While I was in Sheffield last week, I was browsing BBC Sounds.
I came across a 2015 documentary by Robert Orchard called “A Very Welsh Coup”. I had not previously come across this programme or, indeed, the theory that the downfall of Margaret Thatcher was brought about by the Welsh. It is worth a listen. I was slightly gobsmacked that most of the main players in the downfall of Mrs T were from the Celtic Principality:
- Geoffrey Howe from Port Talbot
- Michael Heseltine from Swansea
Plus those with supporting roles:
- Neil Kinnock, Opposition leader, from Tredegar
- Tristan Garrel-Jones, Chief Whip, from Swansea
- Anthony Meyer, first stalking horse candidate against Thatcher, MP for West Flintshire though born in London
- Kenneth Baker from Monmouthshire
You can listen to this intriguing programme on BBC Sounds here.
* Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist and member of the Liberal Democrat Voice team. He blogs at Liberal Burblings.
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One Comment
The third volume of Margaret Thatcher’s authorised biography is out today, 2/10/19.
The biographer has been interviewed on TV.
The publisher has achieved what most such publishers want, which is to be out for the Tory conference and thereby maximise sales.
Charles Moore (son of the late Richard Moore, a Liberal/Liberal Democrat and opponent of the late Ian Paisley) confirms that Mrs. T. was out of touch in her later years in 10 Downing Street. She did not know how to use a telephone, or an answering machine, or a computer, etcetera. In the interview today he did not say whether anyone had asked the Milk Snatcher about the price of milk.
We knew she had lost it when she went about with a black plastic sack picking up litter from the ground by hand.
Although the biographer calls it a ‘conspiracy’ he confirms the essence of what is in Ken Clarke’s memoirs that the Tory Cabinet all told her she should resign. Ken Clarke gives a powerful reason, which is that they judged that she would lose the next general election (which happened in 1992 under a different Tory leader, John Major).