British civil servant

Whether the post of cabinet secretary and chief of staff should be performed by the same person.The advantage of having the two positions held by the same person is that the chief executive can maintain daily contact with the chief executive—the prime minister, and the first to get the most out of the water.Being close to the prime minister is key.Since World War II, the Cabinet Office has been adjacent to the Prime Minister's Office and official residence.

The proximity also explains why the post of secretary-general is best served by a cabinet secretary rather than an official who is farther away from the prime minister, who cannot maintain day-to-day contact with the prime minister.

But what if he concurrently serves as the executive vice-minister of the Ministry of Finance?Norman Brooke will be the head of civil servants in name and de facto. After serving as the permanent undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance, he will combine the power of promotion and salary of civil servants, which is very scary.

Norman Brook and Emperor Tianqi have the same hobby of being a carpenter, but he is obviously more enthusiastic about power than the carpenter emperor. This will be the first time that such a powerful real power figure has appeared since the Cabinet Office appeared.

Alan Wilson left Whitehall NO.70, still imagining how things will evolve after Edward Bridges leaves office?

Since God tells me that God has no objection, he will meet with Sir Edward who is about to retire, and I believe there will be no criticism.

Not long after, Alan Wilson arrived at the Ministry of Finance, and met Edward Bridges' deputy, Frank, who played an important role in the Australian arms sales, and the two exchanged pleasantries.

As a former cabinet secretary, after Edward Bridges stepped down as cabinet secretary, he was taken away by Norman Brook a few years later as Chief of Staff.

Alan Wilson was careful not to mention this matter, but Edward Bridges was very open-minded. He also took out a glass of whiskey and poured it for Alan Wilson, "Norman's pursuit of power is much stronger than mine. I also admit it."

"Sir Edward, I don't know how to join the discussion." Alan Wilson took the glass and shook his head with a wry smile. The two big figures in the Whitehall of the previous generation, if he spoke, it was of little use, and if he didn't speak, he seemed timid.

"Don't mind, my dissatisfaction with him has disappeared since I decided to retire. I hate his personal relationship with the Prime Minister, but it is also because he is too close to the Prime Minister that it is today. Norman has long been very With authority, he was the private secretary of the Home Secretary at the age of 35, the same rank as you are now. He became my deputy at the age of 40. At that time, the whole Whitehall believed that he was the next cabinet secretary after me. "

Listening to Edward Bridges' words, Alan Wilson couldn't help sighing, "That's really amazing."

"Frequent contacts and deep personal relationships with politicians have played a role in this matter. Whether it is the Conservative Party or the Labor Party, Norman can always get along with the Prime Minister and ministers, which I cannot do."

Edward Bridges couldn't help sighing, "It's just that I didn't expect him to be so passionate about power."

Speaking of this, Edward Bridges looked at Alan Wilson for a moment, "Did you hear any news when you came back this time, such as the candidate for the Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Finance after I retire."

"It can be regarded as hearing some news, but it has not been confirmed yet." Alan Wilson scratched his scalp and said embarrassedly, "There is a saying that Sir Norman will also serve as the executive secretary of the Ministry of Finance."

"This is inevitable, there is nothing uncertain." Edward Bridges laughed out loud, "And I can be sure that he will continue to hold several important positions until the day he retires."

"Wouldn't that be another seven or eight years? Or even ten years." Alan Wilson calculated Norman Brook's age and muttered to himself.

"Do you think he will affect the promotion of the newcomers if he also serves as the executive secretary of the Ministry of Finance? You don't have to worry about that, he is the cabinet secretary, just carry out some reforms. For example, because of the importance of the Ministry of Finance, set up two executive undersecretaries , he will concurrently serve as the first permanent undersecretary, and Frank will serve as the second permanent undersecretary, and this matter will be settled."

Edward Bridges Shi Shiran pointed out, "This is the advantage of being a cabinet secretary. As long as the prime minister does not object, he can reorganize the powerful Ministry of Finance. In fact, the Ministry of Finance also has the strength to challenge the cabinet secretary, so It is reasonable to guard against one hand."

Several powerful ministries, the ministries of finance, foreign affairs and interior, have always been potential challengers.

Among them, the Ministry of Finance is the strongest, otherwise Edward Bridges would not choose the Ministry of Finance as his last stop.

