What Happened at Margaret Thatcher's Final Cabinet Meeting

In a week's time, it will be exactly twenty years since Margaret Thatcher resigned as leader of the Conservative Party and that she would also be resigning as Prime Minister.

Some time ago, back in 2006, I had intended to write a book about the month leading up to Margaret Thatcher’s fall from power. Part of the incentive to do so was that there seemed to be so many conflicting accounts of what actually happened. I knew I would be able to get access to all the leading players and was looking forward to the challenge. In order to provide a putative publisher with a sample chapter I set about researching what happened at the meeting of the cabinet on 22 November at which Margaret Thatcher announced her resignation. In the end I never wrote the book as a new job intervened, which meant I did not have the time to continue the project. I came across it again recently on an old computer and included it as a self indulgent appendix in my new book MARGARET THATCHER: IN HER OWN WORDS. It’s deliberately written as a dramatic, rather than a dry, historical account, but the dialogue and events are as accurate as I could make them.


At 6.30am two men arrived at the gates of Downing Street asking to be let in to see the Prime Minister. The policeman on the gate phoned through to Charles Powell, who was already at his desk. The two turned out to be Tory backbenchers Michael Brown and Edward Leigh. Powell gave them coffee and explained the PM was dressing and asked them to wait. They waited and waited – in vain. They were still there when the Cabinet convened at 9am. They were only put out of their misery when the PM’s Political Secretary John Whittingdale told them what they had already guessed. She was resigning. Tears streamed down Brown’s face as he left Number Ten through a back door, thus avoiding waiting TV cameras in Downing Street.

At 7am Cecil Parkinson was barely awake. The shrilling of the telephone put paid to that. It was one of his junior Ministers and a key member of the No Turning Back Group, Chris Chope. “She’s going,” he said. “You’ve got to do something”. Parkinson had last seen the PM at 6pm the previous evening, before her confidence had been shattered by the meetings with her Cabinet members. So confident was he that she was heading for victory, and that the Cabinet was supporting her, he went out to dinner with his wife and some friends. A few hours earlier, The Sun’s Trevor Kavanagh had got wind of what was about to happen and had rung the Parkinson house to check if he knew anything. Parkinson had already gone to bed and his wife Ann, a close personal friend of the PM, said she didn’t want to waken him. Had she done so, there is little doubt that Parkinson would have hot-footed it to Downing Street.

After Chope’s phone call Parkinson immediately phoned Number Ten, only to be told that the PM was under the hair dryer and that he should phone back in thirty minutes. In desperation he then phoned his friend of twenty years standing Norman Tebbit. Tebbit had been with her until late the previous night working on her speech for the Censure debate. He told Parkinson the game was up and that her mind would not be changed. Parkinson decided it was pointless to phone Number Ten again.

By 7.30am Andrew Turnbull had been at his desk for an hour already. He sat there unable to concentrate. He spoke to the Prime Minister several times a day, but he knew their next conversation would probably be a fairly momentous one. The call came. It was the news he had expected, as the Prime Minister asked him to put in place the formal arrangements for her resignation announcement. The next call he made was to the Palace to arrange for the formalities of an audience with the Queen.

Woodrow Wyatt called to make a last ditch attempt to make the PM change her mind but for once, she wouldn’t take his call. In fact, she didn’t take calls from anyone until after the Vote of Censure debate was over, later in the afternoon.

Peter Morrison phoned Douglas Hurd and John Major to advise them of the Prime Minister’s decision. John Wakeham and Kenneth Baker were also tipped off by Morrison.

Shortly after 8am Denis Thatcher phoned his daughter. “There have been all sorts of consultations and your mother…”. Carol interrupted him. “I know, Dad”. Nothing further was said.

At 8.30 every Thursday morning it was usual for the Prime Minister to hold a short briefing in preparation for Prime Minister’s Question Time. As usual, Bernard Ingham , Charles Powell and John Whittingdale were with her. It was a subdued meeting and no one was really concentrating.
The regular Thursday Cabinet meetings were a matter of routine for most of those who attended them. This one was different. Cabinet meetings normally start at 10.30am but this one had been brought forward so as not to clash with a memorial service for Lady Home, which was to be held later in the morning at St Margaret’s Church, opposite the Houses of Parliament. Normally, the Cabinet would gather for coffee fifteen minutes before the meeting and gossip about the latest political machinations, before the Prime Minister would rush into the room, apparently always in a hurry. That was the signal for the rest of them to take their seats around the famous oval table.

But on this morning the atmosphere was strained to say the least. The few remaining Thatcher loyalists eyed up the rest of their Cabinet colleagues and could barely bring themselves to speak. In her memoirs, Margaret Thatcher recalls: “They stood with their backs against the wall looking in every direction except mine.” According to Cecil Parkinson Kenneth Clarke was the only one who was showing the remotest sign of life, telling “anybody who cared to listen that if the PM did not resign before noon that day, he would do so himself”.

