̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Margaret Thatcher Foundation

̽��ֱ��Thatcher papers: 1990

ta385 — Tue, 03 Mar 2020 08:00:00 +0000

̽��ֱ��Churchill Archives Centre shines a light on Margaret Thatcher's final year in office.

1989: ̽��ֱ��year Margaret Thatcher’s apparent mastery slipped away

ehs33 — Sat, 09 Mar 2019 00:00:01 +0000

Forty thousand pages of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s personal and political papers from 1989 are being opened to the public at the Churchill Archives Centre and online at the website of the Margaret Thatcher Foundation.

In 1989, the arrival of Alan Walters had an incendiary effect. Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson's fundamental disagreements with the views and actions of Walters, Margaret Thatcher’s economics adviser, led to the watershed resignation of both men on 26 October 1989.

Lawson’s decision to resign after over six years as a key figure in Thatcher’s government was a pivotal moment in the events which would lead to the downfall of the Prime Minister.
For the first time, Thatcher’s extraordinary handwritten letter to Walters – written in the aftermath of both their resignations – gives profound insight and confirms Thatcher’s true sentiment and affiliation to Walters over Lawson as her Chancellor, a split that divided the Conservative party.

Across four pages Thatcher underlines her words and states she was "truly appalled" at Lawson’s request to sack Walters for undermining his authority and regarded it as "totally unjust and shocking". Her gratitude to Walters is evident saying “the work you did during our first administration was the foundation of our later success’ adding “I fervently believe you’re right”.
Thatcher bemoans the legacy of her longstanding Chancellor in a way she could not do in public. “As you know he has left us with high inflation, a very high trade deficit, not to mention the very high interest rate”.

Contained in an off the record interview with Kelvin McKenzie Editor of the Sun, released for the first time, her emotional reaction to events is powerfully present. She recalls her children’s consoling phone calls on the evening of the Lawson resignation – “Mum are you alright? don’t worry, you know we love you”. She describes their support as “meaning more than anything in the world”.

This event, combined with the highlights of the previously unseen material, opened the door to the end of Thatcherism before another year was out. Documents released for the first time include:

Startling confidential reports on the effects of the poll tax – some only sent to the Prime Minister – forewarning her of its unfairness and adverse impact on Tory marginal seats, including Thatcher’s own Finchley constituency. Thatcher was clearly warned from numerous sources about the ratio of losers to winners amongst Conservative voters and the consequent likely political damage, yet despite all this, pressed ahead. This flagship Thatcherite policy, would not be possible to abolish while Thatcher was still Prime Minister;
Thatcher’s private notes on the 'Madrid ambush', the ultimatum from Nigel Lawson and Geoffrey Howe that she issue a date to join the ERM goes to the very heart of the story of the Thatcher government in its last years – both men had once been among her closes political allies;
Mrs Thatcher’s personal fondness for health cures in the form of her correspondence with the novelist Barbara Cartland offering her “golden acorns”, perhaps nutrimental supplements she might have taken in combination with living off black coffee and describing eggs and bacon as “quite the best thing, British peoples culinary gift to the world”;
̽��ֱ��first use of the ‘royal we' in Thatcher's statement to the press on the birth of her first grandchild, Mark Thatcher's son Michael caused huge negative public reaction. ̽��ֱ��term had previously been restricted to royalty. Its use by a mere prime minister alongside Thatcher's imperious personal manner were the source of considerable disdain at the time. Thatcher's apparent conceit led to her being described as “a legend in her own imagination”.

Allen Packwood, Director of the Churchill Archives Centre, said: “Whatever our politics we have to recognise Margaret Thatcher as a major historical figure. ̽��ֱ��material released today will further inform our understanding of these historic events during 1989. There is huge research interest in her as a political figure and in the events of her life and premiership, the material will inform further study, discussion and debate.”

̽��ֱ��Churchill Archives Centre is open to researchers five days a week for about fifty weeks each year. ̽��ֱ��Centre provides free access for all potential visitors, subject only to prior booking of a space in its reading room.

̽��ֱ��archive can be viewed at the Margaret Thatcher Foundation website and will be made available to view at the Churchill Archives Centre from Monday 11 March.