As his retirement approached, Edward Bridges no longer maintained a highly tense mental state, and now he was able to laugh off the friction with Norman Brook, and asked very proactively, "Alan, if you continue like this, Are you satisfied with being the chief executive in the colony? Sir Ismay is approaching his age, he was Churchill’s military adviser, and we are at the same time, once the permanent undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs becomes vacant, this is a good opportunity.”

The meaning of Edward Bridges is very simple. Alan Wilson is the deputy secretary-general of the Overseas Assets Management Committee. He usually deals with colonial affairs and has no shortage of diplomatic experience.

Who doesn't know that the Commonwealth Department, the Colonial Department, the original Indian Affairs Department and the Foreign Office do the same thing, but they face different places, and the four departments are all in the same headquarters building.

Now that the colony is gradually shrinking, several departments that do the same thing tend to merge. If the permanent undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs retires, and if Alan Wilson can take over, it will almost take an important step towards the core position of Whitehall. step.

"My lord, of course I also hope to seize this opportunity. After clearing the hidden dangers of the colony, I will definitely come back." Alan Wilson did not hide his desire to improve, and mentioned a few hidden dangers by the way, but No solution was mentioned.

After all, to force Indonesia into the socialist camp, no matter how good a personal relationship is, it cannot be confessed.

Edward Bridges asked curiously, "You manage a lot of Chinese in the colonies, right? If you're so confident, won't there be an anti-British wave?"

"The Chinese are a culturally disadvantaged group. Of course they don't think so. In British India, Hindus also thought they were strong, but the fact is that before we landed, Hindus had been ruled by peace believers for hundreds of years. .”

Alan Wilson wasn't trying to hide his mistakes at work, he really thought so, and he believed it.

The cultural influence of various dynasties has little influence in Southeast Asia under the nose, and the only influence is Vietnam.

Looking at other Southeast Asian countries, isn’t Indonesia the mainstream of peace religion?They can't even compete with the peace religion from the Middle East at home. The so-called culture is more attractive, just listen to it.

If not in modern times, Europe and the United States have shattered the powerful countries in the Peace Church area. The remaining countries are limited by population and land area, and cannot develop in the Ottoman Empire and the Arab Empire in the agricultural era. If a Peace Church power exists, it can develop casually Much stronger than India.

If it has influence on the energy of the Middle East, even the Soviet Union, which cannot get close to the Cold War, or China in the 21st century is enough to cause headaches for the Christian world.

This is why he must have more Chinese than Malays in the Malayan colonies. If a group of Chinese with old social ideas do not have a numerical advantage, I am afraid that they will not be able to compete with the Malays who believe in peace religion.

It is gratifying that the Chinese in the Malayan colony have feudal ideas in their heads and are no less conservative than the Malays.Otherwise, there may be events in later generations of Germany where men joined the Peace Sect in order to fight against the white left.

"I hope your judgment is correct. Of course, I don't know the situation. It's just that if something happens to Malaya, as the current High Commissioner, it may make colleagues in Whitehall question your reliability. I don't want your hard work. Dongliu, that would be a pity."

Edward Bridges is optimistic about Allen Wilson, and he does not want unpredictable obstacles on the smooth road due to some twists and turns, so he reminds him of this.

Of course Alan Wilson was grateful. He originally wanted to talk about the revolving door, but this is the Ministry of Finance after all.Edward Bridges, though in his last days more at ease, was not the proper subject to speak of.

"The cabinet secretary said that there will be a reception, and I will attend it at that time. Pamela still has some things she wants to talk to Sir about continuing to benefit the society."

This is not an occasion for a detailed discussion, Alan Wilson still revealed a bit of tone, waiting for the other party's reaction.

"Well, it's really exciting." Edward Bridges raised his eyebrows, then nodded reservedly.

He knew that a revolving door had opened in front of him.Although he was curious in his heart, the composure he once had as a cabinet secretary was still there, and he just nodded tacitly.

After leaving the headquarters building of the Ministry of Finance, Allen Wilson began to think about what to do next, "By the way, the headquarters of the de Havilland company, has the armed helicopters produced any results?"

This time I came back on a temporary basis, and the lessons learned in logistics support are problems to be avoided in daily work in the future.

Chapter 883 Armed Helicopter Test Flight

Armed helicopters are the standard equipment of the army in later generations, and Apache gunships are the most famous one. The advantage of heavy-duty armed helicopters is that they can allocate more weight to armor, weapon loads, fuel or other equipment. War has been tempered.

