Patrick Haseldine

Patrick Haseldine is a former British FCO official who was dismissed in August 1989 by the then foreign secretary, John Major, for "various disciplinary offences constituting breaches of the Diplomatic Service Regulations". He had written a letter to the Guardian newspaper in which he publicly accused then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of "self-righteous invective" over her handling of an extradition request.

Career

Heseldine joined the HM Diplomatic Service of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1971.

Embargo monitoring

He was appointed in July 1983 to be an assistant on the South Africa desk in the FCO's Southern African Department (SAfD) in London where his responsibilities included monitoring the voluntary cultural and sports boycott of South Africa, and enforcing the mandatory UN arms embargo against South Africa. However he was seconded to another department after his superiors deemed him unsuitable to work in a political department. In January 1986, he was unsuccessful in appealing against this unfavourable performance review, which he alleged was politically motivated.

Question Time

In February 1988 Haseldine was a member of the invited studio audience of "Question Time". Fifteen minutes into the program, a student asked whether the British government was justified in its opposition of economic sanctions against South Africa in the face of calls for sanctions by Nelson Mandela, Bishop Tutu and by most of the European Community. Sir Robin asked the audience to raise their hands if they were in favour of economic sanctions against South Africa. Haseldine was the first member of the audience to vote on a question of sanctions..

uspension

In March 1988, after repeatedly circulating material within the civil service without authorisation, Haseldine was suspended from his job in the Defence Department for six months. He joined the FCO Information Department on September 3 1988.

Guardian letter

In December 1988, Haseldine wrote a letter to the "Guardian", from his work address (Information Department, Foreign and Commonwealth Office) in which he criticised then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher of using "self-righteous invective" over an extradiction request for an Irish citizen to face terrorism charges in the UK.. He contrasted the case to that of the Coventry Four, four South African businessmen charged in 1984 with evading the United Nations Security Council Resolution 418 ban on military exports, who were subsequently released by the Thatcher government. [cite book
author=James Rusbridger
title=The Intelligence Game
date=1991
publisher=Bodley Head
id=ISBN 0-370-31242-2
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=p62LN9EhsKYC&pg=PA141&lpg=PA141&dq=patrick+haseldine&source=web&ots=mxcb2zX6R9&sig=IkihvG6TuKWldw-V1qtsisBAEVs
pages=page 141] Haseldine labelled the four South Africans "terrorists", a term deriving from Michael Dukakis and some anti-apartheid activists calling apartheid South Africa a "terrorist state" in order to trigger automatic sanctions. [cite news|title=The double standards on terrorism|publisher=Guardian|Author=PJ Haseldine|date=7-12-1998] [cite news|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DEFDC133BF930A25755C0A96E948260|title= Dukakis Backers Agree Platform Will Call South Africa 'Terrorist'|date=June 13, 1988|publisher=New York Times]

He was immediately suspended from work on full pay. In a House of Commons written question on December 13 1988 Tam Dalyell asked the Prime Minister "when she expects to receive the report from Sir Robin Butler on the case of Mr P J Haseldine and his letter to "The Guardian"; and if she will make a statement?" The Prime Minister replied "I do not expect to receive such a report. This case is being considered in accordance with procedures laid down in diplomatic service regulations." [cite web|url=http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm198889/cmhansrd/1989-02-10/Writtens-2.html|title=Parliamentary Question|author=George Foulkes MP] On 21 March 1989, following a disciplinary proceeding, he was called to resign or be dismissed.

Haseldine submitted an application to the European Court of Human Rights in 1991, claiming that his dismissal for writing the letter to "Guardian" contravened his right to freedom of expression, but the ECHR declared his application inadmissible the following year.cite court|court=European Court of Human Rights|litigants=Patrick Haseldinevs United Kingdom|date=May 13, 1992|url=http://cmiskp.echr.coe.int/tkp197/view.asp?action=html&documentId=665945&portal=hbkm&source=externalbydocnumber&table=F69A27FD8FB86142BF01C1166DEA398649]

Later activity

Haseldine wrote a series of letters to the Guardian newspaper, promoting the conspiracy theory that South Africa is behind the elections. [cite web|url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

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publisher=Labour_Party|title=Patrick_Haseldine,_Labour_candidate_for_Ongar|date=1993]

References

ee also

*Clive Ponting
*Sarah Tisdall