Margaret Thatcher: The Authorized Biography, Volume 2 Read online

  Charles Moore

  * * *

  MARGARET THATCHER

  The Authorized Biography

  Volume Two: Everything She Wants

  Contents

  List of Illustrations

  Preface

  PART ONE

  Foundations

  1 Liberal imperialist

  ‘I’m leader of this great nation, and I haven’t made up my mind’

  2 A radical disposition

  ‘When people are free to choose, they choose freedom’

  3 Landslide

  ‘I live in a big house called 10 Downing Street. I’m going to live there for a long time’

  4 Jobs for her boys

  ‘To write the concerns and views of your Government into the grammar book of politics’

  5 Reagan plays her false

  ‘If I were there Margaret, I’d throw my hat in the door before I came in’

  6 The enemy within

  ‘If anyone has won, it has been the miners who stayed at work’

  7 Sales of the century

  ‘Tell Sid’

  PART TWO

  Shocks

  8 Glasnost in the Chilterns

  ‘For heaven’s sake, try and find me a young Russian’

  9 Arms and the Woman

  ‘Your Majesty, who do you trust – Mitterrand or Mrs Thatcher?’

  10 Irish Agreement, Brighton bomb

  ‘The day I was not meant to see’

  11 Poll tax

  ‘Voter & payer’

  12 A single European

  ‘How dare they! We saved all their necks in the war’

  13 The death-knell of monetarism

  ‘She’s a moral coward when it comes to dealing with people’

  14 Helicopter crash

  ‘Her hands were not entirely clean’

  PART THREE

  Recovery

  15 TBW

  ‘While she is with us, she is not with her own people’

  16 Against Queen and Commonwealth

  ‘Blacks and their families out of work? Moral? Poof!’

  17 Save the Bomb

  ‘She was the exclamation point’

  18 To Moscow

  ‘The light is coming from the West’

  19 What they saw in her

  ‘Mrs Thatcher is the point at which all snobberies meet’

  20 The last victory

  ‘There’s a woman who will never fight another election’

  Illustrations

  Bibliography

  Notes

  Chronology

  Acknowledgements

  Follow Penguin

  To Kate, Will and Hannah, who are too young to have seen what happened

  and in memory of W. F. Deedes, who saw it all

  No coward soul is mine,

  No trembler in the world’s storm-troubled sphere

  Emily Brontë

  List of Illustrations

  Every effort has been made to contact all copyright holders. The publishers will be happy to make good in future editions any errors or omissions brought to their attention.

  TEXT ILLUSTRATIONS

  Video still of Mrs Thatcher’s stumble on the steps of the Great Hall of the People, Peking, September 1982. Photo: ChinaTimes.com

  Mrs Thatcher’s notes on the post-election reshuffle, 10 June 1983. Photo: Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge: THCR 1/11/15 f31 (http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/131084)

  Minute sent from Bernard Ingham to Mrs Thatcher, 7 June 1983. Photo: Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge: THCR 1/11/15 f12 (http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/131077)

  Mrs Thatcher’s notes for her speech to the 1922 Committee, 19 July 1984. Photo: Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge: THCR 1/1/19 (http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/136215)

  Note made by Mrs Thatcher on a briefing document regarding Anglo-Irish relations, October 1984. Photo: The National Archives, Kew: PREM 19/1288

  Nicholas Garland, ‘The Good Samaritan’, cartoon from the Daily Telegraph, 17 July 1986. Photo: British Cartoon Archive, University of Kent/www.cartoons.ac.uk. © Telegraph Media Group Limited, 1986

  Letter sent from Mrs Thatcher to Ronald Reagan during the Iran–Contra hearings, 4 December 1986. Photo: Reagan Library, Presidential Handwriting File, Presidential Telephone Calls (Folder 169), 12 April 1986, Call to Margaret Thatcher 482760 PR007-02

  Nicholas Garland, cartoon showing Mikhail Gorbachev presenting flowers to Mrs Thatcher, from the Independent, 1 April 1987. Photo: British Cartoon Archive, University of Kent/www.cartoons.ac.uk. Reproduced by permission of Nicholas Garland

  Nicholas Garland, ‘Once More Unto the Breach Dear Friends, Once More …’, cartoon from the Independent, 12 May 1987. Photo: British Cartoon Archive, University of Kent/www.cartoons.ac.uk. Reproduced by permission of Nicholas Garland

  Newspaper advertisement for the Conservative Party by Saatchi & Saatchi, 1987. Photo: The Conservative Party Archive/Getty Images

  LIST OF PLATES

  Mrs Thatcher at No. 10 during the 1983 election campaign. Photo: Herbie Knott/Rex

