Margaret Thatcher: The Authorized Biography (163 page)

*
John Selwyn Gummer (1939–), educated King’s School, Rochester and Selwyn College, Cambridge; Conservative MP for Lewisham West, 1970–74; for Eye, 1979–83; for Suffolk Coastal, 1983–2010; Chairman, Conservative Party, 1983–5; Minister of Agriculture, 1989–93; created Lord Deben, 2010.

*
Mrs Thatcher often served tinned peaches, to the dismay of her staff. Playing on one of her favourite later phrases about peace, Alison Ward and Caroline Ryder used to joke about ‘peach, with freedom and justice’ (interview with Lady Wakeham and Lady Ryder of Wensum).

*
William Shelton (1929–2003), educated Radley, Tabor Academy, Marion, Massachusetts and Worcester College, Oxford; Conservative MP for Clapham, 1970–74; for Streatham, February 1974–92; knighted, 1989.

*
Norman St John-Stevas (1929–2012), educated Ratcliffe College, Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge and Christ Church, Oxford (he is thought to have been unique in holding office in both the Oxford and Cambridge Unions); barrister, author (editor of the complete works of Walter Bagehot); joined
Economist
, 1959; Conservative MP for Chelmsford, 1964–87; Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department of Education and Science, and Minister for the Arts, 1973–4; Leader of the House of Commons and Minister for the Arts, 1979–81; created Lord St John of Fawsley, 1987.

†
William Shelton’s canvass returns suggest that St John-Stevas actually voted for Heath. The whips’ list has him down as ‘TH or MT’.

*
Julian Critchley (1930–2000), educated Shrewsbury, Sorbonne and Pembroke College, Oxford; writer, broadcaster and journalist; Conservative MP for Rochester and Chatham, 1959–64; for Aldershot and North Hants, 1970–74; for Aldershot, 1974–97; knighted, 1995.

*
The Harwell encounter was characteristic. According to W. F. Deedes, recording the conversation of Neave’s wife, Diana, Mrs Thatcher had arrived at the power station ‘in a flowery dress and a hat, looking most unsuitable for the day. But the instant she entered into conversation with the scientists their mood was seen to change. She knew what to ask; the change in their somewhat patronising air towards her was comical.’ (W. F. Deedes note of conversation with Lady Neave, 26 March 1983, unpublished.)

*
John Farr (1922–97), educated Harrow; Conservative MP for Harborough, 1959–92; knighted, 1984. He never got a job from Mrs Thatcher either.

†
Joan Hall (1935–), educated Queen Margaret’s School, Escrick and Ashridge House of Citizenship; Conservative MP for Keighley, 1970–February 1974.

‡
Sir Robert Cooke (known as Robin) (1930–87), educated Harrow and Christ Church, Oxford; Conservative MP for Bristol West, 1957–79; knighted, 1979.

§
Francis Pym (1922–2008), educated Eton and Magdalene College, Cambridge; Conservative MP for Cambridgeshire, 1961–83; for Cambridgeshire South East, 1983–7; Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, 1973–4; for Defence, 1979–81; Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Leader of the House of Commons, 1981–2; Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, 1982–3; created Lord Pym, 1987.

*
On the same day, Heath went to a meeting with the Canadian High Commissioner, a lunch at the German Embassy and a reception at the French Embassy – all of these, from the point of view of his campaign, a complete waste of time.

*
The position of the
Daily Telegraph
at this time reflected that of the Conservative Party. Officially, the paper supported Ted Heath’s continuation in office, a line maintained by the proprietor, Lord Hartwell, and strongly pushed by his wife, Pamela. But the majority of the staff who concerned themselves with these matters – the deputy editor Colin Welch and leader writers such as T. E. Utley, Frank Johnson and John O’Sullivan, as well as Alfred Sherman, who worked part-time at the paper – were fierce critics of Heath and had led the way in attacking the U-turn when he was in office. W. F. Deedes, who left Parliament at the October 1974 election, was made editor immediately after it, but not with immediate effect. The day before his appointment was announced, Deedes dined with Heath, who enlisted him in his plan to try to cling on to the leadership. In a private memo he sent to his predecessor, Maurice Green, the next day, Deedes set out Heath’s reasoning, and his own view that ‘Labour would be swift to exploit the appearance of Heath being Shanghai’d by an ungrateful party … Therefore he owes it to his own party … to take his time’ (memo from W. F. Deedes to Maurice Green, 14 October 1974, unpublished). Deedes took up his position as editor at the beginning of 1975, shortly before the contest was held. He saw it as the paper’s role to hold the ring in the Tory Party. The
Daily Telegraph
therefore endorsed Heath, but, pre-Deedes, it had prepared the intellectual ground for Mrs Thatcher.

