Margaret Thatcher: The Authorized Biography, Volume 2

by Charles Moore

  † Her comments on Gorbachev were not recorded in any official document, nor were they recalled by anyone other than Brown himself.

  * In May, Reagan had mentioned, in a letter to Peter Hannaford, that Mrs Thatcher ‘continues to be my favourite head of state’ (Reagan to Hannaford, 3 May 1983, Kiron K. Skinner, Annelise Anderson and Martin Anderson, eds, Reagan: A Life in Letters, Free Press, 2003, p. 725). Mrs Thatcher was not, of course, a head of state, only a head of government, but it was the thought that counted.

  * George Urban (1921–97), Hungarian-born journalist, author and broadcaster.

  * Oleg Gordievsky (1938–), joined KGB, 1963; posted to London in 1982 and rose to the rank of colonel; a secret agent for SIS, 1974–May 1985, when he was recalled to Moscow by the KGB. In July 1985 he was exfiltrated and returned to the UK. He has lived in Britain since.

  † The British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) is often referred to as MI6 even though this name is formally obsolete.

  ‡ John Scarlett (1948–), educated Epsom College and Magdalen College, Oxford; Secret Intelligence Service, 1971–2001, serving in Nairobi, Paris and twice in Moscow; Chief of SIS, 2004–9; knighted, 2007.

  § Colin McColl (1932–), educated Shrewsbury and the Queen’s College, Oxford; Chief of SIS, 1988–94; knighted, 1990.

  * Originally the plan had been for Western leaders, including Mrs Thatcher, to take part in ABLE ARCHER. In the event, only officials participated. (Gordon Barrass, The Great Cold War, Stanford University Press, 2009, p. 298.)

  † Rodric Braithwaite (1932–), educated Bedales and Christ’s College, Cambridge; Ambassador to Russia, 1988–92; Prime Minister’s foreign policy adviser, and chairman, Joint Intelligence Committee, 1992–3; knighted, 1988.

  * It was considered important, in this context, that Andropov had never travelled outside the Soviet bloc, and therefore found it hard to imagine life in the West.

  † The OECS comprised Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Montserrat, St Lucia, St Kitts-Nevis and St Vincent as well as Grenada and the Grenadines.

  * Lawrence Eagleburger (1930–2011), diplomat; Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs, 1982–4; Deputy Secretary of State, 1989–1992; Secretary of State, 1992–3; received honorary knighthood from the Queen, 1990.

  † Robert (‘Bud’) McFarlane (1937–), counsellor, Department of State, 1981–2; Deputy National Security Advisor, 1982–3; National Security Advisor, 1983–5.

  ‡ Robin Renwick (1937–), educated St Paul’s and Jesus College, Cambridge; Rhodesia Department, FCO, 1978–80; Assistant Under-Secretary, FCO, 1984–7; Ambassador to South Africa, 1987–91; to the United States, 1991–5; created Lord Renwick of Clifton, 1997.

  * Later, in conversation with Mrs Thatcher, Reagan’s tongue slipped and he referred to the OECS ‘request’ as ‘an offer’ before quickly correcting himself (Memorandum of telephone conversation, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, 26 October 1983, Exec Sec, NSC Country File, UK Vol. V, Box 91331, Reagan Library. The Library has also released a tape of the call (RAC Box 53, White House Situation Room Records)). In fact, to the Americans it was an offer: a chance to invade with a justification for action.

  * Duane Clarridge (1932–), served in a number of positions in the CIA, 1955–87; Chief, Latin America Division, 1981–4.

  † Kenneth Adelman (1946–), US Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative to UN, 1981–3; Director Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, 1983–8.

  ‡ Professor Jack Matlock (1929–), American academic and diplomat; US Ambassador to the Soviet Union, 1987–91.

  * Robert Fellowes (1941–), educated Eton; assistant private secretary to the Queen, 1977–86; deputy private secretary, 1986–90; private secretary, 1990–99; chairman, Barclays Private Bank, 2000–2009; knighted, 1991; created Lord Fellowes, 1999.

  † It later emerged that a fax formally requesting British help had been sent by mistake to a London plastic-bag manufacturer rather than to the Foreign Office, but this error was not known that day.