Even the opponents of the United States recognize Apache's status very much.A powerful group of armed helicopters has a huge restraint effect on armored forces. Even in the previous French-Vietnamese War, France relied heavily on armed helicopters.

However, the performance of the early armed helicopters was not satisfactory.This is especially true of the UK. It has not been a day or two since the UK has been good at manufacturing defective weapons. For a long time, the gunships it has manufactured do not even have tail rotors.

For a country like the United Kingdom, which has accumulated a lot of technology in the past but lacks the ability to integrate, a shell is just very useful. Alan Wilson provided a sketch before, and asked De Havilland to bother through his wife to see if it could Integrate it as needed.

In all fairness, Alan Wilson is not very confident. Although he is barely a military fan and has seen photos of Apache in the era of advanced Internet, he can only make no mistakes in the description of large pieces. The final product, It also depends on de Havilland's own ability, but no matter what, it is not a loss compared to products that do not even have a tail rotor.

In the field of armed helicopters, Britain can be regarded as the weak link of imperialism. Its previous level was among the major participating countries, and it was better than China and Japan. It dare not say that it is stronger than Italy.

But it just so happens that Britain is a strong country in fixed-wing aircraft, even stronger than the Soviet Union and Germany, but it is a lame leg.

Now this lame leg has the hope of being straightened. With this hope, Alan Wilson arrived at the headquarters of De Havilland Company and the largest civilian airliner manufacturer in the world today, but he does not know when it will be Meet the famous entrepreneurs caught up by Boeing.

This is not the first time Alan Wilson and de Havilland have met, and this time they did not beat around the bush, saying that his mere son-in-law is replacing his wife, Pamela Mountbatten, and he will return to London this time to see the gunship. test flight.

"Of course there is another reason, which is to look at the sea transportation test of customized containers. If huge economic value is reflected, the routes connecting the mainland and Malaya will be replaced with new types of containers. The planned Singapore will become Asia's Refining center."

Containers have been around for many years. The structure and specifications of early containers were different, which affected the international circulation of containers. It is urgent to formulate international general standards for containers to facilitate their development.

This standard was formulated in Paris 20 years ago, which is normal. Paris has formulated many modern standards, which also reflects France's long-term important position in the world. Compared with the metric system formulated by the French, a container standard is nothing What?

However, more than 90.00% of the containers in Europe are now made of wood. This time Alan Wilson came back to order steel containers for land and sea transport.

The idea of ​​building a terminal freight yard would have trucks drive down ramps to specially designed ships and unload trailers.The ship can carry the trailer to New York and other ports. After the ship arrives at the port, the trailer will be picked up by other trucks.In this way, land and sea combined transport can be realized.

This was not pioneered by Alan Wilson. The Americans were thinking about it almost at the same time. The difference is that the person in the United States who is thinking about sea-land transport is a businessman, while Alan Wilson is an official.

As long as Alan Wilson pays attention to this aspect, he must implement it faster than the Americans.Otherwise, wouldn't it be a waste of time to go back to Whitehall this time?

"France has proved the superiority of armed helicopter groups against guerrillas. Malaya is not far from South Vietnam, and our advisory group observed it in Saigon at the time. This can be confirmed. But we in the UK are lagging behind in this respect .It is not as good as any of the US-Soviet laws. And the UK has to face the threat of the Soviet Army stationed in Germany. The huge armored group needs an excellent armed helicopter."

Alan Wilson repeatedly talked about the importance of armed helicopters to the United Kingdom. By the way, he said that this is the common opinion of their husband and wife. De Havilland said in disbelief, "Not as good as China?"

"Mr. de Havilland may not know that the Soviet Union has provided comprehensive support to China, starting from the Korean War." Allen Wilson explained calmly, "China's armed helicopters belong to the Soviet Union."

Z-[-] is the first helicopter produced in China, and it is also the beginning of scientific research and application of helicopters in New China.The Z-[-] helicopter was imitated by the Harbin Aircraft Manufacturing Company based on the drawings of the Soviet Mi-[-] helicopter.

During the period of the 50s, there was no gap between China's weapons and equipment and the world's major military powers.

The Soviet Union and even Imperial Russia had nothing to say when they treated their allies, and they had always done their best. The Triple Entente during World War I was essentially that France had no confidence in going to war with Germany alone, and paid a lot of money to buy Imperial Russia. There is a big contradiction, but for the sake of the world war, Emperor Russia is desperate.

