British Civil Servant

The British Army currently has more than 800 Chieftain tanks, which have been replaced with Chobham reactive armor. They can give the Iraqi Army a batch of Challenger tanks, which can also optimize the British Army's own equipment, but for a war For China, the hundreds of tanks allocated are still not enough.

The importance of the quantity of the army is not inferior to the quality, especially when facing the enemy is not weak, the production line of the chieftain tank has been replaced by the challenger, and the UK will not reopen it to Iraq, so in terms of quantity, Iraq Another seller is needed. Alan Wilson didn't hide it either. It is impossible for a country to not have a think tank. It is better for him to sell it directly, saying that a certain big country can solve this problem, and the production capacity is enough for the Iraqi Army to complete the line.

King Faisal II couldn't help being awed, and had a new understanding of the Secretary-General of the British Cabinet in front of him. Alan Wilson generally played the card of sincerity in foreign exchanges. Since he helped, he would imagine everything. Faisal II received this treatment.

"Purchases to the United Kingdom are settled in U.S. dollars, and arms sales to the East are settled in pounds." Alan Wilson made another suggestion. As a pro-British monarchy, the Kingdom of Iraq does not have a rigid rule that oil exports should be settled in U.S. dollars. Eggs Not in one basket.

At present, the foreign exchange reserves of the Kingdom of Iraq are divided into two parts, which are roughly equal in number. This is also the usual method of many countries, except Canada, and the American countries.

Of course, the United Kingdom also needs dollars, but Alan Wilson thinks that a certain big country should need pounds. There is no reason, and he thinks so.

Obtaining the pound can only be invested and traded in places where the UK still has influence, nothing more than the Middle East, East Africa and the Commonwealth countries including Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

Through the input of the British pound to a certain big country, the development of the British pound group countries can also be promoted through the production scale of others, so he suggested this to Faisal II.

The U.K. has its own uses for the dollar, and a big country has its own uses for the pound. Each has its own use without delaying the other.

After talking about the military purchase, it is the preparation for the war. Alan Wilson suggested that the list of war materials that should be stored this year, a total of three pages, was handed over to Faisal II.

Then there is the navy's combat plan and blockade action plan, to pinch Iran's stronger war potential than Iraq. As I said before, if we want to cut off foreign aid at sea, Britain can certainly help. Anyway, the relationship with Iran is already like this, but the United Kingdom You can't blatantly sideline the border. Blocking other countries' overseas transportation is an act of war in itself. What is the difference between Britain going to do this and participating in the war?

Since he didn't participate in the war, Iraq had to do it himself. That's why he sold the Eagle, the only British warship that was considered a heavy aircraft carrier during World War II, to the Kingdom of Iraq.

The Navy of the Kingdom of Iraq has experience in using aircraft carriers. They are a blue-water navy in the Middle East. Like the Egyptian Navy, they are permanently stationed in the Sultanate of Zanzibar. There is no problem in using experience.

All these war preparations have reduced Faisal II's ambitions a lot. Every aspect of Alan Wilson's suggestion represents an investment. Although the United States has expressed its full support, there are still some The supply of materials, but that is very general.

It doesn't seem like London is listing out one by one, telling him what kind of cost the war needs to pay, but fortunately, spending money is not all, and finally entered the next item, how to kidnap the Arab world morally.

"The shock in the Arab world originated from the abolition of the Pahlavi King. The Egyptian Kingdom took in the Pahlavi based on this mentality. Now most countries in the Arab world are still monarchies. Since His Majesty the King is ready to raise his arms, then To really grasp the psychology of the monarchs of various countries, use the method of moral kidnapping, and call on the Arab brothers to have money and strength to contribute, er, it can be done, but your Majesty should not say that this is my suggestion.”

Alan Wilson coughed softly twice to ease the tense atmosphere, and Faisal II couldn't help laughing before continuing, "Since the entire Arab monarchy is threatened by the export of Iran's revolution, Iraq should have a foothold in terms of military expenditures." Therefore, let the Arab brother countries share part of the cost."

Faisal II couldn't help but nodded, and when he was about to say something, Alan Wilson added, "We must discuss this issue before the war breaks out. It's money, not blank paper, it's just a verbal agreement not to do anything." It counts, what if someone backs out later? So we have to negotiate beforehand, especially countries like Saudi Arabia should be treated like this.”

"Especially Saudi Arabia is still a pro-American country, isn't it? Sir." Faisal II replied with a smile, "Unlike our other countries, Saudi Arabia is completely one-sided in the Arab world. Similar to Iran, Britain Hope to see the Saudis unleash some ill-gotten gains."

"Or I have always believed that Iraq is far more suitable than Saudi Arabia to be the leader of the Arab world."

Alan Wilson responded ambiguously, "Internal troubles and foreign troubles. Iran is the foreign trouble, but it doesn't mean that Saudi Arabia is not the internal trouble. You can't beat one and let the other take advantage."

