After the Bloody Sunday killings of January 1972 , he mounted an uncompromising defence of the Parachute Regiment : " It is bad enough for our troops to have to run all the perils and be shot at by gunmen without having their pain increased by smears in this House . " In November 1972 Heath moved him sideways to the Civil Service Department , with the remit of sharpening presentation of government policy . His time there was dominated by the Kenneth Littlejohn affair , which was still rumbling on when Heath called a snap election in February 1974 . Johnson-Smith fought a skilful media campaign , but could not prevent Heath losing
Bloody Sunday
Bloody Sunday (1972)
Geoffrey Johnson-Smith