Whatever our politics we have to recognise Margaret Thatcher as a major historical figure

Allen Packwood

Reproduced by kind permission of the family of Srdja Djukanovic

Margaret Thatcher 1989

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Thatcher papers for 1988 reveal her 'deep enthusiasm' for the single market

sjr81 — Sat, 21 Jul 2018 07:00:58 +0000

Her speechwriting files for Bruges, including drafts and contributions from outsiders, are among more than 40,000 pages of Lady Thatcher’s papers for the year 1988 being opened to the public at Churchill College from Monday.

They show that rather than acting as a call-to-arms for Eurosceptics and attacking the principles behind the single market – of which Thatcher was something of a devotee – her speech was more concerned with the perceived power grab by European Commission chief Jacques Delors, and a possible move to a more ‘federal’ European ‘super-state’.

Historian Chris Collins of the Margaret Thatcher Foundation, the only person to date to have read all 40,000 pages of material being released, said: “She wanted her speech to be about direction, rather than point scoring – and she edges back from attacking the Commission, approaching it in a more intellectual style.

“I know she was uncomfortable about the venue, but we are very lucky in that few of her speeches remain in such a complete form as this.

“When you read her papers for 1988, you see her sheer level of enthusiasm for the single market. She goes up hill and down dale with deep enthusiasm because this is practical Europe, this is how it works together. ̽��ֱ��role of speechwriter Hugh Thomas – a committed Europhile – is also crucial to consider when looking at this speech from a historical perspective.”

̽��ֱ��1988 papers are the latest of Margaret Thatcher’s reign as Prime Minister from 1979-90 to be made available to scholars, researchers and the general public – alongside the papers of Sir Winston Churchill and hundreds of other leading figures at the Churchill Archives Centre.

As well as Lady Thatcher’s papers surrounding the Bruges speech in September 1988, her personal papers also reveal the emergence of plans for a possible fourth term in office, with no obvious end to Thatcherism in sight at that point.

However, 1988 was not without its problems as the government experienced a large number of backbench rebellions on controversial measures, including many with manifesto authority. When Thatcher met with the Executive of the 1922 Committee in January, she was warned that one of the things they wanted to raise with her was the ‘problem of a large majority in the House of Commons and an inadequate Opposition, leading the government being perceived as dictatorial and insensitive to criticism’.

“Unsurprisingly, when this point was indeed made to her face, Thatcher made an indignant response,” said Collins. “There followed a series of rebellions over benefits and the poll tax which she took very personally as relationships with the Conservative parliamentary party frayed.”

Away from frontline politics, the archives for 1988 also reveal that her husband Denis went through a showbiz reception guest list with a fine tooth-comb, querying whether certain celebrities such as Paul McCartney and David Attenborough should be invited to Number 10 for a gathering of those who would be easily recognised by the public and do Mrs Thatcher much good on TV.

̽��ֱ��original list of 45 personalities was too low on numbers thought Lady Thatcher and a much longer list of more than 200 names was drawn up by former culture secretary, John Whittingdale – then political secretary to the Prime Minister.

“He (Whittingdale) was not the grizzled elder statesman of the present day,” said Collins. “This was the young man whose evening was spent watching Meatloaf at the Hammersmith Odeon and whose idea of a good party was to invite Paul McCartney, Freddie Mercury and the Jaggers.

Whittingdale, perhaps, did not count on the scrutinous eye of Denis Thatcher – who attacked the proposed guest list with no small amount of red ink, marking ticks against those he ‘would personally like to see included’ and question marks beside ‘those who, I believe, do not help'.

He went on to say: “Whilst I accept of course that not everyone who comes to our receptions are necessarily on ‘our’ side I find it both unpleasant and embarrassing to entertain those who publicly insult the PM. This list needs some careful checking in this regard.”

His favourite name of those listed was comedian Eric Sykes who gained an expansive four ticks. Others to receive enthusiastic backing from Denis included Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Dame Judi Dench, Nick Faldo and Rolf Harris.

McCartney and Attenborough were not alone in having question marks placed next to their name. Sebastian Coe, Shirley Bassey and magician Paul Daniels all fell foul of Denis’ red pen.

In the end, the longer guest list was dropped in favour of the original 45 and the British Winter Olympic Squad – minus Eddie ‘ ̽��ֱ��Eagle’ Edwards, who was double booked and unable to attend.

