alternatehistory.com

Part X:


♤ David Mellor, My Moment, (Fourth Estate, 2000):

"From the start we knew Mr. Heseltine did not have the votes to win, in the first round. The rules had been amended since the 1975 Leadership contest to allow other candidates to enter should the first round not produce a decisive winner. We thus knew that should Mrs. Thatcher not obtain 205 votes in the first round, much more serious candidates than Mr. Heseltine might enter the contest. We had not anticipated another contender would enter the contest in the first round."


★ Alastair John Campbell, The Claret Revolution, (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1993):

"Francis Pym's nomination by Ian Gilmour and Norman St John-Stevas seemed initially to have the potential to undercut Mr. Heseltine's 'wet' base and caused a certain unease among the leadership of the SDP."


♣ Bill Rodgers, Call Me What You Will, (Politico's, 2000):

"With a much heavy heart, I rang up Peter Walker to have an unpleasant conversation. Before the words were out of my mouth, he cut me off. 'If Francis (Pym) and Ian (Gilmour) had challenged Maggie in '81, I would not have joined the SDP. They didn't. So I did. They are a trifle too late and I am staying put and I can vouchsafe for the rest of the former Tory SDP MPs."


♣ Chris Patten, Roamer, (HarperCollins, 1995):

"I suppose it is hard for people to understand but my defection to SDP had nothing to do with Mrs. Thatcher. I always found her warm and engaging and on one memorable occasion involving a spat when Mr. Tebbit went after me unduly harshly, she stepped in and defended me with aplomb because she thought I was right. Before leaving the room I felt the need to thank her, but she brushed it off with a smile and a simple whisper, "I always look after my young people, Chris." I have nothing against Mrs. Thatcher. I oppose the economic policies she enacted, but before they were called Thatcherism they were called monetarism. Mr. Pym's sudden opposition did not stir any feelings of nostalgia within me. His time had come and went. Had he challenged Mrs. Thatcher in 1981, with the country reeling from brutal monetarist policies, I would have fought by his side. But he told his troops to stay in their barracks. They did. Mr. Pym's inaction enabled monetarism. I owed him no loyalty."


♤ David Mellor, My Moment, (Fourth Estate, 2000):

"Mrs. Thatcher was much buoyed by the entry of Mr. Pym into the Leadership contest, feeling he would splinter Heseltine's vote and allow an easy victory. It was not, however, a view many of us shared, in light of Mrs. Thatcher's reluctance to campaign."


♤ Nigel Lawson, The View from No. 11: Memoirs of a Tory Radical, (Bantam Press, 1990):

"Margaret and Michael were both stymied by their personalities and inept campaigns. Michael thought he could float in based on his good looks, stolid standing among Tories, retroactively inflated business acumen and not being Margaret. But he is by nature a loner and never cultivated the tea room. His leadership was run by men who lacked organizational skills. His attempts at reversing two decades of perception of being a cat who liked to walk by itself by trying to be suave left him open to ridicule. My former colleague Norman Lamont mused out loud that Michael canvassed with all the skill of a child molester hanging around lavatories. As for Margaret, her Thatcher Jugend of the Class of '83 did not amount to much. And she herself was herself."


☆ John Bercow, Thatcher, Thatcherism, and Thatcherites, (Faber, 1998).

"Mrs. Thatcher chose not to canvass for votes. Saying, 'Tory MPs know me, my record and my beliefs. If they were not already persuaded, there was not much left for me to persuade them with.' Regardless of how well the MPs knew her, it is the custom of all leadership elections for the person in the running to canvass the voters or at least grant them an audience to ensure them their voices mattered and their concerns were to be heard. If Mr. Heseltine's approach was criticized for trying too hard, Mrs. Thatcher's was equally derided for not trying hard enough."


♣ Bill Rodgers, Call Me What You Will, (Politico's, 2000):

"Back in '83 at Bermondsey, the bookies were offering 16/1 odds against Simon Hughes becoming MP. I remember seeing an ad in a local shop as I was canvassing and electing to enter the shop. The agent did not recognize me (Sylvia was much displeased by that part) and asked me what would I like to bet. I put a tanner on Mr. Hughes. When the odds shortened to 5/1 I put down £100, adding a further £500 at 7/4, even telling the bookmaker, 'I feel this is very close to insider trading.' Whereupon I was reassured: 'Nonsense, people always tell lies to canvassers.' When the odds dropped to 5/6, I visited the shop again, this time with a Liberal MP. We both put down £1,500 we could ill afford to spend. When Mr. Hughes won, I was able to spoil my family with a decent vacation. In '85, the bookmaker contacted my office soliciting advice. William Hill had released odds at Mrs. Thatcher winning the first round at 7/2, should he follow suit? I told him to lengthen the odds to get more people to bet on her and to take their money. 'And if she should win the first round?' he asked with great apprehension. 'Then I'll get you a MBE.' The man happily agreed. How he thought I was in any position to get someone a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is quite beyond me."