Thatcher’s arrival was normally the signal for everyone to file into the room and take their places, but it seemed there was a delay. John MacGregor had been held up in traffic. The awkward silence continued for an unbearable ten minutes. At 9.10 the Cabinet filed in. The PM was in her usual chair, half way along the table in front of the fireplace. They took their places in silence – even the sound of the chairs being pulled back seemed to grate. For the first time in living memory, the woman who had dominated her Cabinet for 11 years seemed powerless. The aura had gone. Still, there was silence. Cecil Parkinson noticed her reddened, swollen eyes. A carton of tissues sat next to her on the table. While the Cabinet were taking their seats she picked a tissue from the box and dabbed her eyes. The dreadful silence continued. Slowly, Margaret Thatcher opened her handbag and pulled out a creased piece of paper. The Cabinet knew what was coming, but the performance had to be played out nonetheless. She read in a slow, halting, and emotional manner:-

“Having consulted widely among my colleagues, I have concluded that the unity of the Party and the prospects of victory in a general election would be better served if I stood down to enable cabinet colleagues to enter the ballot for the leadership. I should like to thank all those in the Cabinet and outside who have given me such dedicated support.”

She faltered several times and broke down sobbing. She wasn’t the only one. David Waddington, Tony Newton, John Gummer, Michael Howard and John Wakeham were all in tears. Cecil Parkinson later wondered why Mr Wakeham should be so upset, when it was he, in Parkinson’s opinion, who had largely brought about the events they were witnessing.

Half way through the statement she was so upset that Cecil Parkinson, already on a light fuse, shouted to the Lord Chancellor, who was sitting to her left: “For Christ’s sake you read it, James”. Lord Mackay briefly put his arm round her shoulder and said gently, “Let me read it, Prime Minister”. This brief interjection broke the unbearable tension and allowed the Prime Minister a few moments to gather herself. She stiffened both in resolve and body language and said, “No! I can read it myself”.

Norman Lamont recalls her “referring to the events of the last few days and to the advice she had had ‘from so many of you’ that she could not win and should not fight on. The way she put it implied that she did not agree and thought us spineless”. It was after these words that the worst breakdown occurred.

James MacKay, the Lord Chancellor, then read out a short tribute to the Prime Minister. She listened, eyes glistening and red and broke down again. She regained composure and told the Cabinet they must unite behind a candidate to beat Michael Heseltine. “We must protect what we believe in,” she flashed.

Kenneth Baker then spoke in his capacity as Chairman of the Party. “You have and will always continue to have the love and loyalty of the party. You have a very special place in the heart of the party. You have led us to victory three times and you would have done so again. Those who have served you recognise that they have been in touch with greatness”. He, also, was close to tears.

Douglas Hurd referred to this “whole wretched business” and said he wanted to put on record the superb way in which the Prime Minister had conducted business at the Paris conference, particularly with regard to the pressures of the leadership election on her.

The Prime Minister then called a halt, saying she could deal with routine matters but not sympathy. She was still in a highly emotional state and felt she might lose her composure entirely if such tributes went on for much longer.

She ended proceedings by telling the Cabinet that any new leader would have her total and devoted support. It was assumed this did not include Michael Heseltine. “Well, now that’s out of the way, let’s get on with the rest of the business,” she said.

The meeting then broke for ten minutes and coffee was served while courtesy calls were made to the other party leaders and the Speaker. The atmosphere was considerably lighter than at the preceding the meeting. A formal statement was issued by the Downing Street Press Office at 9.25.

The Cabinet then resumed and quickly skimmed through the rest of the normal agenda by 10.15. The final decision taken was to send an armoured brigade to the Gulf. Douglas Hurd’s mind was elsewhere though. He knew that events would move fast. Kenneth Baker passed a note to Hurd asking if he had come to an agreement with John Major about the candidacy. Hurd sent a note back saying they were issuing a joint statement declaring that they had worked closely together in the past but the best way of uniting the party was to let both their names go forward in the next ballot. He then passed the draft statement to Baker who regarded it as a “perfectly masterful composition”. Hurd then tried to catch Tom King’s eye to as if he would act as his proposer on the second ballot. King didn’t get the hint.

By the close of the meeting the Prime Minister was close to tears again, according to Kenneth Baker. She invited Ministers to stay behind for yet more coffee. By now she was fully composed and was keen to know her colleagues’ views on what might happen in the second ballot.

