The Slow Downfall of Margaret Thatcher: The Diaries of Bernard Ingham

by 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.

Genres: Politics, History, Nonfiction

426 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 11, 2019

Reviews

[Mancman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Regardless of your political views, this book offers a great insight into the workings of government, the back biting nature of the game and a sense of the pressures at hand.
The best moments are candid insights, but these are too often hidden behind a party line, which is why I’m not rating this book higher.
It could, and perhaps should, have been more explosive. It’s a slight damp squib in that regard.

[Mark Kinver · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was one of my first political memories, and the ending of Margaret Thatcher’s time as Prime Minister stood large in my mind. It was historic; it was paradigm-shifting. Yet, the contemporaneous accounts in Sir Bernard’s diary allow me to view these events through anther lens, one of a personal perspective. The story remains gripping, but with a human face.

[Shay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although titled about the downfall of Margaret Thatcher, Bernard Ingham’s highly entertaining diaries shed more of a light on the day-to-day of Thatcher’s Downing Street. With characteristic wit and no-nonsense attitude, Ingham constructs a picture of an energetic government with an indefatigable leader, even as her political fortunes sour.

Spanning from January 1989 to December 1990 (until Thatcher’s resignation and Ingham’s retirement as Senior Press Officer at No 10), Ingham’s book presents a long lost era of government. Where information was key and misinformation heresy. Where print and broadcast media ruled supreme and social media was not even on the horizon. There is a lot of valuable insight here on how government decisions were not only communicated, but also constructed and implemented. I came away feeling that a whole avenue of the Thatcher years had been opened up, quite an achievement given its well mowed lawn of historiography in recent years.

Highly recommended.

[Ravi Singh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of it I found boring but the parts towards the end, the actual downfall of Lady T were riveting. Another real eyewitness along with Alan Clark in his diaries.