†
Angus Maude (1912–93), educated Rugby and Oriel College, Oxford; Conservative MP for Ealing South, 1950–58; for Stratford-upon-Avon, 1963–83; Deputy Chairman, Conservative Party, 1975–9; Paymaster-General, 1979–81; knighted, 1981; created Lord Maude of Stratford-upon-Avon, 1983.

*
William Rees-Mogg (1928–2012), educated Charterhouse and Balliol College, Oxford; editor,
The Times
, 1967–81; vice-chairman, Board of Governors, BBC, 1981–6; chairman, Arts Council of Great Britain, 1982–9; Broadcasting Standards Council, 1988–93; created Lord Rees-Mogg, 1988.

†
Norman Lamont (1942–), educated Loretto School and Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge; Conservative MP for Kingston-upon-Thames, 1972–97; Financial Secretary to the Treasury, 1986–9; Chief Secretary to the Treasury, 1989–90; Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1990–93; created Lord Lamont, 1998.

*
When Mrs Thatcher was in office, Rothschild’s was reconciled with her, through the diplomatic skills of Michael Richardson, who joined the bank from Cazenove’s in 1981. Rothschild’s became the leading institution in the history of privatization.

†
Michael Heseltine (1933–), educated Shrewsbury and Pembroke College, Oxford; Conservative MP for Tavistock, 1966–74; for Henley, February 1974–2001; Secretary of State for the Environment, 1979–83; for Defence, 1983–6; for the Environment, 1990–92; President of the Board of Trade, 1992–5; First Secretary of State and Deputy Prime Minister, 1995–7; chairman, Haymarket Publishing Group, from 1999; created Baron Heseltine, 2001.

*
Heath himself may have hoped for this effect: at a Buckingham Palace reception at this time he told the editor of the
Economist
, Andrew Knight: ‘Gangsters! She’s a gangster. They’re all gangsters!’ [interview with Andrew Knight]

†
Whitelaw immediately picked up the support of the third candidate, Hugh Fraser. Lady Antonia recorded in her diary of 4 February that Hugh would have had twenty more votes ‘if people had not been frightened of Ted’s publicity and thought they should vote for Margaret to catch him’. On the Chief Whip’s instructions, Fraser went off to see the defeated Heath: ‘Ted was sitting behind his desk looking very fat. Like a pathetic whale,’ said Hugh. ‘I wanted to hug him. I did manage to get him in a sort of embrace.’

‡
Julian Amery (1919–96), educated Eton and Balliol College, Oxford; Conservative MP for Preston North, 1950–66; for Brighton Pavilion, 1969–92; Minister for Housing and Construction, DOE, 1970–72; Minister of State, FCO, 1972–4; created Lord Amery, 1992.

§
John Peyton (1919–2006), educated Eton and Trinity College, Oxford; Conservative MP for Yeovil, 1951–83; Minister of Transport, 1970; Minister for Transport Industries, DOE, 1970–74; created Lord Peyton, 1983.

¶
See p. 281.

**
Ian Gow (1937–90), educated Winchester; Conservative MP for Eastbourne, February 1974–90; PPS to the Prime Minister, 1979–83; Minister for Housing and Construction, 1983–5; Minister of State, Treasury, 1985; resigned from the government over the completion of the Anglo-Irish Agreement; murdered by the Provisional IRA who exploded a bomb under his car at his home in Sussex.

*
In her memoirs, Mrs Thatcher quotes herself as saying ‘lists’, but contemporary reports, for example in
The Times
, say ‘line’.

*
It is not strictly correct that she had no subsequent private conversation with Heath. Mrs Thatcher did meet him privately, though not alone, in 1978; see p. 394.

†
Nigel Vinson (1931–), educated Pangbourne Naval College; founder and chairman, Plastic Coatings Ltd, 1952–72; pioneer of the idea of portable pensions; created Lord Vinson, 1985.

*
Richard Ryder (1949–), educated Radley and Magdalene College, Cambridge; Conservative MP for Mid-Norfolk, 1983–97; Government Chief Whip, 1990–95; vice-chairman, BBC, 2002–4; created Lord Ryder of Wensum, 1997.

†
Richard Ryder married Caroline Stephens in 1981.

‡
Patten was particularly loyal to Heathite views. On Heath’s resignation he wrote to him saying, ‘You stood for the sort of Conservatism we believe in. You are the reason for some of us being in – or staying in – politics.’ See Philip Ziegler,
Edward Heath: The Authorised Biography
(Harper Press, 2010), p. 489.

