ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the significant role played in the conduct of British foreign policy by two Private Secretaries for overseas affairs at 10 Downing Street, Patrick Wright and Bryan Cartledge, who served under Labour in the 1970s. The Private Secretary for overseas affairs was one of a small group of senior aides in Whitehall who served the Prime Minister in the Private Office at 10 Downing Street. Both Lord Wright and Sir Bryan Cartledge had joined the Private Office at Downing Street in mid career in 1974 and 1977 respectively. In the seventies the primary task of the overseas affairs Private Secretary in the Private Office in Downing Street was to keep the Prime Minister fully up to date with foreign affairs on a worldwide basis. In the conduct of foreign policy, the key line of communication in Whitehall was between the Private Secretary and the Foreign Secretary's Principal Private Secretary.
