Westland Affair - November 1985

November 1985

Shortly thereafter an American company was thought to be preparing to bid for the company. Cuckney opposed this particular bid, as did Tebbit and Heseltine. Cuckney proposed that a new minority shareholder of 29.9% be introduced. No British firm was willing to enter this but an American company, Sikorsky, was interested. In November 1985 Sikorsky made an offer and Westland's management were favourable. Heseltine was opposed to this and called a conference of the National Armaments Directors (NAD) of Britain, France, Italy and West Germany to sign a document which would commit each country to only purchase helicopters designed and manufactured in Europe. If Westland went ahead with Sikorsky its helicopters, under this new agreement, would be unable to be bought by the four governments. Thatcher's and Leon Brittan's view was that it was up to Westland to decide which deal it wanted, and not the Government.