No one was keen to be the first to leave, although Douglas Hurd didn’t hang around long. Cecil Parkinson’s most vivid memory from the conversation after over coffee was when somebody – allegedly Kenneth Clarke - said “we are going to pin regicide on Heseltine”. For a moment the PM looked puzzled and issued a devastating reply: “Oh no, it wasn’t Heseltine, it was the Cabinet.” Parkinson says this was said without the slightest hint of rancour. “It was, to her, a simple statement of fact”, he says. Douglas Hurd, however, had other things on his mind and left immediately. Norman Lamont caught Michael Howard’s eye. They were both anxious to go. While Heseltine was out there campaigning, important time was being lost. After what seemed an age, Margaret Thatcher sensed what others were thinking and told everyone to leave and “stop Heseltine”.

As the Cabinet trooped out of Downing Street, Kenneth Baker, ever with an eye for the TV cameras, made a short statement outside the door of Number Ten, saying: “This is a typically brave and selfless decision by the Prime Minister. Once again Margaret Thatcher has put her country and the Party’s interests before personal considerations. This will allow the Party to elect a new leader to unite the Party and build upon her immense successes. If I could just add a personal note, I am very saddened that our greatest peace-time Prime Minister has left Government. She is an outstanding leader, not only of our country but also of the world. I do not believe we will see her like again”

John Wakeham followed suit. Asked about her mood, he said “Well, her mood is, like always, she does her duty, she’s – of course she’s sad.” It was rather an understatement.

While Denis attended the memorial service for Lady Home, the Prime Minister – for she still held that office – was driven to Buckingham Palace informing the Queen in person of her decision to resign. It was not a long audience. The Prime Minister was well aware she had the speech of her life to make in the House of Commons in just a few hours time. It was to be an occasion she, and the country, would have cause to remember for many years to come.

My new book, MARGARET THATCHER: IN HER OWN WORDS is a collection of her speeches, interviews and quotes. It's a rather chunky 436 page paperback is should be in bookshops this week. An ideal Christmas present to your Labour supporting wife or husband :).

Rejoice! Rejoice!

Anyone who has ever had a book published will know how I feel right now. It's how I imagine a parent feels after seeing their new baby for the first time. Half an hour ago the first copies of my new book, MARGARET THATCHER: IN HER OWN WORDS arrived at the office from the printers. It's beautifully produced and very chunky considering the relatively low price. And a lovely smooth feeling cover.

It's timed to be published to coincide with the imminent twentieth anniversary of Lady T's fall from power, which will no doubt get a lot of coverage in the media.

The book has had a very high level of pre-orders and Waterstone's are going to promote it in amost of their stores.

Next week I'll also get copies of the 3 CD box set which accompanies the book.

Order the book HERE.

Order the CD Box Set HERE.

Twenty Years Ago Today...

No! No! No!

The Disgusting Face of the Left

Dizzy exposes the nasty, disgusting face of the left, and so-called comedian Mark Thomas in particular. Apparently he is encouraging people to send postcards to the Queen - or Elizabeth Windsor, as he calls her - to tell her how they will celebrate the death of Margaret Thatcher. And to think, I used to think Mark Thomas was quite funny. He's sick.

Where There is Discord...

The Margaret Thatcher Foundation website has just put up a fascinating page which tells how Mrs Thatcher came to use the words of St Francis of Assisi on the steps of Number Ten.

This is a PDF of her original notes. Watch a video of her remarks HERE. Ronnie Millar is credited with encouraging Mrs T to use these words, but Alistair Cooke, in this month's Total Politics, has a slightly different account. This is his recollection from the funeral of Airey Neave...

The small church at Longworth in the Oxfordshire countryside was packed to overflowing with former war-time comrades and Members of Parliament. We sang with all the vigour we could muster the Battle Hymn of the Republic. Mrs Thatcher spoke so very movingly of "Airey the quiet, Airey the soft-spoken", describing the man who had made her Leader of the Party four years earlier as "the most unassuming man I have ever met". As I was standing in the church porch after the service, she stopped for a moment and grasped my hand. "We will win, and win well - for Airey". Then she rushed off to comfort Diana and the family. I noted at the time: "No one knows how to comfort people in distress as well as Mrs T." I thought again about the great political partnership, destroyed by Irish terrorism at a pivotal moment in the Party's history, when exactly four weeks late, Mrs T stood on the steps of No 10 and quoted St Francis of Assisi's famous prayer. As I was leaving Airey Neave's dingy little office in the Commons on that terrible day, Friday 30 March 1979, he said: "Don't close the door. I am just going to take St Francis's prayer round to Margaret's office. She might find it useful."

Meeting Margaret Thatcher

I went to the Carlton Club this evening for a drinks party hosted by Liam Fox. I was delighted to see Lady Thatcher arrive and looking absolutely fantastic. For a woman of 83 and supposedly in frail health, she looked absolutely stunning.

I had a couple of minutes talking to her and told her it was 26 years to the day that I first met her at a reception for Conservative students at 10 Downing Street. "I think I remember that," she said. "It was so nice to see so many young people in the building. That didn't happen very often." We talked a little about newspapers and she said: "I never read them. I had Bernard to do it for me." Everyone needs a Bernard...

