A Long-standing Source of Grief

Abstract

In November 1978 I was appointed head of the Rhodesian Department in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. It was not a post for which there were many other candidates at the time. Rhodesia posed in an acute form the problem of responsibility without power. Britain, nominally at least, had the constitutional responsibility for the territory and constantly was reminded of it by the rest of the Commonwealth, who used this as a stick with which to beat successive British governments — Labour and Conservative. But the army and police were controlled by the Rhodesians and had been since the Colony was granted what amounted to dominion status in 1923.