The Fall of Thatcher - a squalid coup

03/24/19 • 21 min

Charles Powell was Margaret Thatcher’s foreign affairs adviser for most of her premiership. They remained friends after she left office. He was with her in Paris when she discovered she had failed to beat Michael Heseltine by the necessary number of votes to avoid a second ballot. He reflects on her exit as a “party coup” that was little short of “squalid.”

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The Fall of Thatcher - what Butler saw

Robin Butler served Prime Ministers from Wilson to Blair. But as he said at her leaving do, there is only one anyone asks him about. He recalls her fall from power and his efforts to ensure the ship of state kept sailing.

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The Fall of Thatcher - in the middle of war

Tom King was Margaret Thatcher's defence secretary. In November 1990 he was running the biggest deployment of UK troops since World War II for Operation Desert Shield against Saddam Hussein. He returned to find his boss on the way out and pleaded with her to pre-announce her departure so a more orderly exit could ensue.

James Mackay was a Scottish lawyer who by November 1990 found himself number two in the cabinet, reading a tribute to Margaret Thatcher - and helping her struggle through her resignation statement.

Both say it's a meeting they will never forget.