★ Conservative Party (UK) Leadership election (1985), First Ballot:

♤ Margaret Thatcher - 154 votes - 43%

♠ Michael Heseltine - 100 votes - 28%

♠ Francis Pym - 82 votes - 23%

♠ Spoilt (more than one candidate name marked on the same ballot) - 20 votes - 6%

No challenge achieves required majority (205 votes). Second ballot is required.


★ Alastair John Campbell, The Claret Revolution, (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1993):

"Norman Tebbit, Geoffrey Howe and John Wakeham came to Willie Whitelaw and urged him to tell Mrs. Thatcher to stand down, arguing if she would not, Michael Heseltine could win in the second round or third and become the Leader of the Conservative Party and the Prime Minister of UK. Lord Whitelaw went to see Mrs. Thatcher."


♤ Bernard Ingham, Kill the Messenger, (HarperCollins, 1994):

"Mrs. Thatcher met with Lord Whitelaw alone, while we stood outside. Then the door opened and ashen faced Lord Whitelaw shuffled out. There was silence. Then Mrs. Thatcher called for me. She was icily calm and serene and asked me to arrange a call to Mr. Tebbit and Mr. Wakeham."


☆ John Bercow, Thatcher, Thatcherism, and Thatcherites, (Faber, 1998).

"Lord Whitelaw was said to have remonstrated with Mrs. Thatcher. Mrs. Thatcher would not be moved. She ordered Mr. Tebbit and Mr. Wakeham to formally re-nominate her for the second round. Much has been written on her intransigence, but little attention has been paid as to her choice of the two MPs to formally re-nominate her candidacy for the leadership. In her eagerness to send a message about the legitimacy of her reign, she chose the Chairman of the Party and its Chief Whip. She appears to have given no thought to having a potential challenger nominate her and thereby have him remove himself from the running."


♤ Nigel Lawson, The View from No. 11: Memoirs of a Tory Radical, (Bantam Press, 1990):

"Contrary to the thoughts and theories of men who write letters to the editor using green ink and Margaret's more ardent fans, I had nothing to do with the so-called 'Wet-Dry Plot' in '85."


♥ Bryan Gould, Hard Labour, (Penguin Books, 1989):

"I was stunned when I heard Leon Brittan's name was put forward as a candidate in the second round and that was before I learned the names of the men who had nominated him: John Gummer and John Biffen. Firstly, Mr. Brittan was at one point Mrs. Thatcher's protégé and an arch-dry. For him to have turned on his mistress was shocking. Even more shocking were the identities of the men who had put his name forward. Mr. Gummer was a former Chairman of the Conservative Party and a moderate wet. Mr. Biffen was Leader of the Party in the House of Commons and a moderate dry. This 'Wet-Dry Plot' sent shockwaves through Parliament."


♤ Bernard Ingham, Kill the Messenger, (HarperCollins, 1994):

"Mrs. Thatcher was devastated by Leon's treachery. With the exception of when the fate of her son was as yet unknown during his adventures in Africa, it was the only time I saw her be emotional. 'Leon, why didn't you tell me,' she repeated to herself in a hoarse whisper when I brought the news. His was the worst betrayal perpetuated against a sitting Prime Minister by his or her minister."


♥ Denis Healey, Silly Billies, (Penguin Books, 1990):

"It was heartening to see the Labour Party no longer had a monopoly on dysfunction."


♧ Mike Thomas, Separate Ways, (Duckworth, 2000):

"Francis Pym was a rebellion waiting to happen, as was Michael Heseltine, but Leon Brittan was at one point the chosen successor until supplanted by court favourite Cecil Parkinson, who himself was then replaced as the apple in Mrs. Thatcher's eye by John Moore. Leon's fall from Mrs. Thatcher's grace was due to him being found too boring and not engaging enough to be the future of the Party. He may or may not have agreed with such an assessment. Regardless, I think the Brittan candidacy was less about having a chance of winning and more of a statement from both wings of the Conservative party to their Leader: it's time for you to go."


