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The palace letters: what Martin Charteris revealed to Kerr about UK unions and Labour

<span>Photograph: PA</span>
Photograph: PA

Newly released letters from the mid-1970s show an almost constant dialogue between the Queen’s then private secretary, Martin Charteris, and the Australian governor general, John Kerr, in which they discussed major topics of the day in both countries.

Labour leadership

When Harold Wilson suddenly resigned as Labour leader – and prime minister – in March 1976, there was a scrabble to be his successor. It took three ballots, and was eventually won by James Callaghan.

“I would not describe it as a crisis. It has more character of a sweepstake, or perhaps, musical chairs,” wrote Charteris. “As I draft this letter we have just heard that there is to be a third ballot on Monday, 5th April, to decide the leadership of the Parliamentary Labour Party and, of course, the chosen man will become the Prime Minister as sure as night follows day.”

What are the palace letters?

In 1975 the Australian government led by Gough Whitlam was sensationally sacked by the governor general, Sir John Kerr, the Queen’s representative in Australia. The “palace letters” are hundreds of previously secret letters between Kerr and the Queen about the dismissal. Many believe they hold the key to understanding what role the Queen played in Whitlam’s downfall.

Why are they being released now?

The historian Jenny Hocking has mounted a four-year legal battle to have the letters released from the National Archives of Australia, where they have been held as “private” records for decades under embargo by the Queen. In May the high court of Australia finally ordered that the letters were in fact commonwealth records and must be released.

But wait, don’t Australians democratically elect their prime ministers?

Many Australians think they alone have the ability to vote governments in and out but, under the country’s constitution and because Australia is not a republic, ultimate power rests with the governor general as a representative of the Queen. Kerr’s move to force Whitlam’s reforming leftwing government from office, after the conservative opposition had blocked appropriation bills in the upper house of parliament, remains one of the most controversial moments in modern Australian politics.

What’s that famous quote again?

“Well may we say ‘God save the Queen’ because nothing will save the governor general.” – Gough Whitlam, 11 November, 1975.

There were some, Charteris mused, who thought that the business “marks a further erosion of the Sovereign’s prerogative. I do not believe that this is so.”

He added: “The prerogative is not being used in a positive way because there is no need to use it. And, after all, as no-one knows better than you, ‘reserve powers’ are essentially powers in reserve, and not powers to be flaunted or used for the hell of it.”

Denis Healey

As the Labour chancellor was formulating his “social contract” with union leaders amid high inflation and frequent strikes, Charteris’s view of union power was evident.

“In both our countries organised labour has come to look on an ever-increasing standard of living not as something which has to be achieved by increased production but as something which is its natural right and for which the strike weapon is there at hand to be used for its achievement.

“It will be a long time before this attitude changes, though I am a sufficiently buoyant optimist to believe that in this country the Trade Union leaders, however reluctantly, are beginning to accept the responsibility that ought to go with the power at their command. I hope Mr Healey will get away with it but if he does, like Waterloo, it will have been a ‘close run thing’.”

On Kerr’s silence to the press

Kerr wrote about the attacks on him in the press following his sacking of Whitlam. Charteris cautioned him to stay silent and not respond. “I have no doubt you will be subjected to a good deal of pressure … To tell your side of the story,” he wrote in March 1976.

“Newspapers always urge people to speak out as, of course, if they do, the raw material of journalism is provided. I am sure you are wise to remain silent. It would seem to me quite wrong for a Governor-General in office to produce an apologia for his actions. It must, none the less, be galling to have to remain ‘mum’ under tendentious and unjustifiable attack.”

On Kerr accused of working for the CIA

Kerr wrote in February 1976: “This morning’s papers contain references in Parliament to an article in ‘Village Voice’, a publication in Greenwich Village, New York, USA, in which it is alleged that I was a CIA agent in dismissing the Whitlam Government and have had CIA associations. Nonsense of course.”

Charteris replied in jovial fashion: “Warm congratulations on being dubbed a CIA agent! Nowadays this is really an accolade of fame.”