Part 1 -The 1990 Leadership Election
The Thatcher government towards the end of 1990 appeared on the rocks. Only a year earlier, the “Iron Lady” had been challenged for the Tory leadership by an obscure backbencher, Sir Anthony Meyer. 60 Tory MP’s failed to support the Prime Minister, by voting for Meyer, spoiling their ballots, or abstaining. It was from the roots of this challenge that tory restlessness began to show.
Thatcher’s fervent opposition to European integration peaked on October 30th 1990, when she said “No, no, no!” to a federal Europe. This met with cheers of applause from young Thatcherite backbenchers, but some unease from more pragmatic tory heavyweights. One of those heavyweights, Geoffrey Howe, had clearly had enough.
Howe was the last veteran of Thatcher’s 1979 cabinet to survive, following the retirement of Peter Walker the previous May. As Chancellor, Howe was an exponent of dogged monetarism. His infamous 1981 budget had seen tax increases and cuts in public expenditure. Record high unemployment followed suite, and tory support dropped to as low as 23%, but by the beginning of 1983 inflation had fallen and the economy had returned to growth. Howe was hailed as a hero by Thatcher, and moved to the Foreign Office. It was then that relations between himself and the Prime Minister began to deteriorate, particularly over membership of the ERM (Exchange Rate mechanism). In 1989 Howe had been side-lined further by being demoted to the politically insignificant post of Deputy Prime Minister.
Thatcher’s complete rejection of European integration was to prove the straw that broke the camel’s back. On November 1st 1990 Geoffrey Howe resigned from government, however his resignation speech in the commons was postponed until the 13th, due to a cold. On November 13th, Howe summed up his resignation speech, asking others to “consider their own response to the tragic conflict of loyalties with which I have myself wrestled for perhaps too long”.
The next day Michael Heseltine, who had resigned from government 4 years earlier over the Westland affair, announced he would challenge Margaret Thatcher for the leadership. Thatcher ignored calls to hold a snap election, with nominations closing on November 15th, and the first ballot taking place on November 20th, heeding the concerns of Norman Tebbit that a short election campaign wouldn’t allow Thatcher backer’s enough time to canvass MP’s, and it would be unwise to hold a leadership ballot while the Prime Minister was attending the Paris Summit. Instead the first ballot was to take place on December 10th.
It was after the Prime Minister returned from Paris on the afternoon of November 22nd that the campaign proper began. Thatcher herself initially refused to canvass MP’s in the commons tearooms, much to the annoyance of Norman Tebbit, her leadership campaign manager. However, in the days before the ballot, Thatcher did meet with many tory MP’s.
In the evening of December 10th 1990, Cranley Onslow, chairman of the 1922 committee announced the result:
Margaret Thatcher – 210, 56.5%
Michael Heseltine – 146, 39.2%
Abstentions - 16, 4.3%
Minutes after the result was declared, the Prime Minister spoke to the media outside downing street “we are glad that we still have the support of the overwhelming majority of the parliamentary party, we fight on, we fight to win”. No second ballot was necessary, for now at least the "Iron Lady" was secure.