‘Grocer meets Butcher’: Marcello Caetano's London visit of 1973 and the last days of Portugal's Estado Novo

Norrie MacQueen is senior lecturer in International Relations at the University of Dundee. His books include The Decolonization of Portuguese Africa (Longman, 1997), United Nations Peacekeeping in Africa since 1960 (Longman, 2002) and Peacekeeping and the International System (Routledge, 2006). He is currently researching the politics of national contributions to peacekeeping operations. Pedro Aires Oliveira teaches at Universidade Nova de Lisboa and is a member of its Institute of Contemporary History. He is the author of Os Despojos da Aliança. A Grã-Bretanha e a Questão Colonial Portuguesa, 1945–75 (Tinta da China, 2007) and is currently researching Portugal's involvement in Rhodesia's independence. Correspondence to: Norrie MacQueen, Politics, School of Humanities, University of Dundee, Nethergate, Dundee DD1 4HN, UK. Email: [email protected]; [email protected]

Abstract

The visit of the Portuguese premier Marcelo Caetano to London in July 1973 failed to boost Portugal's international respectability. Instead, despite the qualified sympathy of the British Conservative government, the visit highlighted Lisbon's isolation from the realities of the cold war and détente. Public protests punctuated the visit, and the gulf between the attitudes of the main British political parties to Portugal and its African policies was exposed. Labour's subsequent return to power in 1974 coincided with the overthrow of the Caetano regime and the new London government helped mediate the outwardly alarming ‘revolutionary process’ in Portugal to a nervous western alliance.

Notes

Norrie MacQueen is senior lecturer in International Relations at the University of Dundee. His books include The Decolonization of Portuguese Africa (Longman, 1997), United Nations Peacekeeping in Africa since 1960 (Longman, 2002) and Peacekeeping and the International System (Routledge, 2006). He is currently researching the politics of national contributions to peacekeeping operations. Pedro Aires Oliveira teaches at Universidade Nova de Lisboa and is a member of its Institute of Contemporary History. He is the author of Os Despojos da Aliança. A Grã-Bretanha e a Questão Colonial Portuguesa, 1945–75 (Tinta da China, 2007) and is currently researching Portugal's involvement in Rhodesia's independence. Correspondence to: Norrie MacQueen, Politics, School of Humanities, University of Dundee, Nethergate, Dundee DD1 4HN, UK. Email: [email protected]; [email protected]

 [1] On the fraught relationship between Salazar and the Kennedy and Johnson administrations see Schneidman, Engaging Africa, 1–104. The most thorough Portuguese treatment of this period is Rodrigues, Salazar-Kennedy.

 [2] The very different relationship with the Nixon administration is dealt with by Freire Antunes, Nixon e Caetano.

 [3] FCO, Summary of Security Council Resolutions. These resolutions included demands for compliance with sanctions against Rhodesia.

 [4] Gleijeses, Conflicting Missions, 211.

 [5] As recalled by Richard Falk and quoted by Maxwell, ‘The Thorns of the Portuguese Revolution’, 266.

 [6] The alliance dated from June 1373 when Edward III of England and Fernando I and Leonor of Portugal signed a pact in St Paul's Cathedral in London. The agreement was reached in the context of Portugal's conflict with Castile. A more substantial alliance was established with the Treaty of Windsor 13 years later on the marriage of João I of Portugal and Philippa of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt. By 1973 it was the oldest alliance still in existence anywhere in the world.

 [7] Telegram 63 from Faria to Ministério de Negócios Estrangeiros (MNE) (Confidential), 12 February 1969. Telo, Faria, 382–3.

 [8] The best accounts in English of social, political and economic conditions in Portugal during the late Estado Novo are to be found in Costa Pinto, Contemporary Portugal.

 [9] Relatively little has been published on Anglo-Portuguese relations in the post-1945 period. Two articles by in the Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History examine relations over Africa in the 1960s: ‘Britain and the Angolan Revolt of 1961’, and ‘Britain and Portuguese Africa, 1961–65’. MacQueen explores relations over the liberation struggle in Guinea-Bissau in ‘Belated Decolonization and UN Politics’. The most substantial recent work in Portuguese is the monograph on relations over Portugal's colonial policies by Oliveira, Os Despojos da Aliança.

[10] Personal Note of Conversation with Brimelow. Reprinted in Telo, Faria, 394–5. The text erroneously dates this meeting as 1970 rather than 1971.

[11] See paper by A. Brooke Turner of the Southern European Department in response to Muirhead dispatch of 4 July 1972 (Confidential), 2 August 1972. The National Archives (TNA) Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) 45/1120. There was no precedent, it was pointed out, for development aid to be given to the colonies of another power, and naval cooperation was ‘not really feasible’. More generally, Brooke Turner had misgivings about any discussion of updating the terms of the alliance – which was why his Department was ‘nervous’ of the visit itself.