As I left the Carlton Club, a thought struck me. If Lady T were in her heyday and had to take over as Prime Minister now, what would she do? If I had asked her, I know exactly what her reply would have been. "Restore sound money, dear," she would have said. And you know what? She'd have been dead right.

When the SNP Wanted a Deal With the Tories

The row in Scotland over the Alex Salmond interview with Total Politics and his views on Thatcherism is even more interesting when you consider that in 1976 the SNP made covert approaches to Margaret Thatcher over the Labour government's devolution bill. I've just been reading a page in the Margaret Thatcher Archives, which reveals all...

Devolution occupied huge quantities of parliamentary time in the late 1970s, as the Labour Government struggled to persuade its backbenchers to support legislation establishing elected assemblies in Scotland and Wales.

Many ministers were themselves less than enthusiastic about devolution, but had little room for manoeuvre because their party had manifesto commitments and its tiny parliamentary majority had disappeared entirely by March 1977, leaving it dependent on minor parties which favoured the legislation.

The Conservatives had supported the principle of devolution since 1968 when Edward Heath had surprised most of his colleagues by suddenly making the commitment in a speech at Perth. But by the time MT became leader, many in the parliamentary party were privately lukewarm, dubious or downright hostile. They feared devolution might damage or lead to the break up the United Kingdom, foresaw a backlash against the policy in England and predicted big tactical advantages in opposing the government's plans, so making life even more difficult for Labour. MT was certainly a sceptic about the Perth commitment, though she feared that a sudden reversal of policy would cause internal divisions, particularly with those still loyal to Heath and in Scotland where the whole party establishment was strongly devolutionist.

The issue came to the crunch at the end of 1976, when the government's Scotland and Wales Bill reached Second Reading in the House of Commons, the point at which the principle behind the legislation is examined. What should the Conservatives do?

One suggestion came, remarkably, from the Scottish National Party. A Conservative Whip, Jack Weatherill (later Commons Speaker) tells how he was secretly approached by the Scottish Nationalist MP, Hamish Watt, urging MT not to vote against the Second Reading , on the ground that: "If she does it will be impossible for the SNP to have any working arrangements with us". According to the note, Watt - who was a former Conservative parliamentary candidate - saw common ground between the two parties, particularly if (as many expected) the Conservatives were to become the next UK Government with the SNP a strong presence in Scotland. Whether he spoke for himself alone or for any of his colleagues was unclear. Certainly there is no evidence in her files of a Conservative response, and when (two years later) there were press reports of Conservative efforts to reach a deal with the SNP to remove Labour on a confidence motion, MT made an immediate on-the-record denial.

Has Carol Thatcher Intruded on her Mother's Privacy?

I'm struggling to decide what to make of Carol Thatcher's book, serialised today in the Mail on Sunday. If my mother had dementia, would I be inclined to tell the world about it in this manner? Probably not, but then my mother is only an iconic figure within her own family, not all over the world.

The downside of making all this public is that the media will now obsess about the issue. Up till now, most newspapers and journalists have been quite respectful of Lady T's position and have been careful not to be prurient. I hope the publication of Carol's book will not change that, but I fear otherwise.

Dementia is a terrible disease. I've seen the effects it can have on partners and families. It's also a disease that people find embarrassing to confront and talk about. By being open about the fact he was suffering from it, when he wrote his famous letter to the American people, Ronald Reagan did a huge amount of good. Dementia charities were deluged with money to plough into medical research. If Carol's book has the same effect, it will have achieved a positive result.

But I can't sweep from my mind the thought that I wish she had kept her counsel. It's as if she has intruded on her mother's privacy.

5 Live & A State Funeral for Lady Thatcher

I'm doing an hour long phone-in on 5 Live's Richard Bacon programme at midnight tonight on the subject of whether Margaret Thatcher should have a State Funeral. I'm up against some lefty playwright called Ed Waugh, who wrote a play called MAGGIE'S END. Nice. It is probably just as well that he will be in the Newcastle studio.

UPDATE; A few people have commented that such a discussion is in poor taste and I shouldn't be taking part. I tend to agree that this is not an agreeable subject for polite discussion, but would you rather the whole hour was given over to Thatcher haters like Ed Waugh? I shall be vigorously defending the Good Lady's honour!

PS If you would like to phone into the show it's 0845 909693, text 85058 or email bacon@bbc.co.uk

Did Major Conspire to Topple Thatcher?

Contemporary Historian Christopher Thompson has an interesting entry on his Early Modern History blog. He alleges that from the very start of Margaret Thatcher's troubles in the runup to the leadership election, John Major's PPS Graham Bright was determined to get his man on the second ballot. He may have been acting off his own bat... or perhaps not. Here's Chris Thompson's account...

