Margaret Thatcher was fearful of German unification because she believed that this would bring an immediate and formidable increase of economic strength to a Germany which was already the strongest economic partner in Europe.

The format of the list is taken from The Diplomatic Service List - an annual official publication (known in Foreign and Commonwealth Office circles as The Green Book) listing all Diplomatic Service members. Hurd welcomed a reunified Germany into the European political community in 1990. Hurd was gracious in defeat and on the formation of Major's first Cabinet was returned to his former position as Foreign Secretary.

In 1997 Hurd was elevated to the House of Lords and is one of the Conservative Party's most senior elder statesmen. Douglas Richard Hurd Baron Hurd of Westwell CH CBE PC (born 8 March 1930) is a British Conservative politician and novelist who served in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major between 1979 and his retirement in 1995.