*
The proper form is (with slight variants) ‘I remain, Your Majesty’s obedient servant’.

*
This phrase may have come from a chance conversation which, Mrs Thatcher told the present author, she had had with a builder in her house in Flood Street. He had told her that Britain just had to accept that it was now a second-rate nation. She remembered being ‘deeply shocked’.

*
David Wolfson (1935–), educated Clifton, Trinity College, Cambridge and Stanford University, California; Chief of Staff, Political Office, 10 Downing Street, 1979–85; chairman, Great Universal Stores, 1996–2000; created Lord Wolfson of Sunningdale, 1991.

†
John Hoskyns (1927–), educated Winchester; head of Prime Minister’s Policy Unit, 1979–82; director-general, Institute of Directors, 1984–9; knighted, 1982.

*
Lord Gilmour later explained that what he meant was that ‘belief’ was a word best reserved for religion (interview with Lord Gilmour).

†
Timothy Raison (1929–2011), educated Eton and Christ Church, Oxford; Conservative MP for Aylesbury, 1970–92; Minister of State, Home Office, 1979–83; FCO, and Minister for Overseas Development, 1983–6; knighted, 1991.

*
Not only did Savile’s audience include an important slice of the electorate rarely accessible to Mrs Thatcher, but she genuinely admired his charitable work. In early 1980, as he began fundraising for the construction of Stoke Mandeville Hospital, not far from Chequers, she invited him for lunch at Number 10. ‘My girl patients pretended to be madly jealous + wanted to know what you wore and what you ate …’ Savile wrote to her afterwards by way of thanks. ‘They
all
love you. Me too!’ (Savile to PM, undated, TNA: PRO PREM 19/878). Following multiple posthumous allegations against Savile of child sex abuse and other sexual offences, this correspondence feels distinctly macabre. At the time, however, Mrs Thatcher, like so many others, took Savile at face value.

*
Robert Conquest (1917–), educated Winchester and Magdalen College, Oxford; author of
The Great Terror
,
The Harvest of Sorrow
and numerous other works mainly about the Soviet Union. Though British, Conquest lived for many years in California, where he was a Fellow of the Hoover Institution. Conquest was a great friend of the novelist Kingsley Amis, and introduced him to Mrs Thatcher.

†
Conquest himself was always full of praise for Mrs Thatcher’s ability to have alcohol at the ready: ‘She seemed to know when it was six o’clock without having to look at her watch’ (interview with Robert Conquest).

*
Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008), educated University of Rostov and Moscow Institute of History (correspondence course); author of many works, including
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
,
The First Circle
and
The Gulag Archipelago
; sentenced to eight years in the Gulag for anti-Soviet activities, 1945; released, 1953; exile in Siberia, 1953–6; officially rehabilitated, 1957; expelled from the Soviet Union, 1974; Soviet citizenship restored, 1990; Nobel Prize for Literature, 1970.

*
The feeling, however, was not mutual. Following a later meeting with Schmidt, one US official reported to the Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, that the German Chancellor had a ‘terrible view of Margaret Thatcher. He says that she is a bitch, she is tough, she lacks scope and cannot lead’ (Memorandum of Conversation, ‘British and Italian Economic Situations’, 3 Nov. 1976, The Kissinger Transcripts, Item 02123, National Security Archive, Washington DC).

†
Helmut Kohl (1930–), educated Heidelberg University; Minister-President, Rhineland Palatinate, 1969–76; leader, CDU/CSU,1976–98; Chancellor of Federal Republic of Germany, 1983–90; of reunified Germany, 1990–8.

‡
Mrs Thatcher also found time to pay her respects to the by then very infirm Ludwig Erhard, author of West Germany’s free-market economic recovery which she so much admired.

*
In a briefing document, prepared for Ford for his meeting with Edward Heath in September 1974, Henry Kissinger did not mince his words: ‘Heath is a doctrinaire person, Gaullist in his outlook, and the only anti-American UK Prime Minister in many years. He is a complex, sensitive man who tends to sulk’ (Meeting with Edward Heath, 10 Sept. 1974, Box 15, National Security Advisor, Presidential Country Files for Europe and Canada, Gerald R. Ford Library).

†
Henry Kissinger (1923–), born in Germany; educated George Washington High School, New York City and Harvard University; US Secretary of State, 1973–7 (National Security Advisor, 1969–75); Member President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, 1984–90; Hon. KCMG, 1995.

‡
Ronald Reagan (1911–2004), educated public schools in Tampico, Monmouth, Galesburg, and Dixon, Illinois and Eureka College, Illinois (AB); Governor, California, 1967–74; President of the United States, 1981–9.