  * By this stage, a new telegram from the Embassy in Washington had reached London reporting that the Americans were close to taking military action. Due to bureaucratic fumbling, it did not reach Howe before he spoke. (Interview with Lord Renwick of Clifton.)

  * David Montgomery, the Deputy British High Commissioner in Barbados.

  * Some American witnesses recalled a much longer exchange in which Mrs Thatcher, who was ‘just livid’ (Interview with Bud McFarlane), had a great row with the President. This is not supported by other participants nor by the documentary record.

  * Archival evidence suggests that, when US officials were preparing to send Reagan’s first cable, they already had a final draft of the second one in front of them: ‘send via CABO at 1500,’ an official wrote on a note covering a draft of the first cable, ‘2nd cable later’ (Hill to McFarlane, ‘Grenada’, 24 October 1983, Exec Sec, NSC: Country File, Grenada invasion October 1983 (1), Box 91365, Reagan Library).

  * In his memoirs, George Shultz muddies the waters by suggesting that the US despatched a cable seeking British counsel as early as the Sunday. (See George Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1993, p. 330.) No such cable existed.

  † Fighting did not end until 29 October, by which time nineteen US servicemen had been killed.

  * In 2014, the audiotape of this call was released by the Reagan Library. In it, Reagan’s tone is one of embarrassed, gallant conciliation, like that of a suspect boyfriend in a 1940s film. Mrs Thatcher’s is one of correct and chilly politeness.

  * George Younger (1931–2003) (4th Viscount Younger of Leckie), educated Winchester and New College, Oxford; Conservative MP for Ayr, 1964–92; Minister of State for Defence, 1974; Secretary of State for Scotland, 1979–86; for Defence, 1986–9; created life peer, 1992; KCVO, 1993; KT, 1995.

  * Nor was her view much changed by news of the vast hoard of documents the Americans recovered from Grenada, illustrating the extent of Moscow’s support for the original coup against Bishop.

  † Hugh Thomas (1931–), educated Sherborne, Queens’ College, Cambridge and Sorbonne, Paris; Professor of History, University of Reading, 1966–76; chairman, Centre for Policy Studies, 1979–90; author of The Spanish Civil War (1961); created Lord Thomas of Swynnerton, 1981.

  * J. Enoch Powell (1912–98), educated King Edward’s, Birmingham and Trinity College, Cambridge; Professor of Greek, University of Sydney, 1937–9; war service, rising to rank of brigadier, 1939–45; Conservative MP for Wolverhampton South West, 1950–February 1974; left Conservative Party before February 1974 election and advocated a Labour vote; Ulster Unionist MP for Down South, October 1974–1985 and 1986–7 (resigned his seat in December 1985 in protest at the Anglo-Irish Agreement; re-elected January 1986); Minister of Health, 1960–63.

  * Throughout her time as prime minister, for example, Mrs Thatcher held back publication of the final volume of the official history of British intelligence in the Second World War, although it was written by Sir Michael Howard, whom she greatly admired. She thought it might reveal information about thought processes in the Security Service which, if made public, might put current intelligence operations at risk. (Interview with Lord Armstrong of Ilminster.)

  * Seeking to emulate US agencies the government had intended to introduce routine lie-detector tests for GCHQ staff in tandem with the union ban. Mrs Thatcher’s support for this fell away after sceptial British experts appealed to her sense of herself as a scientist. (Interview with Tony Comer.) She did not become deeply involved in the issue.

  † Alexander Greysteil Hore-Ruthven, 2nd Earl of Gowrie (succeeded grandfather, 1955) (1939–), educated Eton and Balliol College, Oxford; Minister of State, Department of Employment, 1979–1981, Northern Ireland Office, 1981–3; Minister for the Arts, 1983–5; Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, 1984–5.

  * Howe made the statement because the Foreign Office was the lead department responsible for GCHQ.

  * Lionel (‘Len’)
Murray (1922–2004), educated Wellington Grammar School and Queen Mary College, University of London; general secretary, Trades Union Congress, 1973–84; created Lord Murray of Epping Forest, 1985.

  † There is no reason to doubt that Mrs Thatcher’s admiration for the majority of the GCHQ staff was genuine. In early April, just after the Queen had visited Jordan, she wrote to Peter Marychurch, who had succeeded Tovey as the GCHQ director, to thank them for monitoring threats to the monarch and for the ‘devotion and professionalism’ they had shown through this time of ‘personal difficulties and anxieties’. (Thatcher to Marychurch, 2 April 1985, Prime Minister’s Papers, Security, The Funding, Status and Staffing of GCHQ, Part 3 (document consulted in the Cabinet Office).)

