Margaret Thatcher: Power and Personality (115 page)
Read Margaret Thatcher: Power and Personality Online
Authors: Jonathan Aitken
background
507–8
effects
516–17
leaking of Solicitor General’s letter
509–11
complicity in
513–16
‘material inaccuracy’ in correspondence by Heseltine, making public
509–11
,
514
MT’s management of cabinet discussions
511–12
reputation of MT, harm to
509
,
511–12
,
514–17
,
520
United Technologies (UTC)–Fiat investment
507–9
,
511–12
Wets (senior members of government outside inner circle)
301–2
,
314
,
317
,
378
,
583
origination of label
306
Whitelaw, William (
later
1st Viscount Whitelaw)
164
,
179
,
194
,
200
,
203
,
241–2
,
248
,
300
,
305
,
321
,
385
,
396
,
515
,
540
,
563
cabinet deliberations, skills with
252
,
274
,
314
,
533
character
533–4
Falklands War
321
,
331–2
,
338
,
344
,
348
,
359–60
and general election of 1987
521
,
529
and leadership contest of 1975
150
,
162
,
168
,
172
,
174
,
177
MT, relationship with and opinions of each about the other
5
,
112
,
178
,
182
,
242
,
255
,
376
,
391
,
502–3
,
506
,
534
resignation from cabinet (1988)
532–3
Whitmore, (Sir) Clive
262–3
,
353
Wilson, Sir David (
later
Baron Wilson of Tillyorn)
423–4
Wilson, Harold (
later
Baron Wilson of Rievaulx)
128
,
135
,
147
,
181
,
193
,
198
,
231
and 1966 general election
110
,
112
‘winter of discontent’ (1978–79)
5
,
201
,
208–9
,
211–22
,
282
,
303
,
440
significance for MT
218
,
228
,
247
,
302
see also
trade unions
Wolfson, David (
later
Baron Wolfson of Sunningdale)
103
,
262
,
315–16
,
385
,
411
,
526
Wright, Peter
273–5
Wyatt, Woodrow (
later
Baron Wyatt of Weeford)
183
,
270
,
277
,
645
Young, David (Baron Young of Graffham)
103
,
399
,
448
,
454
,
503
argument with Tebbit
525
,
527
,
537
election campaign of 1987
524–7
Young, Janet (
later
Baroness Young)
234
,
318
,
396
Younger, George (4th Viscount Younger of Leckie)
249–50
,
512
,
590
,
615
,
625
First published in Great Britain 2013
Copyright © Jonathan Aitken, 2013
The moral right of the author has been asserted
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the Publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. Every reasonable effort has been made to trace copyright holders of material reproduced in this book, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the Publishers would be glad to hear from them.
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The Roberts family on the day Margaret’s father became Mayor of Grantham, November 1945. From left to right: Muriel, Alfred, Beatrice and Margaret.
All smiles at a Kent Conservative dance from three candidates in the 1950 election: Margaret Roberts (
left
) Ted Heath (
centre
) and Pat Hornsby-Smith (
right
), 1950.
Margaret Roberts, Conservative Candidate for Dartford canvasses a voter during the 1951 General Election in Attlee Drive.
On their Wedding Day, 13 December 1951, Margaret and Denis Thatcher emerge from Wesley’s Chapel, Mile End Road, London.
9 November 1959, Margaret Thatcher watches her children Carol and Mark playing together in unusual harmony.
The new Member of Parliament for Finchley (elected 1959) becomes the first of her intake to be appointed a junior minister in 1961. She is Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance.
Margaret Thatcher flutters her fingers to the press after defeating Ted Heath on the first ballot of the Tory leadership election, February 1975.
Leading the Conservative campaign for a Yes Vote in the 1975 Referendum vote on Britain’s EEC membership in uneasy alliance with Ted Heath.
4 May 1979, the morning of victory. Prime Minister-elect Margaret Thatcher waves to the crowd outside her home in Flood Street.
Her first diplomatic success was solving the crisis over Rhodesia, 1979–80. It began by winning over Zambia’s President Kenneth Kaunda at the Commonwealth Heads of Government conference in Lusaka. Denis said that this dance ‘took the trick.’
Political campaigning in 1980 with Ian Gow MP. He was her first Parliamentary Private Secretary (1979–83), and her wisest, wittiest and warmest supporter until his assassination by the IRA in 1990.
Margaret Thatcher and her most influential Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington leaving Heathrow for yet another contentious European Summit meeting, June 1980. Immediately behind them is the Cabinet Secretary Sir Robert Armstrong.
Engaging with King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, April 1981. Her secret communications with him won Britain the multi-billion Al Yamamah defence exports contract, which secured over 50,000 jobs in the UK.