Hamish Stewart:
The Secretary of State may read a report of the incident on the inside page of the last week’s edition of the
Rannoch and Tulloch Reporter
. I am sorry he does not find time to read such an excellent paper, which is published weekly in my constituency. Would the Prime Minister find time, when he discusses matters with his ministerial colleagues later today, to consider whether a person who is an absentee landlord who appears on his Scottish estate for only a few weeks a year and who, when he does appear, has become a magnet for international terrorist activity, is a suitable person for his director of communications to wine and dine with? Would the Prime Minister and his colleagues care to explain to this House, after duly informing themselves of events of which they should have been aware, why the attack was never officially reported, and what happened to the attacker? We are aware that it is necessary from time to time to arrest and hold suspected terrorists without bail pending further investigations, but in this case the matter seems to have been taken out of the Home Secretary’s hands. Would he care to explain why? Would he care to explain what the extradition policy is between this country and the Yemen, and if so what the due process is, and whether those processes were followed in this case? And if they were not, could he tell this House what did happen, and where the alleged al-Qaeda terrorist now is?
The termination of the employment contract of Dr Jones
Extracts from government memoranda and emails
From:
Peter Maxwell
To:
Herbert Berkshire, Foreign & Commonwealth Office
Subject:
Yemen salmon project
Date:
14 October
Herbert,
The PM was asked about the Yemen salmon project in the House yesterday. It is not an issue he wants to take up any parliamentary time. Our concern is that the involvement of a government agency (NCFE) may be wrongly construed as suggesting that this project has official government backing.
You will, I am sure, understand that our posture has always been supportive with respect to the Yemen salmon project.
If it works
, then I am sure the PM will be happy to endorse it, and perhaps make a personal visit as a private guest of the sheikh to see the salmon running. Meanwhile we need more deniability.
I suggest that the scientist Jones, who is doing all the work at NCFE, is disemployed from the agency with immediate effect. If you think this can be done by a word in the right ear, he could perhaps be re-employed by Fitzharris, the consultants who are project managers for the sheikh. That is a matter for them. The important thing is that no civil servant or government official should be directly connected with this project. NCFE should, in my view, be discouraged from being so close to the project. Whilst NCFE is part of DEFRA, this essentially is a matter of foreign policy and that is why I am airing the matter with you.
This memo is only a suggestion, of course. I leave it to you in your wisdom to decide the right course events should take.
Peter
From:
Herbert Berkshire
To:
Peter Maxwell
Subject:
Salmon⁄Yemen
Date:
14 October
Peter,
Thank you for your suggestion of today’s date. I think it is wise that the Yemen salmon project should be perceived as a wholly private-sector project, and I will make appropriate noises in appropriate ears in due course.
Herbert
From:
Date:
14 October
To:
Subject:
Yemen salmon project
David,
There is a degree of concern in (senior) government circles with respect to current NCFE management issues. There is a view developing at ministerial level that NCFE may have embraced the Yemen salmon project a little too enthusiastically. I think you need to be aware that Foreign Office policy is to maintain a neutral stance with respect to the Yemen, which is in a politically sensitive region of the world. Policy is not to, or be perceived to, do anything that might be interpreted as religious, political or cultural interference with that country by the UK government. I recall speaking to you about NCFE giving some limited technical support to the Yemen salmon project as a goodwill gesture, but I cannot imagine that your own department or mine ever envisaged at that time the level of involvement NCFE now has. However, I think you should know my own department has advised, and will continue to advise, government that it is important there are no grounds for a perception being formed by the media and others that the project in any way has official backing. Some ministers, I know, feel a concern that NCFE is now overdependent on the income stream from the Yemen salmon project, and might be said by uninformed observers to be somewhat in the pocket of a private Yemeni individual.
Whilst no one (as far as I know) wants the project to be stopped, it might be a creative and responsible course of action if you were to put a little more distance between your agency and the project and its sponsor.
Herbert
From:
Date:
14 October
To:
Subject:
(no subject)
Fred, please come to my office asap.
From:
Date:
14 October
To:
Subject:
New job
Dear Mary,
I have lost my job.
