Major urged Blair to halt ‘morally repugnant’ Zimbabwe cricket tour
Files show John Major said the government should ‘indemnify’ England if they were hit with ‘catastrophic’ sanctions for pulling out.
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Your support makes all the difference.Former prime minister John Major urged Tony Blair to “indemnify” English cricket for losses potentially running to millions of pounds if it was sanctioned for pulling out of a controversial tour of Zimbabwe, according to newly released government files.
Papers released to the National Archives in Kew, west London, show Mr Major privately appealed to his successor in Number 10 to stop the “morally repugnant” series going ahead.
He warned at the same time that Mr Blair could not afford to allow the game in England “go to the wall” as a result of “draconian” penalties imposed by the world game’s governing body for cancelling.
In the spring of 2004, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) was facing intense pressure to withdraw from the series of one-day internationals planned for later that year amid concerns over the human rights record of President Robert Mugabe’s repressive regime.
But the ECB feared new rules drawn up by the International Cricket Council (ICC) meant it could be hit with crippling fines and lucrative visits from other touring nations cancelled if they pulled out for any reason other than security or security concerns.
Administrators hoped the government would get them off the hook by ordering them not to go, which would constitute a “force majeure” and make it difficult for the ICC to impose sanctions.
But while Mr Blair said that in his “personal opinion” the tour should be abandoned, he told MPs that it would “step over the proper line” for ministers to issue an instruction.
Against this backdrop, Mr Major – a noted cricket fan – took the unusual step of writing to the then-prime minister privately, urging him to intervene and prevent a tour that was both “morally repugnant” and potentially unsafe for those taking part.
In a letter marked “personal”, he said that without government help the impact of withdrawal could be “catastrophic”.
The blunt truth is that the government could not let English cricket go to the wall because of a refusal to intervene
The sport relied on the TV revenues from test matches for its financial viability, meaning if they were cancelled the losses could have run as high as £50 million and left county sides facing bankruptcy.
But Mr Major said if the government “expresses a view” that the tour should not go ahead – or there was a vote in Parliament to that effect – then it would be “very difficult” for the ICC to penalise England.
And in the “very unlikely circumstances” that it were to do so, he said the government should indemnify the ICC for any financial losses.
“I daresay the Treasury would hate this, but the blunt truth is that the government could not let English cricket go to the wall because of a refusal to intervene,” Mr Major wrote.
“More to the point, if the government does intervene, the problem is far less likely to arise.
“I believe the proper course would be for the government to state now that it believes the tour should not go ahead and to offer to indemnify.
“The second course would be to engineer a parliamentary debate so MPs can express a view before the ECB comes to a final decision.”
The tour went ahead despite deep unhappiness among the players, with test batsman Graham Thorpe, who was not in the side, accusing the ECB of “bullying” the players into taking part.
The first one-day international was cancelled after four British newspaper journalists covering the tour were refused entry to Zimbabwe.
England won the remaining matches 4-0.