Britain warned about former Irish prime minister

BRITAIN'S ambassador to Dublin warned that former Irish prime minister Charles Haughey was a man of "calculating and ruthless ambition".

A candid diplomatic despatch for 10 Downing Street ahead of Mr Haughey's first face-to-face meeting with Margaret Thatcher in May 1980 described the then- Taoiseach, below, as having a "taste for the good things in life" but few real friends.

The UK's then-ambassador to Ireland, Robin Haydon, wrote: "His predominant characteristic seems to be a calculating and ruthless ambition: there is no secret that the office of Taoiseach has been over-riding objective of his life.

"He seems to have few real friends but appears to surround himself with a close-knit and faithful coterie of associates, whom he dominates by force of character. He is a tough, clever, wily man, no friend of ours, but not, perhaps, actively hostile. He is conscious of his shady past (and present!)."