Monday 18th October 1982
Difficulty with DI [Department of Industry] and ROR [Rate of Return] criterion for B Telecom - suggest to John Butcher that I meet Jenkin [Patrick Jenkin] - getting nowhere with Civil Service.
Argonauts Lunch - apparently DI complaining that I am holding things up - did not attend mtg (AS [Alfred Sherman] was doing Unemployment Report)
- talk about weighting public spending according to whether contracted out or in
Funding - Jock B/G [Jock Bruce Gardyne] National Savings + erosion of Grannie Bonds-
Agreement on Conversion (EG [Eddie George] bought £300 m longs last week) and Shorts and IGs [Indexed Gilts] to fore
Overfunding rather likely - sell £900m a month but EG suggests £1 Bn - easily take off the top by surreptitiously buying the longs