For many years, I worked at the House of Commons in a number of capacities. I was originally based in an office in 2 The Abbey Gardens and later in No.5 Millbank. It was in the first of these that I was consulted (in the preceding week) by the new PPS to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, John Major, about how it would be sensible to vote in the first ballot for the Tory Party's leadership due to be held on Tuesday, 20th November, 1990 so that Major might enter the contest at the next stage. I told him that, to achieve that aim, he should vote for Michael Heseltine in the first ballot. Whether he did so or not, I cannot say. However, the following morning (Wednesday, 21st November) when I got to my desk in Abbey Gardens, I received two messages from Ministers, one from Gillian Shephard and a second from Robert Atkins, urging John Major to stand. I went across to the House and reached his PPS's office next to the Chancellor's in the corridor behind the Speaker's chair just before 9.45 a.m. where I duly reported these messages. While I was there, Rob Hayward and Sir Terence Higgins arrived as did Norman Lamont shortly thereafter. I particularly remember Norman Lamont saying of the Prime Minister, "She's finished." John Major telephoned twice during the half hour or so that I was present to ask what was going on and giving instructions that no canvassing was to be done on his behalf. That did not deter those present from starting to do just that. Heseltine's supporters were doing so as were those of Douglas Hurd. They were not going to be slow off the mark on behalf of John Major. Unfortunately, I then had to return to my desk. All I can say is that the accounts in Anthony Seldon's biography of John Major and, indeed, in the latter's autobiography are not quite correct although whether my testimony will ever be noticed seems rather doubtful.

It is perfectly possible that Bright went on a freelance operation and felt he was serving his boss well by doing so. But there has always been a suspicion that John Major didn't quite act in the whiter than white manner which has hitherto been accepted by historians of the time. Perhaps we shall never know.

Two other bits of Thatcher related news. The video channel Veoh.com has the complete Downing Street Years series and also Tory, Tory Tory on a channel called Tory TV.

Secondly, filming of a new drama of Margaret Thatcher's final days in power has started. Ian McDiarmid, James Fox and Robert Hardy star. The actors, together with Philip Jackson and Kevin McNally, will appear in Margaret as the men "who loved her and those who betrayed her", the BBC said. The press release continues...

McDiarmid, Emperor Palpatine in Star Wars, will play Denis Thatcher; A Passage to India's Fox will portray foreign policy adviser Charles Powell and Hardy, best known for All Creatures Great and Small, will play deputy prime minister Willie Whitelaw.

The drama is being made by the production company behind the recent controversial BBC4 drama The Long Walk to Finchley and focuses on the events of 1990 when the former prime minister lost the backing of her cabinet and was forced to step down. It is being billed by the BBC as an "intimate portrayal of a woman on the brink of ruin". It was confirmed in April that Duncan, who appeared in HBO and BBC Two drama Rome, would portray Thatcher.

Jackson, who appeared in Poirot, will play Thatcher's chief press secretary, Bernard Ingham, while McNally, whose credits include Pirates of the Caribbean, will portray former minister Kenneth Clarke. The Commander's Oliver Cotton will appear as Thatcher's challenger Michael Heseltine.

Other cast members include John Sessions, whose credits include The Good Shepherd, as former foreign secretary Geoffrey Howe; Doctors' Michael Cochrane as MP Alan Clark; Michael Maloney, who starred in the movie Notes on a Scandal, as Thatcher's successor John Major; The Palace's Roy Marsden as firebrand MP Norman Tebbit; Casualty's Nigel Le Vaillant as Thatcher's Conservative predecessor Ted Heath and Rosemary Leach, who appeared in comedy My Family, as the Queen. The drama began filming in London last week.

Double Portion on the BBC Tonight

I hope you will all have your video recorders available tonight. I will be on DINNER WITH PORTILLO on BBC 4 at 10.20, immediately following MARGARET THATCHER: THE LONG WALK TO FINCHLEY. It's a thirty minute discussion on the previous programme and Margaret Thatcher's reputation. Also around the dinner table are Shirley Williams, William Rees Mogg, Mary Riddell, Lionel Shriver and John Campbell.

But if that's doesn't take your fancy, I'll also be on Newsnight talking about guess what...

UPDATE: You can watch DINNER WITH PORTILLO on BBC iPlayer HERE.

A Week of Thatcher Mania Beckons

It seems to be Margaret Thatcher season at the BBC. On June 12th we have MARGARET THATCHER: THE LONG MARCH TO FINCHLEY and a Thatcher special DINNER WITH PORTILLO, but before that, this Sunday we can look forward to another Michael Cockerell special on THE MAKING OF THE IRON LADY. Here's the BBC press release which has just been issued.

