Manfred WoernerMr. Secretary-General, My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen.
We are delighted to welcome you all to No. 10 Downing Street for this dinner to mark Peter Carrington 's retirement after four very distinguished and eventful years as Secretary-General of NATO. [end p1]
It is very much a family occasion, not just because we have Iona CarringtonIona and other members of Peter 's family present, but also because all of us here tonight are part of the defence family which through NATO has ensured the West's security over the past forty years. [end p2]
Peter Carrington has always served his country: in the army, as our High Commissioner in Australia, in many different capacities as a Minister and in particular as Minister of Defence and as Foreign Secretary, and most recently in NATO. And in that he has always had the most marvellous and patient support from Iona. [end p3]
To his many positions he has always brought great insight seemingly effortless hard work, matched with exceptional style and wit.
I am told that in his time as Secretary-General he has made an average of one major speech every fortnight. That is a pretty daunting prospect for his successor. [end p4]
He has cajoled, persuaded and sometimes bullied the NATO Alliance into doing more in our common defence. He has rebuilt its morale and its sense of purpose. He has restored its prestige.
And—perhaps most important of all—he re-established the bond between NATO and men and women in all our countries. [end p5]
Because of his work, they understand better why we must have NATO, and why we must all keep up our defence spending so that we can welcome the astonishing developments in the Soviet Union, knowing that whatever happens our defence is sure.
He has been so effective because he has the special gift of being able to put the most [end p6] important issues in simple and direct terms which ordinary people understand.
Many will remember his statement explaining why we need to keep our defences strong: “If there is an elephant in your neighbour's garden, there is much to be said for studying its intentions. But however friendly you may think it to be, there is equally much to be said for [end p7] having a stout fence to protect your flower beds” .
But as well as being a brilliant spokesman for the Alliance, he has also been its strongest pillar. He has won the confidence of all NATO member Governments so that all have seen him, not as a British representative doing the job of NATO Secretary-General, but as [end p8] the servant and friend of each one of them, including the smallest, and that has contributed enormously to NATO's cohesion and strength.
He has had faith in NATO's basic strategy of defence, deterrence and dialogue and has made sure that there has been no tampering with the fundamental policies which have served NATO so well over the past forty [end p9] years.
And he has been an outstandingly skilful Chairman, showing that some mixture of steel and guile leavened with humour which enabled him to bring the Zimbabwe independence negotiations to a successful conclusion as Foreign Secretary. [end p10]
[Editorial note: following section cancelled by MT in her final text: ] I am sure we all have our own memories. Mine is of a meeting we both had some years ago with the then Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party.
Mr. Hua Guofeng launched into some interminable speech in Chinese about Hong Kong and every time I tried to interrupt him I was waved away imperiously and he went on and on and on—to coin a phrase. [end p11]
After about half an hour of this, Peter passed me a note which read: “as usual you are talking too much Margaret” . [End of section cancelled by MT in speaking text.]
I am sure that every one of us here this evening will wish to thank him for all he has done as Secretary-General. He has served NATO—as he has always [end p12] served this country—with honour, with distinction and with a record of outstanding achievement. We wish him and Iona well.
May I also say how very honoured we all are to have here his successor as Secretary-General, Dr. Manfred Woerner. He too has an outstanding reputation as a champion of strong defence. [end p13] We are delighted that he has accepted the post, although NATO's gain will be Germany's loss. We know he will do it very well and we look forward to working very closely with him.
May I ask you all to rise and drink a toast to the success of the new Secretary-General, and to the health and happiness of Peter [end p14] and Iona Carrington, with our warm gratitude for all they have done.