Know the Truth. George Carey

in between the various events – a Mothers’ Union service, a young people’s event and an evening speaking engagement in a marquee at Radstock – the terrifying invitation kept leaping into my mind. What was I to make of it?

      I phoned Eileen late in the evening and we talked again at great length. There seemed only one answer we could give: it had to be ‘yes’. I asked Eileen to phone Robin to say that I was prepared to accept the Prime Minister’s invitation. My private diary takes up the story: ‘Had a terrible night and simply could not sleep. Fear was present. Will I be ridiculed and mocked for my lack of experience? … What an awesome responsibility!’

      The next day, there was another bombshell. The Prime Minister wished to see me on Tuesday. Could we go to Downing Street to meet her? We accepted, and following the final Teaching Mission event on Sunday evening we travelled to London to stay with our son Andrew.

      On the Tuesday the Prime Minister was engaged in a reshuffle of Ministers, and I was asked not to go to 10 Downing Street, where the press would immediately put two and two together, but instead to go to Number 11, wearing an ordinary shirt and tie. We walked through a rabbit warren of corridors into Number 10, where in Robin’s office I changed into my clerical shirt and dog-collar. Eileen and I met Margaret Thatcher in the famous Green Room. She greeted us warmly and then, to our astonishment, proceeded to speak at inordinate length. I glanced at my watch at one point and realised that she had scarcely drawn breath for eight minutes. I asked myself in desperation, ‘How on earth do I get a word in edgeways? I must say something!’