Tory grandee Michael Heseltine has called for a police investigation into the 1980s Westland affair, after documents referring to the furious row were allegedly destroyed.
Cabinet papers released today also show that Charles Powell, Margaret Thatcher’s then-foreign policy adviser, urged the former prime minister to sack Lord Heseltine prior to his resignation as defence secretary in 1986.
The row stemmed from disagreements over whether the struggling Westland helicopter manufacturer should be purchased by an American group or European consortium.
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Lord Heseltine, who preferred the latter option, warned Lady Thatcher that the US bidders included Italian company Fiat, who were later discovered to have links to Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya.
The Times has seen a memo written on Downing Street note paper that indicated documents relating to the affair were destroyed.
“Two copies (photocopy of copy 1 and copy 2) of Record of Events pertaining to Westlands which occured [sic] on 8 January 1986 were destroyed on 15.1.86,” the note read.
Lord Heseltine said the matter needed to be investigated, and claimed that an illegal “concert party” of shareholders, including those with links to Lady Thatcher, were involved in ensuring the European bid was beaten.
“When I saw it, I couldn’t believe it — that a prime ministerial paper had been destroyed, but also that they had recorded the fact that it had been destroyed,” he told The Times.
“I cannot believe a civil servant would tear up a government paper... I’ve been trying to get a proper inquiry into what went on in Number 10 at this time. It all ended up in a concert party.”
In a bid to quell the mounting dispute, Lady Thatcher urged ministers in 1986 to abide by the collective decision to remain neutral on the Westland decision.
“That applies to each and every one of us,” she warned.
But it emerged today her aide Powell suggested the former prime minister should say that anyone “who continues to campaign on behalf of one or other proposal cannot do so as a minister”.