Since the oil crisis, relying on the world's largest oil production, Saudi Arabia has become more and more popular from its original small transparent status. In today's Arab world, it is no longer the country in the past, as long as you say a word, no one will listen to it.

Can’t fight or can’t fight, but the wealth accumulated through the oil crisis has given Saudi Arabia the right to speak, not to mention being tied with Egypt and Iraq as the three giants of the Arab world. It is still equal to traditional military powers such as Syria and Yemen. The army is slightly stronger, and the right to speak will be even greater.

The bad thing is that it made little contribution to Israel's Middle East war. Although it initiated the oil crisis, it lacked confidence compared to the several Arab countries fighting on the battlefield.

Alan Wilson, the non-staff minister, has informed Faisal II of the problems that may be encountered in this war, as well as the envisaged response. Whether he still wants to fight, the king will make the decision.

Honesty is the quality of supreme authority. He would not hide the conversation between Mrs. Thatcher and King Faisal II, but still shocked the female prime minister, "You actually proposed to sell heavy aircraft carriers?"

"What's the point? The so-called learner lives like me and dies. The navy has its own characteristics. A country that uses British warships will never defeat us. The prime minister has almost nothing to do with housing, education, energy, employment, transportation, foreign aid and Expenditures in all aspects of industry have only reduced by four billion pounds a year. If the war breaks out, as long as Iraq can increase the financial balance of the British department for more than two years, we can use this money to do many things. Programs, and even the internal optimization of the British Army, require this money."

Alan Wilson did not mention the sale of one million apartments, because a total of two billion pounds was withdrawn, which was not as much as the former.

After all, the Eagle-class aircraft carrier was built during World War II, and of course it can be used today. It is a heavy weapon for 99% of the countries in the world, but it is very embarrassing for the United Kingdom.

If there is a difference between Mrs. Thatcher and the previous prime ministers, it is that she never had any thoughts on military spending. On the contrary, Alan Wilson has repeatedly opposed the government’s cabinet secretary-general who wants to start with military spending. This time, he plans to optimize the British military power. .

What Mrs. Thatcher wanted to say, Alan Wilson directly took out the minutes of the meeting against the reduction of military spending in the past ten years. Mrs. Thatcher said with a calm expression, "It would be great if there is a suitable price." , but make sure it doesn't become a threat to the UK."

"I don't want war to break out either, but the decision is in the hands of King Faisal, and we can only make preparations to guide it in a direction that is beneficial to Britain." Since the prime minister didn't read it, Alan Wilson took the meeting minutes back and prepared to file them. Also declare that he is a pacifist.

Mrs. Thatcher ignored all these happenings. She had her own affairs to attend to. She declared that the United States followed the reforms of the United Kingdom and could not solve the problems of the United Kingdom itself. There was opposition, and he had to deal with the opposition in the party first.

While the whole of the UK was admiring the grand scene of the crown prince's wedding, the first cabinet meeting after Mrs Thatcher's wedding was faced with the siege of cabinet ministers.

The Keeper of the Seals, Ian Gilmour, picked up former Prime Minister Winston Churchill's famous saying: "No matter how seductive your strategy is, you must always pay attention to its consequences" to tease Mrs. Thatcher with insinuations, reminding the government that it is imperative It is to formulate a good political strategy rather than an economic plan.

Defense Secretary Francis Pym believes that the army of unemployed is the fuse of social unrest ~www.wuxiaspot.com~ The government should not only be concerned about curbing high inflation.

Agriculture Secretary Peter Volcker advocated a return to the old ways: stop raising taxes and use expanded government investment to solve the employment problem.

Justice Lord Hailsham simply used the historical example that the Führer took advantage of the high unemployment rate in Germany to usurp power and President Hoover's austerity policy in the United States led to the decline of the Republican Party for 30 years to scare people.

Trade Secretary John Knott sneered at the Treasury's proposal as "a work of morons at best". Even the Home Secretary, William Whitelow, who was Mrs Thatcher's confidant, played the role of a fool in this cabinet meeting.

Employment Secretary James Pryor clashed head-on with Prime Minister Thatcher over trade union reform at the meeting.

Alan Wilson also participated in this meeting, and directly prevented Frank from speaking as the permanent undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance. He stood in the position of Mrs. Thatcher and said, "It is imperative to carry out a cabinet reshuffle. There should be such a wide divide that it affects the implementation of policy."

As soon as these words came out, the firepower of the cabinet ministers immediately focused on the cabinet secretary who spoke. When can Whitehall actually interfere with the cabinet meeting?

In the chaotic cabinet meeting, although the accusation was directed at the cabinet secretary-general, Mrs. Thatcher knew that it was directed at herself, and shouted angrily, "This time the cabinet meeting is over."

In the empty meeting room, only the prime minister and the cabinet secretary-general were left. After a while, Mrs. Thatcher said in a loyal and not absolute tone, "You are right, the cabinet needs to be reshuffled."

"That's what you say, but it's not always the way to go." Alan Wilson, who stood firmly behind the Prime Minister, comforted him, "I heard that Galtieri visited the United States, and the talk was pretty good."