为什么在战斗最激烈的时候撒切尔似乎不在战场上了

 

豪的结论清楚地表明，

他认为在撒切尔的领导下，国家没有建设性的未来。

他提到他对他的朋友首相的忠诚

和

对 "我所认为的国家的真正利益 "的忠诚之间的 "冲突"，

他得出结论，不再可能继续在政府任职。

豪声称已经与这一决定进行了长时间的 "搏斗"，

他敦促党内其他人 "考虑他们自己的反应"，并跟随他的步伐，

做 "对我的党和我的国家来说是正确的"。

迈克尔-赫塞尔廷（Michael Heseltine）在第二天早上宣布了他的领导权挑战。

 

Howe’s conclusion made clear that he saw no constructive future for the nation under Thatcher’s leadership. Alluding to a ‘conflict’ between his loyalty to his friend the prime minister and allegiance to ‘what I perceive to be the true interests of the nation’, he concluded that it was no longer possible to continue serving in government. Claiming to have ‘wrestled’ at length with this decision, Howe urged others in the party to ‘consider their own responses’ and follow his lead in doing what is ‘right for my party and my country’.[137]

This appeal for ‘others’ in the Conservative Party to reconsider their loyalty to Thatcher’s government implicitly blessed her overthrow. Michael Heseltine declared his leadership challenge the following morning.

 

这个时机对撒切尔来说是非常不方便的。

她原定于11月16日访问北爱尔兰，然后前往巴黎参加欧洲安全与合作委员会（CSCE）为期三天的会议（定于11月19日至21日），现在这段时间将是新保守党领导层竞选的最后几天。

尽管面临挑战，撒切尔还是选择了履行她的旅行承诺。

 

The timing was highly inconvenient for Thatcher. She was due to visit Northern Ireland on November 16 and then travel to Paris for a three-day conference (scheduled for November 19–21) of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), a period which now would be the final days of the new Conservative Party leadership campaign. Despite the challenge, Thatcher opted to honor her travel commitments.

 

从远处观察这场（对一个局外人来说）令人惊讶的领导权竞争，我对撒切尔的决定感到吃惊。

也许我超越了以前的界限--我的判断总是局限于外交政策--我给查尔斯-鲍威尔（Charles Powell）打电话，他现在是我的密友，

问她为什么在战斗最激烈的时候似乎不在战场上了。

 

的确，这次会议代表了冷战后一个充满希望的时刻：

布什和戈尔巴乔夫将与他们的欧洲同行会面，规划欧洲大陆的未来。

但是，

对撒切尔来说，更审慎的做法肯定是留在英国，与摇摆不定的支持者争论她的问题。

 

Observing this (to an outsider) surprising leadership contest from afar, I was taken aback by Thatcher’s decision. Perhaps overstepping previous bounds – which had always confined my judgments to foreign policy – I called Charles Powell, by now a close friend, and asked why she seemed to be absenting herself from the field at the height of battle. It was true that the conference represented a post-Cold War moment of great promise: Bush and Gorbachev were set to meet with their European counterparts and chart the future of the continent. But, for Thatcher, surely a more prudent course would be to stay in Britain and argue her case with wavering supporters.

 

我的建议没有得到支持。

撒切尔认为她的责任在于世界舞台。

在她看来，放弃会议而去进行保守党的争论，

是一种危险的缺乏信心的表现。

尽管她的决定充满了个性，但事实证明是灾难性的。

 

My suggestion did not find favor: Thatcher believed her duty lay on the world stage. Eschewing the conference to conduct a Conservative Party dispute would, in her mind, have signaled a dangerous lack of confidence. Suffused as it was with character, her decision proved disastrous.