Margaret Thatcher’s infamous Bruges speech – which helped to coin the phrase ‘Euroscepticism’ – was never intended to be an anti-European diatribe, according to newly-released archive material by the Churchill Archives Centre and the Margaret Thatcher Foundation.

When you read her papers for 1988, you see her sheer level of enthusiasm for the single market.

Chris Collins

Margaret Thatcher Foundation

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‘Don’t put yourself through it again’: Thatcher papers reveal ‘distress’ after bruising election win

sjr81 — Tue, 10 Oct 2017 10:02:33 +0000

But despite winning 376 seats and 13.7 million votes (compared to Labour’s 209 seats and just over 10 million votes), the papers for 1987 are striking in their air of uncertainty and despondency, with one particularly prescient letter from Private Secretary Charles Powell imploring her not to fight another bruising election campaign.

As well as fighting off what Conservatives believed to be a particularly hostile press in the run-up to the election, 1987 proved a particularly troubled and unsettling year for both the Prime Minister and the country at large with the Zeebrugge ferry disaster, Hungerford massacre, King’s Cross fire, Enniskillen bombing, ‘Black Monday’ stock market crash, and the Great Storm all taking place during the course of a turbulent year.

̽��ֱ��extraordinary Powell letter, opened to the public in full for the first time by the Churchill Archives Centre and the Margaret Thatcher Foundation, strikes a pleading tone to Lady Thatcher after congratulating the PM on her historic victory.

“All the same I hope you will not put yourself through it again,” says the letter. “ ̽��ֱ��level of personal abuse thrown at you during the campaign was unbelievable and must take some toll, however stoic you are outwardly… In two or three years’ time you will have completed the most sweeping change this country has seen in decades and your place in history will be rivalled only in this century by Churchill. That’s the time to contribute to some other area.”

Responding to the letter ahead of today's opening, Lord Powell said: “I had actually forgotten writing the letter until Charles Moore cited it in his biography. It’s an unusual letter for a civil servant to send a Prime Minister, even on a very personal basis, reflecting the small size and intimacy of Number 10 especially in those days. I had been distressed to observe at close quarters the stress of a third election campaign and the back-biting it involved on Margaret Thatcher’s health and performance. In the light of subsequent events, my advice to her looks pretty sound.”

Although 1987 had its fair share of difficulties – not least a growing Tory disquiet around the upcoming ‘Poll Tax’ – Thatcher did enjoy enormously successful visits to both the USA and the USSR, the latter to meet with Mikhail Gorbachev during March/April.

̽��ֱ��success of the visit helped launch her election campaign and put clear water between her and Labour in the polls at a time when the gap had been narrowing, a constriction that provoked much disquiet in the Conservative ranks at all levels of the party machine.

While the Russia visit and resulting photos provided a bump to Thatcher's and Conservative Party popularity, Thatcher had since 1983 consciously sought a better relationship with the Soviet leadership. In truth, Lady Thatcher was yet to be convinced by Gorbachev and played down expectations both before and after the visit, even in the face of overwhelmingly positive coverage both in the UK and behind the Iron Curtain.

̽��ֱ��1987 papers also bring back to light a forgotten episode on eve of poll when Lady Thatcher, being interviewed by David Dimbleby, made what could have been a potentially election-losing and career-ending comment. Asking a question about social division, Dimbleby suggested the PM never actually said she cared. In reply, she said: “Please. If people just drool and drivel that they care. I turn round and say ‘Right. I also look to see what you actually do.’”

Thatcher instantly regretted her choice of words and immediately apologised for her use of the phrase ‘drool and drivel’.

Historian Chris Collins of the Margaret Thatcher Foundation, the only person to have read all 50,000 pages of the 1987 papers in their entirety, said: “She was a bit lucky there, I think. Perhaps the immediate retraction and election victory saved her from having to live with endless taunting in later years.

“It’s hard to find anything quite like this exchange in the whole body of her public rhetoric (which amounted to more than 14 million words by the end of her Premiership) and her feelings about it were correspondingly high.”

On a lighter note, the papers for 1987 contain her Press Office briefing notes after Lady Thatcher was persuaded to appear on children’s TV, including the BBC’s Saturday Superstore. A briefing ahead of an interview for Smash Hits magazine carries the ominous warning ‘You may not enjoy this appearance' – and if proof were needed, included an appendix with a short history of punk.