  Denis Thatcher listening to his wife during the election campaign, 1983. Photo: John Downing/Getty Images

  Launching the manifesto, May 1983. Photo: Arthur Steel/News Syndication

  Canvassing the voters of Salisbury, 1983. Photo: Harry Kerr/The Times/News Syndication

  At a rally in Cardiff holding a copy of the Labour Party manifesto, 1983. Photo: Graham Wood/ANL/Rex Shutterstock

  Celebrating the election victory with Cecil Parkinson, 10 June 1983. Photo Homer Sykes/Alamy

  Mrs Thatcher following her eye operation, August 1983. Photo: ANL/Rex Shutterstock

  Returning to Downing Street with her shopping, 1983. Photo: © Chris Harris/News Syndication

  Cecil Parkinson at the Conservative Party conference, Blackpool, October 1983. Photo: AP/TopFoto

  With Helmut Kohl, November 1983. Photo: ullstein bild/Ulrich Baumgarten

  Helmut Kohl and François Mitterrand at Verdun, December 1984. Photo: Gamma Rapho

  Mrs Thatcher with Konstantin Chernenko at Yuri Andropov’s funeral, February 1984. Photo: AP/TopFoto

  With P. W. Botha at Chequers, February 1984. Photo: Popperfoto/Getty Images

  Arthur Scargill and Neil Kinnock at the Durham Miners’ Gala, 1984. Photo: © Stefano Cagnoni/reportdigital.co.uk

  Ian MacGregor avoiding the press, 1984. Photo: © The Scotsman Publications Ltd/Licensor www.scran.ac.uk

  Police face the picket line outside Orgreave Coking Plant, June 1984. Photo: PA Photos

  Mrs Thatcher making a speech at Banbury, May 1984. Photo: TopFoto

  Peter Walker. Photo: Steve Back/ANL/Rex Shutterstock

  Armthorpe miners return to work, March 1985. Photo: © John Sturrock/reportdigital.co.uk

  Helping to decorate Carol’s new flat, 1984. Photo: Scope Features

  Cutting Mark’s birthday cake, Imlau, 1985. Photo: Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge: THCR 8/1/103

  The Thatchers with son Mark and his new wife Diane Burgdorf, 1987. Photo: Nils Jorgensen/Rex Shutterstock

  Greeting Ronald and Nancy Reagan during the London Economic Summit, June 1984. Photo: © News Syndication

  Mrs Thatcher during the European Economic Community summit in Fontainebleau, June 1984. Photo: AP/PA Photos

  The Conservative Agents’ Ball at the Conservative Party conference, Brighton, 11 October 1984. Photo: John Downing/Getty Images

  The Thatchers and Cynthia Crawford leaving the Grand Hotel in Brighton, 12 October 1984. Photo: John Downing/Getty Images

  Kei
th Joseph with police. Photo: PA/Topfoto

  Norman Tebbit being rescued after the explosion. Copyright unknown

  John Wakeham on a stretcher. Photo: PA/Topfoto

  The Prime Minister’s bathroom following the bomb blast. Photo: PA Photos

  Bomb damage to the exterior of the Grand Hotel. Photo: ANL/Rex Shutterstock

  Mrs Thatcher, Willie Whitelaw and Douglas Hurd observe silence to honour the victims of the bomb. Photo: AP/PA Photos

  With Indira Gandhi at the Commonwealth Conference, Delhi, November 1983. Photo: Empics/PA Photos

  With Mikhail Gorbachev at Chequers, December 1984. Photo: RIA Novosti/TopFoto

  Flying to Peking with Geoffrey Howe. Photo: © Trinity Mirror/Mirrorpix/Alamy

  Meeting Deng Xiaoping in Beijing. Photo: Pierre-Antoine Donnet/AFP/Getty Images

  Mrs Thatcher during the flight to Hong Kong from Peking. Photo: Bill Rowntree/AP/PA Photos

  With Sir Edward Youde, Bernard Ingham and Geoffrey Howe at the Legislative Council Chamber, Hong Kong. Photo: © Chan Kiu/South China Morning Post

  Leaving Hong Kong, with Charles Powell. Photo: Mirrorpix

  With Ronald Reagan in a golf cart at Camp David. Photo: AP/PA Photos

  Returning from Washington with Bernard Ingham. Photo: PA Photos

  Clowning with the press on the return flight from Washington. Photo: Mirrorpix

  Anti-Thatcher protesters in Oxford, January 1985. Photo: © The Times/News Syndication

  Receiving an honorary degree at the University of Buckingham, February 1986. Photo: © Clive Postlethwaite/Express Newspapers/N&S Syndication

