No authority to offer an honour to Mr. Bristow has been sought or given.
No approach has been made to me that any such offer be considered. I should have dismissed any such approach out of hand as a total abuse of the honours system.
No member of the Government nor anyone acting on its behalf has made any offer of an honour to Mr. Bristow or tried to bring pressure to bear on him in any way.
The only communications which I have had with Mr. Bristow on the Westland matter arose from a telex which he sent on 16 December 1985 to seek a meeting with me. On 17 December, Mr. Bristow was told that it would not be appropriate for a meeting to take place. On 23 December Mr. Bristow indicated that he shared my view that it was the responsibility of the Westland Board and its shareholders to resolve the situation and that he had decided not to pursue the matter any further with the Government.