Noting that the genre was at its most extreme phase under the previous Labour government, the briefing went on to outline the Sex Pistols’ God Save the Queen and Anarchy in the UK, both highlighted in yellow to give these classic punk anthems even greater prominence.

Not content with her brief history of punk, the PM also gave a speech in Jamaica later that year referencing Bob Marley. Powell also sent her the words to Get Up, Stand Up.

While Thatcher may have proved her prowess at winning elections in 1987, she did come a cropper on the domestic front after appearing on a BBC science programme called Take Nobody’s Word For It with Professor Ian Fells of Newcastle ̽��ֱ�� to demonstrate some basic chemistry including a recipe for bread.

“If you offer the viewing public a recipe on a TV programme with a title like that, it better be a good one – ideally foolproof,” added Collins. “Unfortunately this one wasn’t. Horrified officials found themselves receiving letters from people complaining they had tried the PM’s bread. One said it was ‘just like chewing gum’ and another ‘that it was bad enough to cry’. Later that same year, the Roux brothers sent her a book of patisserie recipes, though history does not record whether the gift had any connection to ‘Breadgate’.”

Margaret Thatcher’s third and final election victory dominates the 50,000 pages of her personal papers for the year 1987 – opening to the public from today at Churchill College, Cambridge.

I had been distressed to observe at close quarters the stress of a third election campaign and the back-biting it involved on Margaret Thatcher’s health and performance.

Lord Powell

Thatcher speaking in the White House grounds during her 1987 visit to the USA

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̽��ֱ��lady is for turning (and reversing) – Thatcher archives for 1986 open to the public

sjr81 — Mon, 23 Jan 2017 14:54:50 +0000

̽��ֱ��Prime Minister’s personal papers for the year 1986, held at Churchill College, reveal the significant and ongoing fallout from the Westland affair – which prompted the resignation of Defence Minister Michael Heseltine, who went on to challenge Thatcher for the Tory leadership in 1990.

̽��ֱ��affair was bruising disagreement between Thatcher and Heseltine over a proposed rescue package for the UK’s last helicopter manufacturer – Westland. Heseltine favoured a European-based rescue package, while the PM favoured a US deal, with both sides using the press to brief against the other. Heseltine famously stormed out of a Cabinet meeting and resigned on January 9, 1986, accusing the Prime Minister of having lied during the course of the conflict.

Included in the 1986 papers is the text of a letter Thatcher drafted to Heseltine just three weeks before his eventual resignation – but did not send; an ultimatum to either toe the line or give up office. It ends bluntly: “In this situation, no Minister should use his position to promote one commercial option in preference to another – so long as he remains in Government.”

“ ̽��ֱ��important thing about this letter of course is that it was never sent,” said Chris Collins of the Margaret Thatcher Foundation. “Throughout the crisis, Thatcher was wary of any course of action that might finally provoke Heseltine’s resignation or gather sympathy for him once he actually had, putting her in an uncomfortably and uncharacteristically defensive position. She knew she was dangerously isolated in Cabinet and among the Tory press where Heseltine had many friends.”

In many respects, 1986 was defined by Westland. Much happened in its shadow or was judged a consequence of it. It was also a genuine contest for power in the Conservative Party, one that Thatcher came close to losing.

“It’s no accident that Westland anticipated her final demise in 1990,” added Collins. “Many of the people were the same, the issues too. An argument in cabinet could not be contained and blew out into the street – with rivals chancing their arm against a dangerously isolated leader. ̽��ֱ��truth is that she was deeply conflicted, angry as hell but painfully aware of her vulnerability.”

Included in the archives, a day after the resignation, is a warning from her Political Secretary, Stephen Sherbourne, that she must be seen to be in control of events as they unfolded, not merely a bystander. “People want Prime Ministers to be in charge and they expect that from you,” says his letter.

Also among the papers being released today are those which reveal the scale of opposition for her support of President Reagan’s April bombing of Libya – including that of Norman Tebbit, Conservative Party Chairman, and historically one of Thatcher’s key supporters.

̽��ֱ��clear and continuing discord between the pair makes for uncomfortable reading according to Collins, with Tebbit and other leading figures such as Deputy PM Willie Whitelaw, Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe and Chancellor Nigel Lawson among those vocal in their opposition to giving the US administration what they considered to be a ‘blank cheque’ in prosecuting its bombing campaign against Colonel Gaddafi’s Libya.