There were, apparently, some awkward questions in the House of Commons about the Yemen salmon project last week. As a result of that someone called Herbert Berkshire from the Foreign Office rang my boss to say it might be better if I ceased to be on the Civil Service payroll. Apparently Peter Maxwell wants ‘clear blue water’ between the government and the Yemen salmon project.
So, the bad news is, I have had my employment contract with NCFE terminated. David called me into the office and explained that it was ‘no longer appropriate in all of the circumstances’ for me to continue. ‘There was concern in the department at imbalances in workload and priorities caused by the growing demands of the project.’ I have received an appallingly small redundancy cheque and a month’s pay in lieu of notice. David Sugden handed me both yesterday, and explained I had the right to go to an employment tribunal if I did not like the circumstances in which my contract had been terminated.
Needless to say, there was a bit more to it than this. At almost the same time the lady who manages most of the sheikh’s affairs in the UK (a Ms Chetwode-Talbot, I can’t remember if I have mentioned her name before) sent me an offer of employment. The contract will run for an initial three years and my salary will be—wait for it—£120,000 a year!!! On top of that I will receive a car allowance, plus pension, plus health insurance, plus special hardship allowances for travelling and time spent working in the Yemen. The bottom line is, the project will continue, but now I will be working for Fitzharris & Price, the firm that manages the sheikh’s UK affairs, and the government will be able to say there is no official UK involvement in this project.
I don’t know what to think about it all. On the one hand I am sad to leave the NCFE, where I have spent most of my working life, and I feel sure that once I am out I will never get back in, at least not in the same position. On the other hand, now I am working for the sheikh I am no longer bound by all our departmental procedures—I can just get on with the project, and to be honest that is what I most want to do.
So, Mary, I am now a very well paid and independent fisheries scientist. Well paid enough that you could afford to give up your job in Geneva and come back home to me. I know it isn’t just the money, but maybe you could think about it?
I miss you.
Come back home.
With much love
Your Fred
XXX
From:
Date:
16 October
To:
Subject:
New employment
Fred,
I don’t know what to say. It appears you have been forced out of a respectable if not overpaid position which you have worked hard to get in order to make some politician or other feel more comfortable. What will happen about your pension? It was a final salary scheme, wasn’t it? What are your new pension arrangements? I doubt the private sector will give you anything as generous as you got as a civil servant. Now you tell me you are working for Fitzharris & Price. I looked them up on their website. They appear to be estate agents. What is a (once) eminent fisheries scientist doing working for people whose main business appears to be managing and selling property?
I feel very sorry for you. I suppose the money is some compensation while it lasts, but how long will it last? What happens to you when the project is complete or, more likely, stopped? As for me coming back, I am amazed you think so little of my career and what I might want to do. I am afraid I am not as whimsical about career changes as you have become. I have plans for my own career which now depend on me doing at least two years in the Geneva office, and I am afraid I am not coming home just so that you get the washing and ironing and cooking done for you. Life doesn’t work like that, not in modern marriages between professional people. Anyway, won’t you be spending half your time in the Yemen? Your project can’t all be managed from behind a desk, can it?
So, I am sorry, but your abrupt job change, far from making me feel more secure about our joint income, suggests to me that it is more important than ever that I consolidate my position as the main breadwinner, notwithstanding the (I am afraid, probably temporary) elevation in your salary. No, you did not mention ‘Ms Chetwode-Talbot’ to me before. Who is she? Is she your new boss? I looked her up when I checked out the website. Her photograph is shown there. She does not look much like a businesswoman, does she? Is she qualified in anything?
Love,
Mary
PS: I am conscious I have been a little brief with respect to personal matters. I appreciate your saying you miss me. I have been too busy of late to reflect as deeply on personal issues as I should. I recognise that a work-life balance has to be sustained, and that to wholly subordinate one’s personal life to one’s career is self-defeating and just as likely to damage one’s career path as the other way round. Therefore you might like to make a diary note that I have some leave coming up next June, which is only eight months away. Perhaps it would be appropriate to spend a few days together to reassess our lives, jointly and individually.
From:
Date:
16 October
To:
Subject:
Re: New employment
Mary,
Are we married or aren’t we?
Fred
PS: What are you implying about Harriet Chetwode-Talbot? She is an extremely able manager running a project whose budget runs into millions.
From: