Brittle Iron. Thatcher becomes PM in 1978

19th October 1978. BBC Broadcasting House 9.55 PM

David Dimbleby. "Good Evening and welcome to what is promising to be one of the most nail biting elections in modern history. By the end of the night we could have the UK's first female Prime Minister yet be leading a minority government.

We have reporters at every key count and have teams with the main leaders. Michael Cockerall is with the Prime Minister at Cardiff...
 
Thatcher being hurt by facing the Winter of Discontent? 80s Labour Government? Yes please. Looking forward to this TL :)
 
Read on

DD: It's ten o'clock. We can reveal our exclusive exit poll which states that the conservatives will be the largest party in the commons but will not have a overall majority.

The Conservatives will have 304 seats
Labour will have 303 seats
The liberals will have 11 seats
 
I won't try and copy the excellent Norsefire tory with its in-depth"interviews" segments. Instead I'll give a simple precise of the results

Thatcher will not seek any deals.
Thorpe and Williams lose.
Callaghan is persuaded to stay on as Labour leader.
UUP under Harry West declare willingness to support Tories.
 
BBC NEWSFLASH 21st October

We've just had a statement from the government saying this year's Queens Speech has been cancelled.
 
Looking back at that government you had two groups who had vastly differing opinions on it. The first group was the vast majority of the country. The second was the Prime Minister.

John Cole 1995
 
26th October 1979

BBC News

"Good Evening. The Chancellor of The Exchequer has a released a new white paper which calls for limits of 2% on pay rises

Mr Howe told a irate House of Commons that the economic recovery of the country must not be threatened by those with selfish interests"....

In another statement the Trade and Industry Secretary also announced plans to limit strikes...
 
Last edited:
"We knew that the white paper was highly unlikely to get through parliament. So we assumed that the discussions in the next 2 days would be as normal. Then that night I got a phone call from Airey Neave the Industry secretary"

Paul Potts Ford Chief Negotiator 1978
 
"We went in there are said 'we wanted 5%'. Potts looked at me and said 'we can only offer 2'

There was a huge laugh, we thought he was joking. Then he looked straight at me and said 2%

"What the fuck do you mean 2%, who's told you that?

"I got a phonecall from the DTI 2 nights ago, the government have advised us to offer 2% and nothing more. That is our first and only offer gentlemen, take it or leave it"


Unknown Ford trade union negotiator.
 
Perhaps muzorewa gets real recognition we know the Iron Lady perfered That.

Agreed.

"The Domino effect was staggering. As soon as news spread about the 2% offered to Ford, every man from the Elephant House to the Emwell Line poured out for a meeting. Officially it was supposed to be a discussion on what to do about the offer. In reality it was the start not just of the strike at Ford but the beginning of the sequence of events which was to change the country."

John Cole
 
"2 percent won't pay the rest"
Workers chant outside Ford

"Mr Speaker, with permission I will make a statement regarding the industrial dispute at Ford. Three days ago I contacted the negotiating team at Ford and strongly suggested them to keep potential rises at 2% in line with the Government's attempts to reduce inflation. While there was no legal compunction to do so I stated that this would send a message to the workers to instil a sense of restraint
(shouts on rubbish from the opposition, followed by shouts of order from the Speaker)
While the reaction of the workers is regrettable it is not unexpected and is the kind of action that the government is determined to stamp out"

Transcript from Hansard.
 
Top