  * The government won on three of the four main points, but lost on the issue that it should have consulted the unions before instituting the ban.

  † At that time, in its Judicial Committee, the House of Lords was the highest court in the land. This function was taken over by the Supreme Court in 2009.

  * This prophecy was to be fulfilled in 1988.

  * Peter Gregson (1936–), educated Nottingham High School and Balliol College, Oxford; Deputy Secretary, Cabinet Office, 1981–5; Permanent Under-Secretary, Department of Energy, 1985–9; Permanent Secretary, DTI, 1989–96; knighted, 1988.

  * Arthur Scargill (1938–), educated White Cross Secondary School and Leeds University; president, Yorkshire National Union of Mineworkers, 1973–82; president, NUM, 1982–2002; honorary president from 2002.

  * Walter Marshall (1932–96), educated Birmingham University; Chief Scientist, Department of Energy, 1974–7; chairman, United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, 1981–2; chairman, CEGB, 1982–9; knighted, 1982; created Lord Marshall of Goring, 1985.

  * Critics, such as the BBC’s former industrial correspondent Nicholas Jones, have seized upon the record of this meeting as evidence of a ‘secret plan to destroy the British coal industry’, proving that, as Scargill claimed at the time, the government had a secret ‘hit list’ of over seventy pits earmarked for closure (http://www.cpbf.org.uk/body.php?id=3007; http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25549596). This document does not provide evidence of a government ‘hit list’. What it does record is MacGregor’s insistence, reported by Walker, that there be ‘no closure list, but a pit by pit procedure’. (Record of a meeting in No. 10 Downing Street, 15 September 1983, TNA: PREM 19/1329 (http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/133121).) The seventy-five-pit figure was merely MacGregor’s early suggestion, which left ministers unconvinced. There ‘would be considerable problems in all this’, Walker concluded, and no decisions were taken. The policy was settled only at a meeting on 19 January 1984. This time there was no talk of a specific number of pit closures, but ministers focused on reducing manpower. MacGregor proposed to accelerate workforce reductions over the next two years from 28,000 to 45,000, aided by a generous redundancy scheme. Mrs Thatcher summed up the meeting by saying that ‘the objective of a more accelerated run-down of coal capacity was accepted’, as were the terms of the enhanced redundancy package. (Record of meeting in No. 10 Downing Street, 19 January 1984, TNA: PREM 19/1329 (http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/133712).) The policy was to put the industry on a sustainable footing, not to destroy it. Two weeks later, Walker announced the investment of £400 million in new mines in the Vale of Belvoir. (For more details see http://www.margaretthatcher.org/archive/1984cac1.asp.)

  * The confrontation at the Saltley cokeworks in 1972 proved a turning point in the struggle between Edward Heath and the NUM. Arthur Scargill, then one of the leaders of the Yorkshire miners, had succeeded, by mass picketing, in forcing the police to turn away coking lorries. Shortly afterwards, the government, as Douglas Hurd wrote in his diary, ended up ‘wandering vainly all over the battlefield looking for someone to surrender to’. (Douglas Hurd, An End to Promises: Sketch of a Government, 1970–74, Collins, 1979, p. 103.) The miners won their fight over pay, and Scargill took much of the glory.

  * Selim Jehan (‘Eddie’) Shah (1944–), educated Gordonstoun and Haywards Heath Grammar; Manchester-based businessman who launched the Warrington Messenger, in 1983, which was the first of a portfolio of sixty newspapers printed with new technology; founded Today newspaper, 1986.

  † Brian Cubbon (1928–2015), educated Bury Grammar School and Trinity College, Cambridge; Permanent Under-Secretary, NIO, 1976–9; Home Office, 1979–88; knighted, 1977.

  ‡ Luckily for her political position, when leader of the Opposition during the Winter of Discontent Mrs Thatcher had argued that the Labour Home Secretary, Merlyn Rees, was entitled to give ‘advice’ to the police about how to deal with mass picketing round the country.

