Margaret Thatcher: The Authorized Biography (170 page)

*
Eventually, and reluctantly, Mrs Thatcher gave Heseltine a more lasting role, earning him the moniker ‘Minister for Merseyside’. His visits there, calling for more intervention, made a great splash.

*
Mrs Thatcher was sufficiently impressed, and perhaps intrigued, by President Reagan that, when she noticed he had left an assortment of doodled heads and faces at the summit table, she took them home as a souvenir. Today they survive among her personal papers (THCR 1/3/6 f101,
http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/114249
).

*
Charles Douglas-Home (1937–85), educated Eton; defence correspondent,
The Times
, 1965–70; foreign editor, 1978–81; deputy editor, 1981–2; editor, 1982–5.

†
John Kerr (1942–), educated Glasgow Academy and Pembroke College, Oxford; principal private secretary to Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1981–4; Assistant Under-Secretary, FCO, 1987–90; Ambassador and UK Permanent Representative to the EU, 1990–95; Ambassador to the United States, 1995–7; Permanent Under-Secretary, FCO, 1997–2002; created Lord Kerr of Kinlochard, 2004.

*
It is possible that Mrs Thatcher followed this advice too closely. She became notoriously shy of using the word ‘I’, sometimes slipping into a ‘royal we’, as, famously, when she said, speaking in public after the birth of her first grandchild: ‘We are a grandmother.’

*
Richard Needham (6th Earl of Kilmorey) (1942–), educated Eton; Conservative MP for Chippenham, 1979–83; for Wiltshire North, 1983–97; Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Northern Ireland Office, 1985–92; Minister of State, DTI, 1992–5.

*
At the time of the second interest rate rise on 1 October, Geoffrey and Elspeth Howe were staying with the Hendersons at the British Embassy in Washington. By chance, at the same time Roy Jenkins, an old friend of Nicko Henderson, and Ian Gilmour, were staying too. Henderson gave dinner to Jenkins and Gilmour himself, while arranging for the Howes and their entourage to have dinner in their room, an untypically gauche decision which indicated a bet about who was likely to be in, who out. Elspeth Howe said to the company: ‘Insurrection is being plotted downstairs.’ (Interview with Lord Kerr of Kinlochard. A sanitized version of this story appears in Geoffrey Howe’s memoirs:
Conflict of Loyalty
, Macmillan, 1994, p. 228.)

*
John Patten (1945–), educated Wimbledon College and Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge; Conservative MP for City of Oxford, 1979–83; for Oxford West and Abingdon, 1983–97; Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Northern Ireland Office, 1981–3; Minister of State, Home Office, 1987–92; Secretary of State for Education, 1992–4; created Lord Patten, 1997.

†
Tristan Garel-Jones (1941–), educated King’s School, Canterbury; principal, language school, Madrid, Spain, 1960–70; Conservative MP for Watford, 1979–97; government whip, 1982–9; Deputy Chief Whip, 1989–90; Minister of State, FCO, 1990–93; created Lord Garel-Jones, 1997.

*
Michael Scholar (1942–), educated St Olave’s Grammar School, Bermondsey, St John’s College, Cambridge and University of California at Berkeley; private secretary to the Prime Minister, 1981–3; Permanent Secretary, DTI, 1996–2001; President, St John’s College, Oxford, from 2001; knighted, 1999.

*
In both these cases of anger, Mrs Thatcher, characteristically, felt remorse, and, equally characteristically, expressed it indirectly. To Geoffrey Howe, she wrote a note congratulating him on his Autumn Statement and its delivery (see Howe,
Conflict of Loyalty
, p. 233).

*
Foot’s wife, Jill, protested that it was, in fact, a smart new blue-green coat which she had bought for him. It was also reported that the Queen Mother had praised his coat. Mrs Thatcher herself was very polite about Foot’s appearance. In a short private account of the ceremony, she noted, ‘It was Michael Foot’s first attendance and he was a little uncertain what to do.’ (MT private account, 8 Nov. 1981, Margaret Thatcher Foundation.)

†
Peter Tatchell (1952–), educated Mount Waverley High School, Melbourne and Polytechnic of North London; activist/organizer, Gay Liberation Front London, 1971–3; UK AIDS Vigil Organization, 1987–9; Green and Socialist Conferences, 1987–9.

*
In the end, Mrs Thatcher actually paid £1,799.96, which included extra miscellaneous travel costs.

*
Emotions ran high. The Earl of Chatham (Pitt the Elder) challenged the government, ‘Will you so shamefully betray the king’s honour so to make it a matter of negotiation whether His Majesty’s possession shall be restored to him or not?’ During the Falklands War, the historian Hugh Thomas (Lord Thomas of Swynnerton) sent Mrs Thatcher a paper about the future development of the Falklands, using this quotation to support her resolve against the less robust position of her Foreign Secretary, Francis Pym.

