The Slow Downfall of Margaret Thatcher

The Diaries of Bernard Ingham

Branded ‘the rough-spoken Yorkshire Rasputin’, Bernard Ingham served as Margaret Thatcher’s press secretary for virtually all of her eleven-year premiership, adroitly steering the government’s relationship with the media – and the Prime Minister’s relationship with the nation. Known for his unswerving loyalty, he robustly defended Thatcher from her critics in both the press and the political jungle, earning him friends and foes in equal measure, as she went on to win three consecutive elections.

Thatcher’s last days in power, however, saw some of the most remarkable events in British political history, and Ingham was, for once, helpless to turn the tide. These eagerly anticipated diaries cover two turbulent years from January 1989 to December 1990 – a period Ingham terms ‘the long, slow assassination’ – detailing the succession of crises that led to the Prime Minister’s resignation in November 1990, and the critical roles played by the big political beasts of the time.

With his trademark gruff candour and wry wit, Ingham’s spirited diaries shed new light on Thatcher’s final months in No. 10, charting the dramatic downfall of one of the most influential figures of the twentieth century.