Nicholas Ridley, the Trade Secretary,  made a right fool of himself and seems sure to have to resign
Nicholas Ridley, the Trade Secretary, made a right fool of himself and seems sure to have to resign

A day of office work and Council Finance Seminar in a heat wave whilst also briefing Mark and Joan for our time away and ordering the Fred Broad Ambulanceman's memorial trophy. Nicholas Ridley, the Trade Secretary, has made a right fool of himself by sounding off in a magazine interview with a stream of ignorant and offensive comments to our European colleagues and Boris Yeltzin, President of the Russian Parliament, has quit the Russian Communist Party and it seems that multi-party politics is on the way there

It was another very hot day with sunshine, warm air and the continuance of the insect plague that is driving us all mad. The electricians finished off today and I hoovered out the office and tried to dust it off a bit so that I could get at my filing cabinets. I finished off my discussions with Mark and Joan and then settled down to a large postbag of arrangements and correspondence which ended up with a dozen or more letters to post. In particular, I made the necessary arrangements for the Ambulanceman's memorial trophy to be ordered and a host of other pressing things that had been piling up. In the afternoon I had to break off and get ready for the HDC finance seminar and was just about there on time at 4.00pm and had to stay until the end at after 9.00pm.

** "Read More" BELOW for the complete story **

There were plenty of breaks, but it was just about the hottest day of the year and quite unbearable. I met up with the chairman of Leisure and Amenities, Joyce Day, and passed over my Little Paxton photographic archive on loan for a project and film she is doing on Little Paxton Pits. I gave the Labour leader, Jim Lomax a lift home and was pleased to relax after 9.00pm, getting to bed quite late in the end. Nicholas Ridley, the Trade Secretary, has made a right fool of himself by sounding off in a magazine interview with a stream of ignorant and offensive comments to our European colleagues. He was particularly rude about Germany and its politicians are up in arms at these "insulting and scandalous" remarks and it seems he may have to resign. At Prime Ministers question time today, Thatcher refused to condemn him but surely he is living on borrowed time. Boris Yeltzin, President of the Russian Parliament, has quit the Russian Communist Party and it seems that multi-party politics is on the way there. There has been a spate of holiday coach crashes in the UK and abroad, with many deaths and injuries.