There's always Peter
This is really the most intractable of all prob- lems. The best theoretical solution would be to name one of the most senior members of the present Cabinet. Sir Alec can scarcely be asked, and would be fully entitled to refuse. Yet to press the job on someone who does not envisage his political career as coming to its end, is to invite him to contemplate political suicide. Willie White- law has the seniority but he will be needed, apart from anything else, to hold the party together when the Irish question may easily threaten to tear it apart. Reggie Maudling, too, can hardly be spared—he it is whom the party's top brass have determined shall suc- ceed Heath, swiftly and painlessly should the proverbial bus intervene; and he cannot therefore be risked in Ulster. The suspicion —amounting to a certainty among the Ulster hard-liners—also exists that he lacks the requisite resolution for the task.
'There's always Peter' said one senior Minister. And indeed if someone to be en- trusted with the direct rule of Ulster is to be found within the present cabinet Peter Carrington, the Minister of Defence, looks most likely to be saddled with the appalling job. As a member of the House of Lords, he has progressed politically about as far as possible; and the Foreign Office could be his afterwards. He is very highly regarded within the Cabinet, and he perforce has had to find out a lot about Ireland since going to Defence. He is the best bet.
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