♤ David Mellor, My Moment, (Fourth Estate, 2000):

"Under the rules at the time, the second round could be won by a simple majority. If it was not obtained, the top three candidates would then advance to round three, where voting would become more complicated due to the MPs being able to vote for all three candidates and listing their preference in the so-called alternative voting system. The spectacle of a sitting Prime Minister having to fight three rounds with her own Party to secure a vote of confidence to continue her leadership would have left Mrs. Thatcher fatally wounded. It would stall her legislation and turn the House into a minefield. I lacked the courage to tell my conclusion to Mrs. Thatcher. She had proven to be unwilling to listen to Lord Whitelaw, Mr. Tebbit or Mr. Wakeham. There was little chance of Mr. Ingham granting me a fair hearing and it would only result in my expulsion from the inner circle for speaking treason. There were few she trusted and much fewer following the Lawson resignation. But there was one man whom she implicitly trusted and it is to him I made my appeal."


♣ Roy Jenkins, Centre Ground, (Harper Collins, 1991):

"Of all the rich and varied characters inhabiting Mrs. Thatcher's world none elicit more intellectual curiosity in me than Sir Cecil Parkinson. Born plain Cecil in 1931 in a sleepy railway town in Lancashire, he began life as a Labour supporter. Not just a man to wear a red rosette come election either, for he was active in Labour League of Youth and even attended a Labour Party Conference at Morecambe in 1952. As an introduction to big Labour politics, a worse baptism could have hardly been offered. The '52 conference shed more intra-Party blood than even Blackpool in October 1980. It was certainly the most unpleasant political experience I have ever suffered in Labour. Thoroughly disgusted with the fratricide at Morecabme (as well he should have been), young Cecil then bounds off to Cambridge to read English at Emmanuel College where within three years he is transformed from an active Labour supporter into a Tory. The mind reels. Yes, it is the mid-1950s and one supposes Butskellism makes the Labour-Tory lines blur when it comes to economics for some, but young Cecil attended Morecambe as a Bevanite supporter. Therefore in 1952, at least, Mr. Parkinson was well to the left of me, a fact which I no doubt will horrify his Tory friends and delight my Labour foes. Transitioning from a blood red leftist into a clear blue Tory is rather strange. Stranger still was his career. The rise seems simple enough, Mrs. Thatcher replaced her octogenarian Chairman of the Party with young, suave and loyal supporter in 1981 over the objections of more seasoned and less charming Tory politicians. Follow the defeat of Labour in '83 he is then tipped for Foreign Office. Here our not-quite-as-young-as-before hero falters, telling Mrs. Thatcher he has had an affair with his secretary, to which the Iron Lady was said to have replied she saw no issue with it, for Anthony Eden had been known to bed any woman he could find and he made a fine Foreign Secretary. Setting aside the notion that Mrs. Thatcher thought comparing someone to Mr. Eden was doing such a man a favour, it says something of the respect Mrs. Thatcher afforded her chosen heir to overlook matrimonial issues. When Mr. Parkinson carried on until the birth of his love child was exposed in the papers, what sunk him was not the affair, nor its product, but his mistress declaiming to gleeful journalists Mr. Parkinson had promised he would leave his wife. Mr. Parkinson therefore has the dubious distinction of being a minister undone by staying with his wife after an affair rather than leaving her for his mistress. There comes an interlude of wilderness of two years. Then a call to action by his lady patron. Thus our middle aged hero returns to Cabinet as the amorphous and preposterously medieval titled Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster with a blue torch in hand and a sunny smile on his still handsome face. But it then falls upon him to tell the Iron Lady she is finished."


♤ David Mellor, My Moment, (Fourth Estate, 2000):

"Mrs. Thatcher met with Mr. Parkinson alone, while we stood outside, waiting. It was the worst moment of my life. Far worse than the libelous claims about my private life which were splashed across the dailies in the years to come. Far worse than when the television cameras caught me, sweaty and hair in disarray, yelling at the backers of the candidate who had siphoned off crucial votes from me at the election and caused me to lose my seat. This was the lowest of all lows. After an eternity, the door opened and Mr. Parkinson staggered out. He and I avoided eye contact. He looked like he was crying. There was silence. Then Mrs. Thatcher called for Bernie (Ingham). He was out. I stepped up and gave such information. She thanked me, serene and beautiful as always. 'David, please ring up Norman (Tebbit) and tell him I wish to see him again.' I nodded, for I could not speak."


♠ William Powell, My Party - Wet or Dry, (Hamish Hamilton, 1990):

"I was working on Michael's (Heseltine) campaign when I heard the news."