This ignorance of British influence was finally cracked by the outstanding British Lord of the Navy Churchill. The price was two battleships, which put the huge imperial Russia at the center of a comprehensive siege, and eventually fell apart.

"The Soviet Union is simply crazy. How can anyone support a country so sincerely? They will regret it in the future." De Havilland is just an entrepreneur. It is impossible to understand the extent of the Soviet Union's support for China so deeply, but he still gave His own evaluation, he thinks it is very pertinent.

"It's crazy, and I will definitely regret it in the future." Alan Wilson nodded seriously, agreeing with the pertinent evaluation.

From the perspective of the United States, in fact, the best solution is to take advantage of the collapse of the Soviet Union and kill all the remaining forces by the way.

After achieving this goal, it is not too late to turn around and deal with Russia.And at that time, it was completely sure of success.

But that is from the perspective of the United States. It is not the case from the perspective of the United Kingdom. Alan Wilson is a British, not an American, so he has no obligation to make suggestions. Cheng Quansheng, but he is not, so there is no way.

De Havilland took Alan Wilson to the tarmac, and asked people to remove the covered sheet, and said as he walked, "The engine is provided by Rolls-Royce, and the technical support in this regard and the profit distribution once the bid is won have not yet been discussed. .”

"Thank you Rolls-Royce for your support, but having said that, I helped them negotiate the engine contract with the Soviet Union. Otherwise, wouldn't it have become a classic case of being cheated?"

Alan Wilson patted his chest to show his merits. Although the result has not changed, isn't the contract infinitely better than the previous Moscow conditions?

Now that the helicopter's engine is provided by Rolls-Royce, Alan Wilson's worries have been greatly reduced.

Britain's current industrial technology is not a problem, and it doesn't seem like future generations are concentrating on finance.If all is well with the toughest engines, it's just a matter of materials.

In fact, Britain’s material problems are not too big. It is not as bad as the United States investing huge sums of money in research and development of new materials, and it is not as bad as the Soviet Union’s excavation of the rarest metal stacks.

If there are no problems with the engine and materials, the biggest problem is the traditional British design problem.First-class technology produces second-rate equipment, which eventually leads to a series of tragic consequences.

Looking at the eloquent de Havilland, Alan Wilson thought to himself, if Lao Tzu did not exist, your Comet Airliner, together with yourself, would be the background board of Boeing in the history of aviation. The reason why it is now respected in the industry Your status is all due to me making up for your shortcomings.

"The driver and shooter are located in the front seat, and the driver's seat is located in the back seat. Both seats can be used for flight control and weapon shooting control operations; the two seats are separated by bulletproof glass to reduce the simultaneous damage when being hit by enemy weapons. The probability of two occupants. The cockpit cover glass adopts a flat plate design to reduce reflection, the front part of the fuselage is made of multi-beam stainless steel structure reinforced with plastic steel, and the rear part uses a honeycomb structure with plastic steel skin."

"I have to say that the rocket launchers on both sides are eye-catching. I want to meet the imaginative designer, and the cannon on the head is just right." Len Wilson said.

"I drew this helicopter." Alan Wilson put his hands in his pockets, looked at de Havilland with a gentle scum, and said with a half-smile, "I drew the one that Pamela gave you. Sketches. Of course, I don’t have the drawing skills, it was written by someone else.”

"Alan, it's amazing that you have such talent." De Havilland froze for a moment, and couldn't help sending out the invitation, "If you are not a civil servant, you can consider starting a business."

"I'm still more willing to think of ways to benefit the society." Alan Wilson refused flatly. He is more interested in coding than starting a business, and he can spread conspiracy theories by taking advantage of the unsolved mysteries of the world to fool around. Redneck is so happy.

While the two were talking, the engine of the helicopter gunship had been started, and the propeller above it was spinning.The landing gear flew off the ground, and the gust of wind caused the two of them to leave a certain distance. The balance is very good, which is what I saw with my own eyes.

It seems that there is no problem with Rolls-Royce's engines. After all, Rolls-Royce is responsible for manufacturing even the UK's ship engines and nuclear submarine reactors. It just knows where it is now.

Alan Wilson's excitement lasted for a while. Since the first feeling is good, it should be good.At least he didn't find anything awkward, and happily asked de Havilland, "Where is the development progress of the regional airliner? I wonder if I can take a look."

"The test flight in this area has not been completed, but it is also possible to take a look." De Havilland did not refuse, and asked his assistant to prepare the car, and took Alan Wilson to visit.