[12] Note by D.C. Thomas, Southern European Department: ‘600th Anniversary of the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance, June 1973 – Visit to the United Kingdom by the Prime Minister of Portugal’ (Confidential), 24 August 1972. TNA FCO 9/1588.

[13] Letter from Sir Thomas Brimelow to Lord Bridges (Private Secretary to the Prime Minister): ‘Possible Visit to Britain by the Prime Minister of Portugal’ (Confidential), 31 August 1972. TNA FCO 9/1588.

[14] Note on Meeting on Anglo-Portuguese Relations, 19 September 1972. TNA FCO 9/1584. Any Portuguese proposal for naval cooperation should be resisted, the meeting decided, to prevent another ‘Simonstown wrangle’ – a reference to the recent controversy over the Royal Navy's use of South African facilities. On the EEC, it ‘was agreed that it should be a standing concern of HMG to gain credit with the Portuguese by protecting their interests within the Community as far as possible’. But it was recognized that ‘to do this might become increasingly difficult after we had become members of the Community and that widely differing views about Portugal were held among the members of the enlarged Community’.

[15] Hansard 853 columns 407–9, 21 March 1973.

[16] Letter from Commander William Willett to John Curle, 12 February 1973. TNA FCO 9/1803.

[17] The End the Alliance campaign was led by the radical barrister Lord Anthony Gifford and the writer Tony Hodges. It brought together various groups across a spectrum of British political activism from the Anti-Apartheid Movement to the Communist Party and the Trotskyist left. It was supported by leading figures in both the Labour and Liberal Parties.

[18] Telegram 386, Faria to MNE, 16 May 1973 (Secret). Telo, Faria, 421–2.

[19] ‘A duração da aliança luso-Britânica faz com os velhos amigos sintam ligados mesmo quando nem sempre de acordo’, Diário do Notícias, 8 June 1973, 1.

[20] ‘The speech the Duke never made’, The Guardian, 18 June 1973, 1.

[21] Hansard 859, column 520, 4 July 1973.

[22] For an account (though a somewhat partisan one) of Frelimo's campaign against Cabora Bassa at this time see Munslow, Mozambique.

[23] ‘Portuguese massacres reported by priests’, The Times, 10 July 1973, 1. Hastings later expanded his account in Wiriyamu.

[24] ‘The massacres in Mozambique’, The Times, 10 July 1973, 15.

[25] ‘Atrocity storm puts pressure on Caetano’, The Guardian, 11 July 1973, 1. The report went on to give an account of Wilson having ‘reduced Mr Heath to bellowing rage’ in the Commons when he suggested that Caetano should be replaced as an official guest by the Prime Minister of New Zealand who had been campaigning to stop French nuclear tests in the Pacific. Hansard 859, column 1275, 10 July 1973.

[26] The Labour motion read: ‘that this House expresses its horror of reports of brutal massacres of innocent civilians by the Portuguese military authorities in Mozambique and, in the absence of any authenticated and validated repudiation of the reports, calls upon the Prime Minister to inform the Prime Minister of Portugal that his proposed visit to this country is unacceptable to the British people’. ‘Mr Wilson leads Labour attack’, The Times, 11 July 1973, 1.

[27] ‘Chegou a Londres o Presidente do Conselho’, A República, 16 July 1973, 1 and 16.

[28] ‘Marcello Caetano parte hoje para Londres’, Diário do Notícias 16 July 1973, 1.

[29] Telegram 547, Faria to MNE (Confidential), 11 July 1973. In Telo, Faria, 441–2.

[30] ‘Protests likely during visit by Dr Caetano’, The Times, 9 July 1973, 4. Soares had been invited to London as a recipient of a Bevan Foundation Fellowship.

[31] ‘Commons confusion on Caetano Debate’, The Guardian, 12 July 1973, 1.

[32] Telegram 218, President do Conselho to Faria (Secret and Most Urgent), 12 July 1973. Telo, Faria, 442–3.

[33] Letter from John Ure, Lisbon embassy to Douglas-Home: ‘Dr Caetano's visit: a view from Lisbon’, 23 July 1973. TNA FCO 9/1312.

[34] Telegram 552 from Faria to MNE (Secret and Most Urgent), 12 July 1973. Telo, Faria, 443–4.

[35] ‘Wilson says NATO should expel Lisbon’, The Guardian, 14 July 1973, 2.

[36] Copy of telegram from Presidente do Conselho to MNE for onward transmission to Faria (Secret and Most Urgent), 13 July 1973. Telo, Faria, 445.

[37] ‘Caetano encounters mounting protests’, The Guardian, 17 July 1973, 1. ‘Grocer’ was the disparaging name for Edward Heath coined by the satirical magazine Private Eye.

[38] Record of Conversation between the Prime Minister and the President of the Portuguese Council of State, 16 July 1973. TNA Prime Minister's Office (PREM) 15/1826. Foreign Minister Patrício as well as Faria and Muirhead were also present at the meeting.