  § Under the 1980 Employment Act, picketing was made lawful only if conducted at or near the picket’s place of work. Under the 1982 Employment Act, trade unions were made financially liable for organizing unlawful picketing.

  * The formal NUM leaders in Nottinghamshire were tepid supporters of the national union’s line but quickly found that their writ did not run in their own area.

  † David Hart (1944–2011), educated Eton; political adviser, novelist and property developer.

  * John Paul Getty (1932–2003), adopted British nationality, 1998; KBE, 1986.

  † At the party conference in 1983, Hart sought to change the draft of her speech at a late stage. Mrs Thatcher told Sherbourne that ‘I’ve just seen David Hart, and he’s got marvellous ideas for the speech.’ ‘I was horrified,’ Sherbourne recalled. ‘I opened my door on to the detectives in the hotel corridor and said, “If a man called David Hart comes looking for me, I’m not here.” “I am David Hart,” said the man in the suit.’ (Interview with Lord Sherbourne of Didsbury.)

  * In this context, ‘coke’ is the term for the high-carbon fuel derived from coal.

  † Mrs Thatcher also fantasized about ‘snatch squads’, organized by members of local rugby clubs, or even involving the army, to go in to picketed mine-heads to get the coal out, but these notions were not pursued (Interview with Lord Turnbull).

  * David Willetts recalled that when working for Mrs Thatcher during the miners’ strike the comparison with a civil war was apposite. ‘You would be in a meeting with Mrs T on some other subject and messengers would come in with reports like “Kent is solid … Nottingham is with us … Yorkshire is in rebellion.” It did feel like a scene from one of Shakespeare’s history plays.’ (Correspondence with David Willetts.)

  † To this day, attempts are made, for example by the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign, to arraign the government and police via a formal judicial inquiry, almost as if the incident were like ‘Bloody Sunday’ in Londonderry in 1972.

  * The release of the relevant government papers in 2014 led to misleading reports that Mrs Thatcher had ‘a secret plan’ to use the army ‘at the height of the Miners’ Strike’ (see Guardian, 3 January 2014, http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jan/03/margaret-thatcher-secret-plan-army-miners-strike). The possibility of using troops was, at this point, discussed only in the context of the dock strike.

  * Kenneth (‘Ken’) Livingstone (1945–), Tulse Hill Comprehensive School; member, Greater London Council, 1973–86; leader, 1981–6; Labour MP for Brent East, 1987–2001; Mayor of London, 2000–2008.

  † For a full discussion, see Chapter 11.

  ‡ Stella Rimington (1935–), educated Nottingham High School for Girls and Edinburgh University; Director-General, Security Service, 1992–6; created dame, 1996.

  * Chris Collins of the Margaret Thatcher Foundation has pointed out that the phrase ‘enemy within’ would have been familiar to Mrs Thatcher because of her Methodist background. The words are used, for example, in Wesley’s Sermon 13, On Sin in Believers, and also in a number of Methodist hymns (http://www.margaretthatcher.org/archive/1984cac1.asp). In more recent times, the phrase had been used in a political context. The Labour Prime Minister Clement Attlee had spoken of an ‘enemy within’ when warning about Communist infiltration of
the trade unions (The Times, 31 July 1950). Twenty years later, Enoch Powell had spoken about a ‘hidden enemy within’ to describe leftist agitators undermining British democracy. Mrs Thatcher was well aware of Powell’s speech: she had endorsed his sentiments at the time (see Volume I, pp. 195–6). She presumably remembered Attlee’s as well.

  * The Opposition quite often exercised its right to put down a motion of censure or call a motion of no-confidence in Parliament. On this occasion the Opposition’s motion condemned the ‘economic, industrial and employment policies of Her Majesty’s Government’. As Mrs Thatcher had a stable majority, such occasions were used as an opportunity to protest against the government or express disapproval of a particular policy.

  * Hart continued to seek direct access to Mrs Thatcher. Stephen Sherbourne, having encountered Hart at the party conference the year before, remained wary of him. ‘I told him that he can always feed intelligence through me but that visits to No. 10 can create dangers. He will be at Brighton [at the party conference] but I believe he really must keep his distance from you there because of the hot-house atmosphere of the Conference hotel.’ (Sherbourne to Thatcher, 28 September 1984, CAC: THCR 2/6/3/56 (http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/136253).)