Chapter 884 The Peak Era

The regional airliner has not yet successfully tested the flight, and Alan Wilson left after turning around. He telegraphed what happened here to his wife, so that he could wait for Edward Bridges to retire.

The father-in-law must meet. For a long time, Mountbatten will be the core figure of the British military.

Although the queen doesn't care about things, the nature of the country in the final analysis is a monarchy.

General Mountbatten is still busy with the process of the non-nuclear enterprise. He, the First Sea Lord, is more concerned about what may be the main battleship of the Royal Navy in the next few decades.

"Things on the nuclear submarine are going well, and I am worthy of my childhood dream." General Mountbatten sighed quite a bit, catching up with the time when Britain's national power was declining, he could only fight for it at this level.

In the end, it is nothing more than to see if little can add up, and finally reverse the UK, even if it just maintains the UK's international status.

Alan Wilson felt the same way. If he was a Soviet, even a French, he would be more able to deal with the current situation than he is now. The United Kingdom and the United States share the same language, which is not good for the United Kingdom to some extent.

Of course, he can choose to become the signboard of the special relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States, but if he chooses this way, why not just stop at nothing and consider completely eliminating the hostile camp, so that there will be no non-capitalist countries in the world after the 90s?He was no longer loyal to Britain anyway.

Minor repairs are still made. Alan Wilson mentioned the test flight of the armed helicopter and expressed his satisfaction. He hoped that his father-in-law could think of a way when he was fighting for government orders.

"Oh, Allen, you know, I'm an admiral." General Mountbatten pretended to be modest. "I may not interfere with the affairs of other military branches, which is beyond my authority."

"If it is someone else, it must be beyond the authority. But father, you are different." Alan Wilson said calmly, "You have an extremely important position in the military. This is an undeniable fact. Fact I personally think that the joint command organization of the three armed forces you want will become a reality sooner or later."

"Oh, that's it, then I will lend you a good word." Mountbatten pretended to be serious, but he couldn't hide his smile, and then said, "I will talk to the Minister of Defense, Earl Alexander, but the final result is still It depends on the performance of the armed helicopter and whether the positioning can impress the military."

"I believe there will be no problem, and Pamela is also very much looking forward to leaving her own mark on the British military." Alan Wilson was beaming with joy. The product is excellent and General Mountbatten personally launched it. He believes that there is a problem. not big.

"I miss Pamela too. Having said that, the situation in Malaya must keep you in charge. When will you be transferred back? When you are old, you always want your family to be together."

Mountbatten is still quite sentimental, 56 years old is not very old, and Mountbatten himself does not look old.It's just that mental age doesn't lie, he pays more and more attention to his family.

"In my second term, I will focus on solving hidden dangers, and then I can come back. Sir Edward also asked similar questions, and also said that Sir Ismay will also retire, so I will work hard to make achievements in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs."

"Hastings is going to retire?" Mountbatten had a weird expression on hearing this, and then lowered his voice, "Is that what Edward said? People in Whitehall don't know each other's details. It's not that he's going to retire, but To quit Whitehall and go to Paris as NATO chief of staff."

"No. [-] civil servant?" The corners of Alan Wilson's mouth twitched.

"It's fine if you know." General Mountbatten shrugged. "I will communicate with Viscount Alan Brook first about the gunship. As a marshal, he is still very popular in the army. We have a consensus. We are talking to the Minister of Defense. It's so much easier."

Viscount Alan Brooke is Alan Francis Brooke, British Field Marshal and Chief of the Imperial General Staff.But now retired, Montgomery was his teacher at the time.

Life after retirement was dull, serving as directors of such companies as BP, Wachovia Bank, National Discount Bank, Belfast Bank Company, Hudson's Bay Company, and also served as the head of the royal house.

Already knighted and still holding the post of the royal family, the former Chief of Staff of the Empire happened to be within range of Mountbatten.

After explaining the relationship here, Alan Wilson's admiration for his father-in-law has been raised to another level, "If you don't mind, I will tell Pamela the good news in the telegram."

"It can't be said that there is no problem at all. There is nothing certain in the world." Mountbatten muttered in a Versailles tone.

For Edward Bridges' retirement farewell party, there is no need to find another place, the Whitehall Palace is large enough, just find a hall to gather together, Burke Trend, Frank, Armstrong and Maggins, As well as a large number of senior civil servants in Whitehall were present to participate in the retirement ceremony of the permanent undersecretary of the Treasury who left his era in Whitehall.