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December 16, 1999

Letter, O'Brien to Sherard Cowper-Coles, 'Telephone Call with President Clinton, 16 December'

This document was made possible with support from Blavatnik Family Foundation

CONFIDENTIAL – PERSONAL

[Handwritten] File

10 DOWNING STREET

LONDON SWIA 2AA

 

From the Private Secretary

16 December 1999

 

[Handwritten] Dear Sherard,

 

TELEPHONE CALL WITH PRESIDENT CLINTON,

16 DECEMBER

 

The White House called unexpectedly at 10.00 pm this evening to say that Clinton was keen to talk to the Prime Minister straight away. They ended up speaking for-some 15 minutes touching briefly on a range of subjects. Having initiated the call, Clinton in the end did not have much to say.

I should be grateful if you could give this letter a limited circulation within the FCO.

Israel/Syria

Clinton said he had just finished two days of talks with Barak and Shara'a They had agreed to come back on 3 January and try to get an agreement through. He thought there was a real chance they would make it. The Prime Minister said that would be fantastic. Clinton said an agreement would require considerable investment. The US would carry much of the weight, but they would need help from the EU. He would be seeing Prodi tomorrow at the EU/US Summit and would raise the issue with him. The Prime Minister said that it would be a tremendous breakthrough if an agreement was reached and of course the EU should do what they could to help. Clinton thought it was possible that the whole Middle East Peace Process might be concluded successfully in the next two months.

Iraq

Clinton said he was keen to put the Iraq resolution to a vote tomorrow. The Prime Minister agreed. He thought it was his fault that there had been this delay. Chirac had been very persuasive that only a little more effort was needed to reach consensus. But in fact the advice the Prime Minister said he was receiving, that there was no prospect of Russia voting in favour, had clearly been correct. Chirac had been categoric that France would not vote in favour unless Russia did so. It was a pity we would not have a unanimous resolution, but there was no point in any further delay.

The Prime Minister asked Clinton whether he thought there was any chance of getting Iraq to do anything new as a result of the resolution. Clinton said he was not sure. The Prime Minister observed that it was sad for the people of Iraq that there was not unanimous Security Council pressure on Saddam.

Helsinki Summit

Clinton congratulated the Prime Minister on the Helsinki outcome. The achievement on ESDI and in particular on Turkey were very important. The Prime Minister strongly agreed. The Finns had done extremely well, as had Solana who had sorted out an initially negative Turkish response. It was extremely important to bind Turkey into the West.

Europe

The Prime Minister said he had a heavy domestic agenda at the moment and was facing considerable problems on European policy. The French had delivered a bad blow on the beef issue. Clinton commented that the French had good selves and bad selves and you were never quite sure which you would meet.

Russia

The two leaders shared frustration about the situation in Russia. Clinton thought that as long as those in power were gaining popularity as a result of the Chechnya campaign, nothing would rum it around. He had not spoken to Putin recently because he did not know what to say to him. Anything he asked of Putin was likely to be rejected. The Prime Minister stressed that it was important that we did not make promises to Russia that we could not keep.

IMF Director

The Prime Minister said he had a long and useful talk with Larry Summers yesterday. They had discussed the IMF job. Clinton said we had got to get somebody good into that position. The Prime Minister strongly agreed. (Although Clinton did not say so in terms, it was implicit that he did not consider the present candidates up to the task.)

Northern Ireland

Clinton said he would see Trimble on Monday. The Prime Minister thanked him warmly. It was important for Trimble to be seen by his own people to have received a boost from devolution. Clinton said he would also do what he could with Sinn Fein on "the gun deal".

The Prime Minister told Clinton about the first meeting of the Council of the Isles - the first time ever the leaders of all the Islands had come together. Clinton sounded surprised but not terribly impressed.

Visits

The Prime Minister said he was very keen to get together in the New Year. There was much to talk about. He knew some dates were being identified and he hoped that something could be agreed. Clinton was positive about the prospect and shared that hope.

Comment

An odd telephone call, with Clinton pausing between each brief utterance. Although Clinton had initiated the call, it was the Prime Minister who kept it going. It seemed to have been triggered by the agreement in the Israel/Syria talks. But Washington may wish to gently enquire whether there was any subtext. 

I am copying this letter by fax to Christopher Meyer (Washington).

 

[Handwritten] Yours ever

O’Brien

pp JOHN SAWERS

 

Sherard Cowper-Coles

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

 

CONFIDENTIAL - PERSONAL

Clinton and Blair discuss Israel/Syria, Iraq, the Helsinki Summit, translatic relations, Russia, the IMF, and Northern Ireland.

Author(s):



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Source

PREM 49/1683, The National Archives, UK.

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Original Uploaded Date

2024-09-23

Type

Letter

Language

Record ID

301040

Original Classification

Confidential

Donors

Blavatnik Family Foundation