American F-111 bomber aircraft stationed at RAF Lakenheath were used in the raids on the Libyan capital Tripoli, which proved highly controversial in Britain. ̽��ֱ��raids gained major exposure thanks to the reporting of BBC journalist Kate Adie who was considered to have covered the story coolly and critically from Tripoli.

̽��ֱ��BBC coverage enraged Tebbit who launched a prolonged counterattack which alarmed Number Ten in both its style and substance. Once among Thatcher’s closest allies, by 1986, their relationship had deteriorated remarkably.

“Number Ten was keen to fight the next election at least in part on the issue of defence where Labour was vulnerable,” added Collins. “Anything that kept Libya in the headlines jeopardised that plan.”

Tebbit’s attacks on the BBC became so severe, and riled Home Secretary Douglas Hurd so much, that Nigel Wicks, Thatcher’s Personal Private Secretary, warned the PM that Tebbit’s ‘obsession’ with the BBC coverage risked repeating elements of the Westland affair all over again – going against the collective responsibility of the Government when things had appeared to be settling down.

Alongside larger worries about national and international affairs, the papers for 1986 also record the concerns of Mrs Thatcher’s advisors when it to plans for the Prime Minister to test drive the new Rover 800 in Downing Street – all in the name of lending a hand to the ailing car manufacturer British Leyland.

“There were predictable worries,” added Collins. “Her press secretary Bernard Ingham remembered a previous Rover test drive when the firm had delivered a red car. Officials were also worried that the Prime Minister’s driving skills might not be up to scratch!”

A quiet rehearsal was arranged at Chequers, with the car towed secretively under cover, while plans for the Downing Street drive were formalised. In the end, perhaps buoyed by her experience at Chequers, Mrs Thatcher not only drove the car along Downing Street, but also reversed it, pulling off the manoeuvre flawlessly in front of the assembled press.

Rover, rather cackhandedly, later attempted to sell her a discounted car under their “VIP Preferential Purchase Scheme”. ̽��ֱ��offer was never taken up.

Andrew Riley, Archivist of the Thatcher papers at the Churchill Archives Centre, said: “Margaret Thatcher’s personal papers for 1986, released for the first time today at Churchill Archives Centre, provide unique insights into a year which ultimately proved to date a little over half way into her Premiership. Of course, no one knew in 1986 just how long she would stay at Downing Street but for the first time the issue of “succession” had been dramatically raised.

“Her political troubles are well documented in the release, especially the dramas of the Westland crisis and her isolation within Cabinet on a number of key foreign policy issues. ̽��ֱ��release gives a chance for a fresh look at the major political news stories of 1986 and a chance to understand something of the stress of the Prime Minister’s year.”

Margaret Thatcher’s isolation over Westland and the US bombing of Libya – as well as fears about the standards of her driving – are among the subjects revealed within 40,000 pages of her papers opening to the public today at the Churchill Archives Centre.

For the first time the issue of “succession” had been dramatically raised.

Andrew Riley

Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College

Portrait of Margaret Thatcher

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Archive of Margaret Thatcher acquired for the nation

sjr81 — Thu, 18 Jun 2015 14:40:17 +0000

Written over Easter 1983, almost exactly a year after the Argentine invasion, the handwritten memoir gives profound insights into her handling of the war, particularly her relationships with colleagues and allies including the United States. Probably the single most significant historical document Thatcher ever wrote, her emotional reaction to events is also powerfully present.

̽��ֱ��memoir, along with other personal papers, now complement and complete the rich materials already gifted to the Nation and held at the Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge.

Centre Director Allen Packwood said: “ ̽��ֱ��Churchill Archives Centre is delighted that this important material has been secured in perpetuity, and that it will form part of Lady Thatcher’s personal archive, sitting alongside the papers that she donated during her lifetime. As the reaction to this news shows, there is huge research interest in her as a political figure and in the events of her life and premiership, and the material accepted today will inform further study, discussion and debate. It is an important part of the story of our recent past.”

