Originally Posted by
Groundloop
SSD, I hate to admit it but I CAN remember the Wilson Government being elected and the TSR-2 decision. The point of my post is the seemingly incredible blaming of Labour for the end of Concorde.
In fact, it was actually a Labour Government, principally through a certain Anthony Wedgewood-Benn (anyone else remember his pre "Tony Benn" days) who actually saved Concorde from cancellation. It did help that Benn's constituency covered a large part of Bristol, I suppose!!
Indeed, Benn has always been a great supporter of Concorde and the cynic in me says that's because it was produced in his constituency. But That may be doing him a dis-service. He is certainly very enthusiastic about the aeroplane in the 'BA Tribute' video produced when she stopped flying.
It was Conservative minister Julian Amery who devised the 'both sides locked in' contract with the French, ironically to prevent the French pulling out and leaving Britain with all the costs. In fact, it was us Brits who later wanted out (including Dennis Healy wanting to cancel it along with TSR2), but that same contract locked us in. Thankfully!
SSD