End of the Iron Lady

Today marks a quarter of a century since the game was up.

It was a day that dawned like many others. By and large, Britons went about their ordinary lives. In the centre of power, the Cabinet arrived at Number 10 for their meeting. And they were greeted by a bombshell. The Prime Minister was resigning. The Thatcher years were, at long last, coming to an end.

It had been a long few weeks. Rising discontent over the poll tax, European policy and the Prime Minister's style had come to a head when the Deputy Prime Minister, Sir Geoffrey Howe, resigned. In his excellent resignation speech, he threw down the gauntlet to the Conservative Party- decide or be damned. His call to arms brought Michael Heseltine, one time Defence Secretary and party conference darling, out of the shadows and into the arena against Mrs Thatcher. The first ballot was to be held on November 20th 1990.

It was in Paris that the news was broken to her. She had won the support of 54.8% of Tory MPs. Under the rules, she needed a mere two more votes. It was painfully close, and also badly damaging. She had promised that, were she to fall short, she would consult with party colleagues about what to do next. Instead, she marched out of the British embassy, straight onto BBC news, bowling over poor John Sargeant, and announced she was entering the second ballot.

But it was too late. When she returned to London, support for her was haemorrhaging. She was persuaded to consult her Cabinet, one by one. Some promised to fight with her to the end. A handful, notably Ken Clarke and Malcolm Rifkind, told her that her time was over. Most said the same thing. They would back her, but she would lose; that would mean her arch-rival as Prime Minister. So she slept on it. Although whether she actually slept is not recorded.

Which brings us back to November 22nd 1990. She told the Cabinet as they met. "It's a funny old world," she famously remarked. And she had a point. She had been voted into office in 1987 by 13.7 million people, had won the support of almost 55% of Tory MPs, and nominally had the support of the Cabinet behind her. Yet she was the one heading off into the sunset, while the man who had dared to challenge her lived to fight another day.

But her time was up. And yet, many Conservatives now consider the Cabinet's decision to ditch Mrs Thatcher to be the wrong one. They feel that they should have allowed the electorate to deliver the killer blow. As it was, they created the myth of the Lady Betrayed, unbeaten and loved by the public. This myth was a wound in the Conservative party for years to come.

But all that was in the future. What was clear on that November morning in 1990 was that an era was passing. Nothing like it has been seen since.