̽��ֱ��papers accepted complement and complete the rich materials already gifted to the Nation. In 1997, just over six years after leaving office, Baroness Thatcher generously gifted the bulk of her personal and political files to the Margaret Thatcher Archive Trust, stressing that she had always wanted her archive to stay in the United Kingdom and to be a resource for students and scholars.

̽��ֱ��collection deposited in Cambridge contains material from her earliest life right the way through her time as an MP (1959-92), Conservative party leader (1975-90), Prime Minister (1979-90), and beyond. She kept possession of some key personal papers and of much post 1990 material which is now accepted in lieu and which completes the archive.

Sir Peter Bazalgette, Chair, Arts Council England, said: "Whatever our politics we have to recognise Margaret Thatcher as a major historical figure. Her papers will now join those of Churchill and be available to scholars of the 20th century."

̽��ֱ��collection accepted in lieu of tax contains her most personal papers relating to crucial episodes in her time as Prime Minister and include:A second previously unpublished memoir gives her personal account of the Fontainebleau European summit in June 1984 which finally settled the five year battle to reform the EC budget and “get her money back”.

A third memoir tells of her visit to Moscow for the funeral of Soviet President Chernenko in March 1985, where she renewed her acquaintance with his successor - Mikhail Gorbachev.

Other significant items include:

̽��ֱ��final draft of her remarks in Downing Street when she became Prime Minister in May 1979 – it seems she had planned to talk of the ‘song’ of St. Francis, perhaps because she herself was uneasy with the idea of a prayer.
̽��ֱ��text from which she delivered her ‘Not for turning’ speech at the Oct 1980 Conservative Party Conference.

Many other personal papers on the Falklands, most of which have already been released within the archive – including Lord Carrington’s letter explaining his decision to resign as Foreign Secretary; her handwritten notes on conversations with Harold Macmillan, US Secretary of State Al Haig; reports from the Chief Whip on Conservative backbench doubts about the war.

Her engagement diaries for 1952-59, 1961-62 & 1964. In addition there is a quantity of personal and political papers she collected between 1979 and 1990.

Access to the papers accepted will follow existing arrangements for the core collection of Thatcher papers held by the Churchill Archives Centre. ̽��ֱ��papers already donated by Margaret Thatcher are generally being opened in parallel with official material held at the UK’s National Archives. Currently the majority of papers up to the end of 1984 are available, subject only to occasional closures recommended by the Cabinet Secretary for sensitive official material and any closures necessary to comply with the Data Protection Act.

Certain papers accepted (generally those dated before 1985) are already available at the Archives Centre and online at the Thatcher Foundation’s website. Further materials will continue to be added to the website on their release.

Later materials accepted are still being sorted and catalogued but include significant materials relating to the 1990 Conservative Leadership election.

̽��ֱ��acceptance of Margaret Thatcher’s papers settled £1,013,250 of tax.

̽��ֱ��relevant papers will be freely available at Churchill Archives Centre with selections online at www.margaretthatcher.org, the website of the Margaret Thatcher Foundation.

Margaret Thatcher’s previously unpublished memoir of the Falklands War has been acquired for the nation - after Arts Council England today announced the acceptance in lieu of inheritance tax of papers from the estate of the former Prime Minister.

There is huge research interest in her as a political figure.

Allen Packwood

Margaret Thatcher Foundation

Margaret Thatcher

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̽��ֱ��speech that never was – Thatcher papers for 1984 open to the public

sjr81 — Fri, 03 Oct 2014 16:32:52 +0000

Draft pages of her intended speech – grabbed from the wreckage of the Grand Hotel following the attack on the Prime Minister on October 12, 1984 – detail how Thatcher planned to warn the country from the podium of the Conservative Party Conference that Britain faced ‘an insurrection’.

̽��ֱ��‘speech that never was’ went on to suggest that the Labour Party was the ‘natural home’ of forces whose ambition was to tear the country apart ‘by an extension of the calculated chaos planned for the mining industry by a handful of trained Marxists and their fellow travellers’.

Her own handwritten notes for the speech, released today by the Churchill Archives Centre (www.chu.cam.ac.uk/archives) and online at the Margaret Thatcher Foundation website (www.margaretthatcher.org ), suggest plans to link what she regarded as militant mining communities to General Galtieri – the Argentinian dictator defeated during the Falklands War of 1982. ̽��ֱ��note, released for the first time, reads: “Since Office. Enemy without – beaten him & resolute strong in defence. Enemy within – Miners’ leaders…Liverpool and some local authorities – just as dangerous…in a way more difficult to fight…just as dangerous to liberty.”