  Addressing a joint session of both Houses of Congress, 1985. Photo: AP/PA Photos

  With Charles Powell at the Milan summit, June 1985. Photo: AP/Topfoto

  With Robert Armstrong. Photo: by courtesy of Lady Armstrong

  With Robin Butler and George Shultz, June 1984. Photo: AP/TopFoto

  With Garret FitzGerald, during the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement, November 1985. Photo: Corbis/Reuters

  Mrs Thatcher at home doing her boxes, 1983. Photo: Herbie Knott/Rex Shutterstock

  Michael Heseltine. Photo: Daily Mail/Rex Shutterstock

  Leon Brittan. Photo: Mirrorpix

  Colette Bowe. Photo: PA/TopFoto

  Mrs Thatcher during the Westland affair, January 1986. Photo: Daily Mail/Rex Shutterstock

  With Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia, 1984. Photo: PA/Topfoto

  With Sultan Qaboos of Oman, 1982. Photo: Keystone/Getty Images

  With King Hussein of Jordan, 1985. Photo: AP/PA Photos

  With Shimon Peres, Jerusalem, 1986. Photo: Gamma Rapho

  With King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, 1987. Photo: Tim Graham/Getty Images

  The Thatchers on holiday in Imlau, August 1985. Photo: Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge: THCR 8/1/103

  Ken Livingstone marking the demise of the GLC, 1986. Photo: Daily Mail/Rex Shutterstock

  Opening the M25, October 1986. Photo: © Camera Press, London

  11 Hambledon Place, Dulwich. Photo: UPP/TopFoto

  The Thatchers on holiday in Cornwall, August 1986. Photo: Daily Mail/Rex Shutterstock

  With François Mitterrand at Canterbury Cathedral, February 1986. Photo: Peter Jordan/Getty Images

  Walking with Ronald Reagan at Camp David, November 1986. Photo: Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, US National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC (ARC identifier: 198505)

  At a NATO training camp at Fallingbostel, south of Hamburg. Photo: © Mary Evans/Süddeutsche Zeitung Photo/Teutopress

  Receiving the Queen at Downing Street, 1985. Photo: Brian Harris/Alamy

  The Commonwealth Review Conference, August 1986. Photo: AP/PA Photos

  Oliver Letwin. Photo: Photoshot/TopFoto

  Nigel Lawson. Photo: Brian Harris/Rex Shutterstock

  Lord Young. Photo: © Camera Press London

  John Redwood. Photo: UPP/TopFoto

  William Waldegrave. Photo: ITV/Rex Shutterstock

  Oleg Gordievsky. Photo: AP/PA Photos

  Laurens van der Post. Photo: ANL/Rex Shutterstock

  Brian Walden. Photo: Rex Shutterstock

  Kelvin MacKenzie and Rupert Murdoch. Photo: PA Photos

  Woodrow Wyatt. Photo: © Gemma Levine/Camera Press London

  David Hart. Photo: ArenaPAL/TopFoto

  Mrs Thatcher with Russian Orthodox priests in Zagorsk, March 1987. Photo: Georges De Keerle/Getty Images

  Lighting a candle at the Trinity Monastery, Zagorsk. Photo: AP/PA Photos

  At the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, Moscow. Photo: Daily Mail/Rex Shutterstock

  Visiting workers’ housing in Moscow. Photo: Steve Back/Rex Shutterstock

  With Gorbachev at the Kremlin. Photo: Boris Yurchenko/AP/PA Photos

  With Malcolm Rifkind in Glasgow. Photo: Daily Mail/Rex Shutterstock

  Visiting a Lancashire biscuit factory during the 1987 election campaign. Photo: National Media Museum/Daily Herald Archive/Science & Society Picture Library

  Campaigning in Finchley, 1987. Photo: © The Times/News Syndication

  Celebrating the election victory with Norman Tebbit. Photo: Fox Photos/Getty Images

  Waving to the crowds in Downing Street. Photo: Daily Mail/Rex Shutterstock

  With Tim Bell. Photo: by courtesy of Lord Bell

  Denis and Mrs Thatcher outside 10 Downing Street, 12 June 1987. Photo: PA Photos

  Preface

  The life of Margaret Thatcher constantly confounds the philosophers. I noted at the beginning of the first volume of this biography how she had wrong-footed Socrates. His dictum that the unexamined life is not worth living cannot be applied to hers. She also disproved Francis Bacon, who famously said that ‘All rising to great place is by a winding stair.’ Her climb began lower – and therefore reached further – than those of her predecessors, but she moved upwards as straight as she could. And although she could certainly be more cunning in tight situations than she would ever admit, her method was rarely circuitous. The man rising up the winding stair cannot see where he is going. The woman fighting to reach the summit and stay there had the end always in view. She was impelled upwards by a combination of intense personal ambition and her fervent belief in the capacities of a free country, particularly the capacities of her own country. She had enough time at the top to try to unlock those capacities and realize much of that vision.