★ Screaming Lord Sutch, Screaming Sutch II: Electric Boogaloo, (Weidenfield & Nicolson, 1987):

"I was finishing up a concert when my manager began frantically waving his arms on the stage."


♣ Roy Jenkins, Centre Ground, (Harper Collins, 1991):

"I was working on my biography of Mr. Truman when I got the phone call."


♥ Roy Hattersley, Roy from Yorkshire, (Penguin Books, 1992):

"I was working on a paper when I received a call."


★ Princess Margaret of Romania, Romania: Light and Darkness, (HarperCollins, 1998):

"Gordon and I were crossing the border from Uganda into Rwanda one step ahead of the Rebels when the news came over the radio. Neither of us could believe it."


♥ Philip Gould, Confessions of an Adman, (HarperCollins, 1996):

"I was trying to woo a client when a red faced food server rushed up to me and whispered the news."


♣ Peter Walker, A United Kingdom, (Hamish Hamilton, 1987):

"I was working on this book when the call came."


★ Peter Mandelson, The Revolution Will be Televised, (Faber, 1996):

"I was entertaining a friend when I found out."


♤ Nigel Lawson, The View from No. 11: Memoirs of a Tory Radical, (Bantam Press, 1990):

"I was asleep when I was woken with a knock on my door."


♧ Mike Thomas, Separate Ways, (Duckworth, 2000):

"I was studying the boundary changes for the Parliamentary constituencies when I got the news."


♠ Michael Mates, Where There’s a Will, (Hamish Hamilton, 1995):

"Michael (Heseltine) called me with the news."


♠ Michael Havers, Crime and Punishment, (Penguin Books, 1990):

"I was woken in bed with a phone call from a friend in the civil service."


♣ Michael Gallagher, Wanderer, (Penguin Books, 1989):

"I was going over my upcoming speech to the Milton Keynes Liberal Club when I heard."


★ Joe Trippi, Sleepless Summers, (Faber, 1998):

"I was shooting an ad for a political client. He asked for two. In one he would support abortion. In another he could condemn it. Then depending on which way the polls would go in his state he'd release one or the other. I remember contemplating drinking heavily when my phone started to ring."


♥ Joe Ashton, My Labour, My Party, (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1993):

"The news reached me while I was in a sleeper car."


★ Gordon Brown, Saving the World, (Penguin Books, 1990):

"I don't recall where I was when I heard the news. It was unimportant to me."


♥ Eric Hammond, Union Man, (Penguin Books, 1987):

"I was hammering out a contract when the call came through. Twelve phones rang at once."


♣ Dick Taverne, Vagabond, (Weidenfield & Nicolson, 1988):

"I was trying to talk sense with a Liberal MP about Polaris when two messengers appeared at once. One ran towards the Liberal MP, the other towards me. Both men were out of breath."


♥ Denis Healey, Silly Billies, (Penguin Books, 1990):

"None would dare wake me, so I found out when I woke in the morning."


♦ David Steel, Against Goliath: The David Steel Story, (Penguin Books, 1989):

"I was working on the first half of this book when the call came through."


♧ David Owen, Into the Maelstrom, (Macmillan, 1991):

"I was working on a speech when I got the phone call about the news."


♣ David Ian Marquand, Nomad, (HarperCollins, 1990):

"I was asleep. The phone rang the same time my nephew burst into my bedroom."


♣ Chris Patten, Roamer, (HarperCollins, 1995):

"I was woken in night by a phone call from a woman who shall remain nameless."


♡ Cherie Booth, Speaking for Myself, (Little, Brown, 1998):

"Tony (Blair) woke me with the news."


♥ Bryan Gould, Hard Labour, (Penguin Books, 1989):

"I was working on a strategy with Charles Clarke when the call came."


♣ Bill Rodgers, Call Me What You Will, (Politico's, 2000):

"Roy (Jenkins) woke me with the news."


♤ Bernard Ingham, Kill the Messenger, (HarperCollins, 1994):

"After Mr. Tebbit left, Mrs. Thatcher called me. Mrs. Thatcher informed me she was withdrawing her candidacy for the Leadership of The Party. I managed a nod. She said she would stay on until a winner was declared. I managed a second nod. She then informed me she would, after the second round of voting, begin to work on her Resignation Honours list and wished to consult with me on it afterwards to ensure she had not overlooked the personnel at Downing Street and Chequers. I managed a third nod, was dismissed warmly, let her office, went to mine and wept."