Chris Collins from the Margaret Thatcher Foundation, the only historian to date to have had unrestricted access to the papers, said: “It was a speech which would have been remembered as controversial and would have eclipsed the ‘enemy within’ speech (delivered in private to the backbench 1922 Committee) Indeed it was intended to do that.

“There’s a certain irony that an act of great violence actually softened this speech. In the end, the original speech was torn up and later taped back together, probably by Thatcher herself, who was a dab hand with Sellotape.”

Among the other 40,000 papers being released online and at Churchill College, are documents which reveal the Prime Minister’s deep sense of foreboding about her fate at the hands of the Conservative Party she ruled, prophesising events of seven years later when she would be forced to resign as PM.

She told her secretary John Coles that: “My party won’t want me to lead them into the next election – and I don’t blame them.” Collins said he was amazed to find Mrs Thatcher imagining her own downfall just days after the 1983 General Election victory. ̽��ֱ��account, written when Coles left Number 10 in June 1984, also reveals that Thatcher’s doubts ran in parallel to a ‘decline in her energy’ after the election win.

More light-hearted pages from the 1984 archive reveal the prickly saga of a rose called Margaret, detailing – in a scene that could have been lifted straight from the scripts of Yes Prime Minister – how an innocent flower sparked a potential diplomatic incident between West Germany and Japan.

̽��ֱ��drama began in innocent enough fashion when a West German horticultural association asked for permission to name a rose after Margaret Thatcher, delighting officials in Whitehall wishing to perhaps promote a softer side to the ‘Iron Lady’.

However, the Prime Minister had forgotten an agreement of six years earlier, signed while Leader of the Opposition, that had given a Japanese firm license to grow the original ‘Margaret Thatcher Rose’.

̽��ֱ��clearly wounded Japanese firm wrote to the PM’s office and the Whitehall machine acted swiftly to pour oil on troubled diplomatic waters. ̽��ֱ��incident provoked many pages of notes between Whitehall and Foreign Office officials. In the end, it took a letter from private secretary Charles Powell to draw matters to a close. His reassuring tones of diplomacy to the slighted Japanese company headed off any threats of legal action and potential embarrassment to the Thatcher office.

Andrew Riley, Archivist of the papers at the Churchill Archives Centre, said: “This release of papers gives us a vivid insight into life at Downing Street and into Mrs Thatcher’s state of mind during a very difficult year, both personally and politically.

“ ̽��ֱ��papers provide fresh insights into the often bitter coal strike of 1984, as well as newly released materials on the impact and aftermath of the Brighton bomb.”

Papers opened to the public today reveal how the Brighton bombing stopped Margaret Thatcher from widening her infamous ‘enemy within’ rhetoric to include not only the striking miners but also the wider Labour movement and Party.

It was a speech which would have eclipsed the ‘enemy within’ speech.

Chris Collins

Churchill Archives Centre

A Sellotaped page from the speech that never was. Homepage image: Miner's strike, 1984 by Nick Sarebi (CC: Att)

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Inside the landslide: Thatcher's personal papers for 1983 opened to the public

sjr81 — Thu, 10 Oct 2013 14:28:49 +0000

More than 50,000 papers relating to Thatcher’s re-election, arguments with the Bank of England over interest rates, and her scuppered plans to position Cecil Parkinson as her heir apparent, have been opened by the Churchill Archives Centre and the Margaret Thatcher Foundation (http://www.margaretthatcher.org/).

̽��ֱ��papers also reveal surprising overtures to the USSR and the evolution of Thatcher’s thinking towards the Soviet Union in a series of speeches made during the autumn of 1983 as she sought to act on intelligence about Russia’s growing paranoia of a Western ‘first strike’ doctrine.

̽��ֱ��early months of 1983 were characterised by uncertainty over when the Prime Minister, who privately favoured an October election date, might call for a General Election.

As history shows, the nation went to the polls on June 9, returning Thatcher and the Conservatives with a gargantuan 144-seat majority. This signalled their best performance since 1935 by some measures and made Thatcher the first Conservative PM since Salisbury to win two elections in a row.