  Mrs Thatcher served as prime minister of the United Kingdom for eleven and a half continuous years – a record unique in the era of universal suffrage. This book covers the zenith of her power, from the aftermath of the Falklands War in 1982 – and her subsequent (and consequent) victory in the general election of 1983 – to her third election victory in 1987. It therefore contrasts strongly with the first volume of this authorized biography (Margaret Thatcher: Not For Turning), which was published shortly after her death in 2013. That told the story of the lonely rise of the Midlands grocer’s daughter to become the first woman leader of the Conservative Party and then, four years later, Britain’s first woman prime minister. It showed her always battling against the odds, wrestling with the huge difficulties that were thrown in the way by many of the male sex (and by some of her own), by political opponents and by the economic problems that beset her country. This book shows her on top – more dominant, perhaps, than any peacetime predecessor, and more famous on the world stage than any British prime minister except for Sir Winston Churchill.

  So one might have thought that the second part of the story would be less dramatic than the first – a triumphal progress along the red carpet of global renown instead of the earlier, terrifying precariousness. But to think this is to impose upon past events an order which they did not, to their participants, possess. No one knew at the time that Mrs Thatcher would win all three general elections which she would contest as leader. Very few in the West, in 1983, had heard of Mikhail Gorbachev, or imagined that the Iron Lady, of all people, would be the first to try to bring th
e Soviet Union in from the cold. No one, in March 1984, knew that the miners’ strike, which began in that month, would last for a year and would end in the absolute defeat of organized trade union power in British politics. And no one, at the beginning of December 1984, would have dreamed that the affairs of a small Somerset helicopter company would, within a few weeks, taint her reputation and force her to think that she might have to resign. It was not in the character of Mrs Thatcher herself, or in the nature of her times, that things would jog along peacefully. Indeed, in this period – at Brighton in 1984 – she nearly lost her life to a terrorist attack by the IRA.

  Only by writing this book did I come to understand just how insecure Mrs Thatcher’s position often felt in these years – not least to her. Within months of her landslide win in 1983, she became aware that many of her senior colleagues did not want her to fight the next general election as leader. At several moments in the miners’ strike, it seemed quite possible that she would lose. On issues like the sale of British Leyland, South African sanctions or Britain’s membership of the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) of the European Monetary System, she found herself dangerously isolated from Cabinet colleagues. Despite overwhelming polling evidence to the contrary, she was intermittently convinced that she would lose the 1987 election. Even her close friendship with President Ronald Reagan – one of the most important themes of this book – was troubled by bad moments. After the US invasion of Grenada, she felt her trust in him had been betrayed. After Reagan’s attempt at the Reykjavik summit with Gorbachev in 1986 to bargain away all nuclear weapons, she briefly believed that the cause of the free world might be lost.

  This was the era when Mrs Thatcher scored some of her greatest successes – her visit to Moscow in 1987, large-scale privatization, the settlement of the five-year row about Britain’s rebate from the European Community, the reduction of inflation and the return of prosperity, and the defeat of the miners’ extremist leader, Arthur Scargill, not to mention two overwhelming election victories. But it was also the period in which she presided over the invention of the poll tax, incurred the anxiety of the Queen about South Africa and the Commonwealth and developed what would later become fatally bad relations with her most senior colleagues. In these years, she revealed her full qualities as a leader – both her astonishing abilities and her sometimes equally astonishing flaws. The week in December 1984 which began with her meeting Gorbachev for the first time, continued with her signature of the Anglo-Hong Kong Agreement in Peking and ended with President Reagan at Camp David is one of the most remarkable in modern political history. The day in June 1987 when she lost all sense of proportion about the election campaign she was fighting is one of the most embarrassing. I have called this book Everything She Wants – the title of a song of the time by Wham! – because it expresses Mrs Thatcher’s appetite for achievement and change and the degree to which she was the commanding personality of the era; but, hard as she fought for everything she wanted, this was not always what she got. In the process, many of her loyal but exhausted staff often asked themselves, in the words of the same song, ‘Somebody tell me, won’t you tell me / Why I work so hard for you?’ Their answer was that she made everything seem to matter: their boss made a difference, and passionately wished to do so. Whatever her critics said, she always cared.