"Mum was the best man for the job" – says Mark Thatcher

Lady Thatcher's son Mark claims his mother was 'the best man for the job' of prime minister in an exclusive interview for a new BBC TV documentary which goes out this Sunday. Sir Mark Thatcher agreed to talk for the first time on television to political documentary maker Michael Cockerell. Called the making of the Iron Lady, the programme shows how Mrs Thatcher fought her way to the top in a man's world to become the West's first female prime minister. Sir Mark recalls how mother's motto was 'never a wasted moment'. ' I remember how she used to come home from Westminster and immediately start cooking the dinner. And I would go up to her and say "you know mum it's okay – you can take your coat off now'.

The documentary includes film of Mrs Thatcher giving her own first television interview in 1960, with her then six-year old twins, Mark and Carol perched on the sofa watching. 'I remember when the TV crew came down for that interview', says Sir Mark. ' It was the first time I realised that my mum was not the like my schoolfriends' mothers: she was clearly something out of the ordinary'.
Sir Mark reveals that his father, Denis was very worried when Mrs Thatcher announced that she was going to run for the Tory leadership against Ted Heath in 1975. 'My father's concern was that if she stood she would poll very badly amongst the Conservative members. And that would damage her political reputation for ever.'

In fact Mrs Thatcher who'd started the contest as a rank outsider romped to victory in the leadership contest. The programme shows the key role played by her leadership campaign manager and oldest political friend Airey Neave. But four years later Neave was assassinated by Irish terrorists in the Commons. 'My mother was deeply, deeply distressed', says Mark Thatcher. 'Of all the things which happened to her, Airey Neave's s death was the most tragic event that she had to face in her entire career in politics.'

Asked by Cockerell how he thought his mother had managed, against all the odds, to become the first woman prime minister in Western world, Sir Mark replies: 'My perspective as her son is very straightforward - she was the best man for the job.' Michael Cockerell says: 'For the documentary I wanted to speak to those who had been closest to her – as sadly Lady Thatcher no longer gives TV interviews, on doctors' orders. And I knew her son was less than keen on the media. But I worked hard to assure Mark Thatcher that I wanted his first-hand account of how his mother became Prime Minister. To my agreeable surprise to he agreed to the interview'.

'The Making of the Iron Lady' goes out on BBC 4 at 9pm this Sunday.

I've already set my video (haven't got Sky Plus yet, despite Michael Parkinson's blandishments).

Life with Mrs T

There's a superb piece by Ferdinand Mount in the Sunday Times today on his two periods working with Margaret Thatcher in 1964 and then as Head of her Policy Unit in the early 1980s. It's an extract from his new book Cold Cream: My Early Life and Other Mistakes. I particualrly enjoyed this anecdote...

Her mother-hen aspect is always to the fore in her concern for her staff, even in the relentless routine of Downing Street. “You’ve got a cold coming on, Ferdy.”
“No, I don’t think so, Prime Minister.”
“Yes, you have, I’m sure. You need some Redoxon.”
“Honestly, Prime Minister, I promise you I haven’t.”
It is 9.30pm and the meeting has already been going on for two hours and I have been groaning inwardly at the mind-numbing tedium of it all and unfortunately one of the groans has escaped.
“I’ve got some Redoxon in the flat. I’ll go and get it.”
“No, please don’t. I’m sure we’ve got some at home and anyway I don’t need it.”
“One always needs Redoxon.” And she shoots out of the room, up two and a half flights of stairs, to get me the blasted pills that I don’t need, while everyone else in the room looks furiously at me for causing this further delay.
It is hard to think of another prime minister in British history who would have insisted on interrupting a meeting and going to get the Redoxon herself. In fact, looking back on it, I think going upstairs to fetch it was the most sustained piece of physical exercise I ever saw her take.

How Not to Win an Argument With Labour MPs

Labour MPs are up in arms about the abolition of the 10p rate of income tax, which Gordon Brown introduced as Chancellor, but has how seen fit to get rid of. Astonishingly, according to The Sun, he is invoking the name of Margaret Thatcher in his quest to persuade Labour MPs that cutting the main rate from 22p to 20p was something which Thatcher always wanted to achieve but never did. Brown says that the only way he could do it was abolish the 10p rate. It's a very strange way to persuade Labour MPs that he's right. I guess he'll be invoking the name of George W Bush soon to persuade Labour MPs that he's right on Iraq.

Graphic hattip to The Spine

Who Would You Clap in a Restaurant?

Charles Moore writes in the Sunday Telegraph that Lady Thatcher is in danger of becoming a national treasure. He recalls taking her to lunch at a London restaurant recently, and when she got up to leave, everyone in the restaurant broke out in a spontaneous round of applause. This got me thinking. Who else in British public life would provoke that reaction? As I type this, I can't think of anyone. Certainly not a politician. Can you do better?