Despite Conservative attempts to downplay success in the Falklands for fear of being seen to ‘cash in’ on the victory, the South Atlantic war loomed large over the election campaign as Labour’s Denis Healey made it a central issue.

He accused Thatcher of ‘glorying in slaughter’ which led to almost the worst possible outcome for Labour, as they were now seen to be playing politics with the Falklands conflict.

In an election press conference on June 2, Thatcher said: “It’s gone beyond all bounds of public or political decency.” She also wrote a letter to St John-Stevas saying: “I agree with you about the Healeyism. It went too far – even for him.”

However, despite the bad feeling that may have caused between the parties, the archive papers opened at Churchill this week also show that the Prime Minister dismissed out of hand personal attacks on Michael Foot and other members of the Opposition, a marked difference to today’s frequent attacks by politicians of all persuasions across the despatch boxes in the Commons.

In a note to Iain Spoat, Conservative MP for Aberdeen South, she said: “Please leave out all references to Labour personalities. We fight on policies.”

When Michael Foot retired in October 1983, following the summer’s heavy election defeat, she sent him a warm letter saying she had ‘greatly valued the frankness and confidence with which we have been able to conduct our personal business as Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition’.

Despite the overwhelming size of the election win, both the PM and her closest circle of advisors exchanged cautionary messages both before and after June 9.

One such example in the files for 1983 comes from her press secretary Bernard Ingham who wrote on June 7, just before the election, to say: “Nor should you under-estimate the British capacity to reject success. ̽��ֱ��more successful you are – i.e., the bigger your majority – the more the media will seek to bring you down to earth and humble you.” His note is marked with not just one of Thatcher’s distinctive ticks next to it, but two.

Following the election, congratulations arrived in Downing Street in vast numbers from across the world. President Reagan wrote twice as well as calling. Former US President Nixon also wrote and almost every head of government across the world put pen to paper, producing an international Who’s Who of cards, letters and telegrams in the files opened this year.

̽��ֱ��scale of the victory and the peculiarly personal element of it following the Falklands campaign left Thatcher a freer hand at the post-election reshuffle than at any other time as Prime Minister.

But as the archive reveals, her plans to promote Cecil Parkinson to Foreign Secretary, a move which might have paved the way for a future leadership bid as her heir apparent, unravelled in chaos when he informed Thatcher, on election day itself, of his affair with his former Commons Secretary Sara Keays.

Following the news, Thatcher hurriedly redesigned the reshuffle, placing Parkinson as Minister for Trade and Industry and making Geoffrey Howe Foreign Secretary. Nigel Lawson took over Howe’s former job as Chancellor of the Exchequer. In any event, Parkinson only held the Trade and Industry Ministership until October when revelations of his affair appeared in the press.

Elsewhere, 1983’s papers also show Thatcher voicing her grave discontent at the Governor of the Bank of England who raised interest rates from ten to 11 per cent while she was on an unannounced trip to the Falkland Islands. Thatcher endured a difficult relationship with Governor Gordon Richardson whom she believed to be a barrier to her plans for the economy.

‘If I had been here, you would not have put up rates’ Thatcher told Richardson on her return – according to the diary of her economic advisor Alan Walters. Walters later wrote in the margins of one of the released documents ‘Governor got a bollocking’.

̽��ֱ��archives also show her discontent with Barclays Bank at the interest rate decision; Thatcher feeling the bank, which wanted to raise its own mortgage rates by two percentage points, was profiteering.

Chris Collins, of the Margaret Thatcher Foundation, said: “ ̽��ֱ��1983 files show Margaret Thatcher reaching her political prime, winning her biggest election victory and laying the foundations of a new political consensus at home and even abroad, a prospect beyond her grasp and possibly her imagining a few years before. But it is fascinating that the private papers show she had a sense of how quickly it could change, of how a landslide victory could create problems for her. And in fact she first learned of the Parkinson affair on the day she won the election, rubbing in the point that power contains an element of illusion.”

Margaret Thatcher’s personal papers for 1983 – the year of her landslide election victory over Michael Foot’s Labour Party – have been opened to the public for the first time.

̽��ֱ��private papers show she had a sense of how quickly a landslide victory could create problems for her.

Chris Collins

Bernard Ingham's note of warning to Margaret Thatcher two days before the 1983 General Election

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