*
For a discussion of these matters, see Sir Lawrence Freedman’s
The Official History of the Falklands Campaign
, 2 vols, Routledge, 2005, vol. i:
The Origins of the Falklands War
, pp. 8–12.

†
Lord Shackleton, son of the Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton, was asked by Harold Wilson’s government to produce a comprehensive survey of the Falklands. His report, published in 1977, called for major new investment and development of the islands.

*
The JIC is the Whitehall body responsible for directing the national intelligence organizations on behalf of the Cabinet.

†
Edwin Bramall (1923–), educated Eton; Commander-in-Chief, UK Land Forces, 1976–8, 1978–9; Chief of the General Staff, 1979–82; field marshal, 1982; created Lord Bramall, 1987; Knight of the Garter, 1990.

‡
Henry Leach (1923–2011), educated Royal Naval College, Dartmouth; Commander-in-Chief Fleet, and Allied Commander-in-Chief, Channel and Eastern Atlantic, 1977–9; Chief of Naval Staff and First Sea Lord, 1979–82; admiral of the Fleet, 1982; knighted, 1977.

§
David Omand (1947–), educated Glasgow Academy and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge; private secretary to Secretary of State for Defence, 1981–2; Deputy Under-Secretary (Policy), MOD, 1992–6; Director, GCHQ, 1996–7; Permanent Under-Secretary, Home Office, 1998–2001; Security and Intelligence Co-ordinator, Cabinet Office, from 2006; knighted, 2000.

*
Richard Luce (1936–), educated Wellington and Christ’s College, Cambridge; Conservative MP for Arundel and Shoreham, 1971–4; for Shoreham, 1974–92; Minister of State, FCO, 1981–2, 1983–5; Minister for the Arts, 1985–90; Governor of Gibraltar, 1997–2000; Lord Chamberlain, 2000–2006; created Lord Luce, 2000.

*
There is no evidence that Enders or anyone else associated with the Reagan administration had any advance knowledge of the Argentine invasion, but some close to Mrs Thatcher saw connections nonetheless. ‘It is hard not to believe that some Argentinean Generals let their US counterpart have some inkling as to what was being planned in March,’ Hugh Thomas wrote to Mrs Thatcher later in April. ‘Surely Dr Costa Mendez must have winked, at least, at Assistant Secretary of State Enders, after the latter’s recent visit to Buenos Aires.’ Reviewing the letter with felt pen in hand, Mrs Thatcher scored no fewer than four lines under ‘Enders’. (Thomas to PM, ‘British foreign policy towards the Falklands in the light of Argentinean psychology’, 23 Apr. 1982, THCR 1/13/26.)

*
This has sometimes been referred to as a ‘nuclear’ submarine. The description is misleading. The vessel was nuclear-powered, but not carrying nuclear weapons.

*
Terence Lewin (1920–99), educated the Judd School, Tonbridge; Royal Navy, 1939; served in Second World War (DSC 1942); Chief of Naval Staff and First Sea Lord, 1977–9; Chief of Defence Staff, 1979–82; created Lord Lewin of Greenwich, 1982; Knight of the Garter, 1983.

†
John Fieldhouse (1928–92), educated Royal Naval College, Dartmouth; Royal Navy, 1945; submariner from 1948; Controller of the Navy, 1979–81; Commander-in-Chief Fleet, 1981–2; knighted, 1980; created Lord Fieldhouse, 1990.

‡
Antony Acland (1930–), educated Eton and Christ Church, Oxford; joined FCO, 1953; head of Arabian Department, 1970–72; Ambassador to Spain, 1977–9; Permanent Under-Secretary and head of Diplomatic Service, 1982–6; Ambassador to the United States, 1986–91; Provost of Eton, 1991–2000; Knight of the Garter, 2001.

*
Accounts of this meeting usually describe Leach as wearing ‘full-dress uniform’. In her memoirs, Mrs Thatcher says that he was ‘in civilian dress’. Neither is correct.

*
Mrs Thatcher remembered him saying forty-eight hours (see
The Downing Street Years
, HarperCollins, 1993, p. 179), but this is almost certainly wrong.

*
Renwick inaccurately records the time as 2 a.m.

*
Coles and Whitmore both say notes were taken. They do not survive in the archives, however.

†
Patrick Wright (1931–), educated Marlborough and Merton College, Oxford; Ambassador to Luxembourg, 1977–9; to Syria, 1979–81; Deputy Under-Secretary, FCO, 1982–4; Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, 1984–6; Permanent Under-Secretary and head of Diplomatic Service, 1986–91; created Lord Wright, 1994.