UPDATE: Andrew Roberts has also written about Lady T in the Telegraph. He shed some light on her current lifestyle, revealing she has a cat with the rather un-Thatcherite name of Pussikins!

At a lunch party last summer at my home, only a couple of hundred yards from where she lives, she was on what in anyone else would be described as jolly form. Introduced to Lord Dalmeny, whose ancestor, the Earl of Rosebery, had won the Derby whilst prime minister, she suggested that the three living ex-prime ministers - herself, John Major and Tony Blair - should each buy the leg of a horse and try to win it again. When I pointed out that that would mean Gordon Brown buying the fourth leg, she thought about it, before saying: "He doesn't look as if he'd enjoy that kind of thing very much, does he?"

She then kept a table of True Believers, including Michael Gove, Paul Johnson and
Simon Heffer, entranced with her memories of the Falklands War. We drank Chateau d'Issan (Margaux) 1982 to commemorate the 25th anniversary, and - against doctor's orders, but frankly impossible to stop - she stood up to give a 10-minute account of the crisis from start to glorious finish, which left us astounded at her post-stroke mental capacity. Nor was she overly jingoistic. "It was very sad that we had to do it," she concluded, "but we really had no choice." When Lady Getty told her that she had visited Colonel H Jones's grave on the Falklands, and laid some flowers there and at the war memorial, the emotion was evident in Lady Thatcher's voice as she thanked her...

The Tory MP who criticised Gordon Brown for inviting Lady Thatcher to Downing Street last year, saying he was taking advantage of "a frail old lady", could not have been more wrong. Lady Thatcher can still spot a No 10 photo opportunity as well as anyone, but if New Labour wanted to acknowledge the victory of Thatcherism over socialism, she was not about to stop it. The shrewd political advice she receives from her devoted private secretary, Mark Worthington, has meant that she has not put a foot wrong politically since she was tragically ousted by "the November criminals" of
1990. Furthermore, it would have been rude to have refused the invitation, and Lady Thatcher is polite to a very remarkable degree. The only thing that will prevent her offering her own chair to visitors in her drawing room is if her vast marmalade cat, called Pussikins, snatches it in the meantime. (While Pussikins might not sound very Thatcherite, when it came from Battersea Cats' Home it was originally named Marvin.)

Today the old spark is definitely there; when I took some Californian admirers to visit last month, one asked her about Hillary Clinton's comparison of herself to Lady Thatcher. "She's not in the least like me!" Margaret expostulated, "I know that because I'm not in the least like her."

Portillo Documentary Was a Hit

The Portillo documentary on BBC 4 last night was a gripping 90 minutes of political TV. As regulars know, I'm no great fan of Mr P, but this programme was superb. I think he may have found his niche. Like several of his other TV documentaries he imposed himself on the narrative, and again, it worked. He sought to explain the Thatcherite legacy on the Conservative Party and did it very well. His main theory was that the Party had still to recover from the way Margaret Thatcher was overthrown and that David Cameron is the first leader to look as if he can administer the necessary medicine. His star witnesses all seemed to agree with at least the first part of thatr sentence.

The star of the whole programme was Michael Howard. His cameo appearances showed a self knowledge and analysis of his own limitations which was gripping to watch. He knew the party had to change but knew that his own personality would not let him introduce some of the measures needed to do it.

There were one or two factual howlers - David Mellor was never in Margaret Thatcher's cabinet, for instance - but overall the programme demonstrated how this genre of documentary can work. I'm not sure what appeal it will have had outside the political classes, but they deserve to be catered for too.

As a footnote, it was also interesting that Portillo admitted that his candid interview with William Hague was the first time the two men had spoken since 2001.

You can watch the programme HERE (until 3 March)

Winning it for the 'Gipper'

There is a ghost at these Republican primaries and its name is Ronald Reagan. Each of the four remaining candidates in the race is claiming the Reagan legacy for himself. They all reckon that they - and only they - are the true inheritors. They're all wrong. With the possible exception of John McCain, they're beyond comparison. Mitt Romney is a conviction free zone. Huckabee's religious fundamentalism would have Reagan turning in his grave. Ron Paul's idealism is laudable, yet he fails to match it with a Reagan-esque ability to be pragmatic. But there's no doubt about it - if you mention the words Ronald and Reagan in the same sentence you're guaranteed a huge cheer.

Perhaps it will one day be the same in Britain for Margaret Thatcher. Such a shame politicians have to die first for their legacy to be truly appreciated.

Lady Thatcher Speaks on Falklands Liberation Anniversary

Margaret Thatcher Speech on 25th Anniversary of Falklands
Uploaded by mikerouse

Lady Thatcher has today recorded a message for the 25th anniversary of the retaking of the Falkland Islands tomorrow. It is for the islanders and armed forces. Here is the text.

