 His appointment in 1985 as chairman of Westland, when the company was facing bankruptcy, saw him become involved in the 1985–1986 Westland affair, a political scandal for Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Party government.Cuckney, with Thatcher, favoured a merger with the American company Sikorsky, while the Secretary of State for Defence Michael Heseltine favoured a European merger.The American option prevailed, and the affair led to Heseltine's resignation.