[39] Record of Conversation between the Prime Minister and the President of the Portuguese Council of State, 16 July 1973. TNA Prime Minister's Office (PREM) 15/1826. Foreign Minister Patrício as well as Faria and Muirhead were also present at the meeting

[40] ‘African hits at pact with Lisbon’, The Times, 20 June 1973, 8.

[41] Record of Conversation between the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary and the Portuguese Prime Minister, 18 July 1973. TNA FCO 36/1410. The Portuguese did not initiate or facilitate any meaningful enquiry, either national or international into the Wiriyamu incident. ‘Investigations’ by the Portuguese military and civil authorities in Mozambique unsurprisingly found no case to answer. The issue then became lost amidst the upheaval of the Portuguese coup April 1974 and the rapid process of decolonization that followed.

[42] The pro-regime Lisbon daily, Diário de Notícias, reported that the ‘demonstrators marched in silence … with the exception of the Trotskyists who, possibly drugged, shouted insults as if they were possessed’. ‘O banquete oferecido em honra de Marcello Caetano no colégio naval de Greenwhich’, Diário de Notícias, 17 July 1973, 7. At the end of the visit the official Portuguese line was that the demonstrations had been organized by ‘small groups with whom some Portuguese traitors led by Dr Mario Soares associated themselves’. ‘Dr Caetano flies home after “a successful visit”’, The Guardian, 20 July 1973, 6.

[43] ‘Confusion over Commons debate’, The Guardian, 12 July 1973, 1.

[44] ‘Marcello Caetano vivamente impressionado com a cordial recepção na capital britânica’, Diário de Notícias, 18 July 1973, 1.

[45] ‘Londres considera frouxo (em Moçambique) o bloqueio à Rodésia’, Diário de Lisboa, 18 July 1973, 11.

[46] Ure to Douglas-Home. TNA FCO 9/1312.

[47] Quoted in ‘Conservadores defendem a visita de Marcello Caetano’, Diário de Lisboa, 17 July 1973, 1.

[48] ‘Portuguese men of war’, The Guardian, 18 July 1973, 1.

[49] Hansard 860, column 331, 17 July 1973.

[50] Hansard 860, column 329.

[51] Hansard 860, column 266.

[52] Hansard 860, column 277. Douglas-Home's reference was to Hansard 777, column 1117, 11 February 1969.

[53] Hansard, 860, column 278, 17 July 1973. The quotation was from Hansard 793, column 44, 8 December 1969.

[54] Hansard 860, column 332, 17 July 1973.

[55] ‘Portuguese men of war’, The Guardian, 18 July 1973, 1.

[56] ‘Wilson massacrado por Sir Alex na Câmara dos Comuns’, Diário de Notícias, 19 July 1973, 1.

[57] Portuguese foreign ministry official quoted in ‘Yells and jeers as Commons debate visit of Dr Caetano’, The Times, 18 July 19873, 1.

[58] The demonstrators had been bussed in from the various municipal districts around Lisbon. A similar event had already been orchestrated in the Mozambique capital, Lourenço Marques. ‘Presidente do Conselho regressou a Lisboa’, Diário de Lisboa, 19 July 1973, 1.

[59] O Sexto Centanário da Aliança, 26. This collection of the speeches Caetano had made at the various functions in London and immediately on his return was compiled and published by the government within weeks of the visit.

[60] O Sexto Centanário da Aliança, 27.

[61] MacQueen, ‘Belated Decolonization’, passim.

[62] Although finally realized some weeks into the term of the Labour government, the process had started when Douglas-Home was in office. The talks remained secret until 1994 when they were reported in the Portuguese press. The key Portuguese diplomat involved, José Manuel Villas-Boas, later wrote a detailed account in Caderno de Memórias, 100–11.

[63] Spínola, Portugal e o Futuro.

[64] Ure to Douglas-Home. TNA FCO 9/1312.

[65] Report by T. E. Huggan, ‘Unrest in the Portuguese Army’, December 1973. TNA FCO 9/1781.

[66] Muirhead to Douglas-Home, Annual Review for 1973, 28 December 1973. TNA FCO 8/2056.

[67] Letter from John Ure to Secretary of State, FCO, ‘The Spínola Affair’, 26 March 1974. TNA FCO 9/2044.

[68] Labour's election manifesto for February 1974 made no mention of Portugal in NATO. It did however commit a future Labour government to ‘support for the liberation movements of Southern Africa and a disengagement from Britain's unhealthy involvement with Apartheid’. Let Us Work Together – Labour's Way Out of the Crisis.

[69] Wilson, Final Term, 168–72.

[70] Soares interview in Avillez, Do Fundo da Revolução, 279.

[71] Kissinger, Years of Renewal, 630.

[72] Callaghan, Time and Change, 362.

[73] Negotiations took place in London in May 1974 between Soares (then leading the decolonization process) and leaders of the PAIGC over the transfer of power in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde. See MacQueen, Decolonization of Portuguese Africa, 101–3.