*
Lord Biffen later told the author that Lord Hailsham had agreed with him, but had not said so in Cabinet. There is no other evidence for this, and it sounds surprising, but it is true that Hailsham, who was often bellicose, was also mercurial.

†
John Weston (1938–), educated Sherborne and Worcester College, Oxford; Director of International Security Policy, FCO, 1981–5; UK Permanent Representative to NATO, 1992–5; UK Permanent Representative to UN, 1995–8; knighted, 1992.

*
Throughout the Falklands War, the Task Force kept Greenwich Mean Time, ‘Zulu’ in military shorthand. This meant that the British services’ working day in the South Atlantic began much earlier than the Argentine, which was generally considered an advantage.

*
In fact, the lightly armed Marines resisted fiercely. The Argentine casualty figures are disputed. Freedman records 1 Argentine death and 3 wounded but others put the death toll as high as 5 (Freedman,
The Official History of the Falklands Campaign
, vol. ii:
War and Diplomacy,
p. 7; ‘Sir Rex Hunt’,
Daily Telegraph
obituary, 12 Nov. 2012). The Marines suffered no casualties.

*
By no means all Conservative MPs were as robust as those who spoke up at the 1922 meeting. Three days later, Jopling drew up a report of backbenchers’ attitudes. It mentioned several, including Julian Critchley and Chris Patten, who felt that an attempt at recapture was too dangerous (‘the military difficulties are insurmountable’), Ian Gilmour, who said, ‘It will make Suez look like common sense,’ and Kenneth Clarke, whose view was summarized as ‘Hopes nobody thinks we are going to fight the Argentinians. We should blow up a few ships but nothing more.’ (Report by Michael Jopling to Francis Pym, 6 Apr. 1982, THCR 1/20/3/2, fascicule no. 4.)

*
These dynamics were lost on the US Secretary of State, Al Haig. Haig initially refused to believe that Carrington had resigned on principle. Instead he pleaded with Nicko Henderson (and later with his wife Mary) for the ‘real reason’ that had led Mrs Thatcher to sack him. (Interview with Stanley Orman.)

*
In the original, the dormouse does not, in fact, get smaller. He simply gets put into the teapot.

*
Bill Deedes, who was temperamentally of a Butlerish disposition, recorded a conversation with his proprietor, Lord Hartwell, when he returned to the offices of the
Daily Telegraph
after the service: ‘Tell him (a) PM at risk. (b) Expedition is a farce.’ (Lord Deedes, diary (unpublished), 5 Apr. 1982.)

†
As the Fleet departed, the Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet, Robert Wade-Gery, came in by ship by Portsmouth Head from a continental holiday. He had been out of touch with all news and had no idea what was happening. The next day, he found himself made secretary to the War Cabinet. (Interview with Sir Robert Wade-Gery.)

*
Anthony Parsons (1922–96), educated King’s School, Canterbury and Balliol College, Oxford; Ambassador to Iran, 1974–9; UK Permanent Representative to UN, 1979–82; special adviser to the Prime Minister on foreign affairs, 1982–3; knighted, 1975.

†
Not everyone in the French diplomatic corps shared Mitterrand’s sense of solidarity. In a memo dated 7 April the French Ambassador to the UK, Emmanuel de Margerie, described Mrs Thatcher as ‘Victorian, imperialist and obstinate’, with a ‘tendency to get carried away by combative instincts’ (
Document
, BBC Radio 4, 5 Mar. 2012).

‡
Jacques Attali, who acted as interpreter for the conversation, recalled that whenever Mrs Thatcher was reminded of the call in later times, tears would come into her eyes (interview with Jacques Attali).

*
She put the manuscript to good use in her memoirs. Most of her autobiography was ghosted, though with her extensive co-operation and complete approval. The Falklands account, almost uniquely in the book, is essentially in her own words, which are vivid and often emotional. As will be seen, however, the published version toned down or omitted some of her private observations, as well as her frequent emphatic underlinings.

*
Two days later, having called in Michael Palliser to thank him on his retirement, Mrs Thatcher asked him to serve as her ‘chief of staff for the Falklands’ (interview with Sir Michael Palliser). But his job was not Ismay’s. It turned out to be more a matter of long-term planning of Falklands issues, and besides, Mrs Thatcher, who associated him with Foreign Office ‘wetness’, did not really listen to his advice.

*
Mrs Thatcher’s lack of knowledge in the field meant that she was almost incapable of reading naval maps. Michael Havers, who had served in the RNVR, understood these maps well. He and she would spread them out on the floor and she would firmly point out the Falkland Islands in quite the wrong place. He would then find them for her. (Interview with Philip Havers QC.)