I feel privileged, and very moved, in making this broadcast. The Falkland Islanders are celebrating the anniversary of their liberation. The memories of that time are for many as fresh as yesterday. Such intense experience unites us in spirit - even though a quarter century has passed, and though we are 8,000 miles apart. Today, I send my best wishes to them - you are in my thoughts and in my prayers.

Twenty five years ago British forces secured a great victory in a noble cause. The whole nation rejoiced at the success; and we should still rejoice. Aggression was defeated and reversed. The wishes of local people were upheld as paramount. Britain's honour and interests prevailed. Sending troops into battle is the gravest decision that any Prime Minister has to take. To fight 8,000 miles away from home, in perilous conditions, against a well armed, if badly led, enemy was bound to be an awesome challenge. Moreover, at such times there is no lack of people, at home and abroad, to foretell disaster. Then, when things go well, they are just as quick to press some hopeless compromise.

So we could never at any stage be sure what the outcome of the Falklands War would be. But of two other things I could be sure - first that our cause was just, and second that no finer troops could be found in the world than those of our country. That is still the case. Britain's armed services are unmatched in their skill and professionalism. More than that, they are the model of all that we wish our country and our citizens to be. The service they offer and the sacrifice they make are an inspiration.

The Falklands war was a great national struggle. The whole country knew it and felt it. It was also mercifully short. But many of our boys - and girls as well, of course - are today stationed in war zones where the issues are more complex, where the outcome is more problematic, and where life is no less dangerous.

In these circumstances, they often need a different sort of courage, though the same commitment. So, as we recall - and give thanks for - the liberation of our islands, let us also recall the many battlefronts where British forces are engaged today. There are in a sense no final victories, for the struggle against evil in the world is never ending. Tyranny and violence wear many masks. Yet from victory in the Falklands we can all today draw hope and strength. Fortune does, in the end, favour the brave. And it is Britain's good fortune that none are braver than our armed forces. Thank you - all.

It is very rare that we hear from Lady Thatcher nowadays, but when we do it is always a privilege. We salute her leadership and the bravery of our armed forces in recovering British territory. And tomorrow we shall celebrate an important anniversary and remember those who lost their lives.

Andrew Marr Praises Margaret Thatcher

Andrew Marr's Modern History of Britain concludes tonight at 9pm on BBC2 with a look at the Thatcher years. According to his article in The Sun this morning, Marr now considers Margaret Thatcher to be his mother...

IT probably calls for a shrink, or a large glass of whisky. But I have finally admitted that Margaret Thatcher is my mother. Not literally, of course. My real mother is sparkier, just as tough, and wouldn’t take kindly to that idea. But politically, Thatcher has made us all her children. Of the prime ministers since the war, she was the one who changed the political weather.

With our privatised, still-powerful economy, our low direct tax rates, our sceptical attitude to Europe, our close relationship with the US and the disappearance of real socialism from our politics, we are still the country she shaped. Even today’s reforms of the public sector by mimicking the market — which seem to be struggling — had their origins in the Thatcher years... That’s why, in the fourth of my films telling the story of modern Britain, I say we are all — rebel or not — the children of Margaret Thatcher. I thought for a long time about that. When she came to power I was an enthusiastic Left-winger. I just couldn’t believe she would survive. And the truth is, she very nearly didn’t.

She was a lucky politician. Without the tax from North Sea Oil she’d have found it hard to get through those first, rocky years. If her Cabinet had been less wet they might have stopped her. If Galtieri’s Argentine forces had been better prepared we might have lost the Falklands war — and she would have been out. If the miners had been led by wily leaders, rather than the deluded Arthur Scargill, she might not have won that victory. Had Labour not been busy tearing itself apart in public she might have found her general elections a little tougher, too. Had the IRA been better informed about which bedroom suite she would be using they would have murdered her in Brighton.

And us? The great shake-out in British industry in the early Eighties was too tough, too drastic. Many companies that went then could still have been with us today. She could be harsh. The poll tax was a disaster. That’s the nature of revolutions. There are always victims, always mistakes. But this is a rich country now. And you can’t eat the fruit while sneering at the farmer.

Welcome to the fan club, Andrew.

Margaret Thatcher's Greatest Achievements

CCHQ has named all the rooms in the new offices on Millbank. This is the reasoning for the naming of the Margaret Thatcher room...

Margaret Thatcher gave the poorest in society a way to buy their own homes
and an opportunity to own shares; her 1988 Royal Society Speech put
environmentalism and global warming on the political agenda; and her Scarman
Enquiry began to engage Britain’s disaffected inner city youth.

So, let's get this straight. The Scarman Enquiry was one of Margaret Thatcher's three biggest achievements. Oh dear. Oh dear. Oh dear. Click HERE where ConservativeHome has the full list of rooms. What do you think Margaret Thatcer's three greatest social achievements were?