1985 saw UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher at the height of her powers. She had survived the turbulence of her first term in office, and had ridden victory in the Falklands War to a landslide. Labour was in a state of nervous breakdown, as the party split between hard left and the centre. The SDP and the Liberals had fatally split the opposition. The Miner's Strike had seen the NUM humbled, and with it the whole trades union movement.
And as 1986 dawned, it all looked as if it was going wrong. A bizarre scandal briefly engulfed the Thatcher administration. It all centred around a helicopter company in Somerset. For years, Westland Helicopters had been struggling, despite huge orders for its military helicopters. An American company, Sikorsky, offered to step in and rescue the firm. The Prime Minister, and the board of Westland, were delighted. But the Defence Secretary was not happy. He preferred a takeover by a European defence consortium.
This was an argument on many levels. On the one hand, it was about the fundamental split in opinion over Britain's place in the world which has dogged this country since the Second World War. Are we a European power, or America's primary ally? Do we look to Brussels, or to Washington? Mrs Thatcher was an Atlanticist, Michael Heseltine, her Defence Secretary, was a European.
It was also about power. Heseltine was the most serious threat to Thatcher's authority within the Conservative party. He gave barnstorming conference performances. He was not from her ideological wing, being more of a Heathite. He was charismatic and was good on TV, as shown by his performance in Liverpool after the riots in 1981, and when he faced down the anti-nuclear protesters at Greenham Common. Above all, he had hair to rival Thatchers.
So what seemed to be a pointless row reached epic proportions, with briefing and leaks galore. As Cabinet began on 9th January 1986, Thatcher read a statement insisting that all statements on Westland had to be cleared by her. Heseltine saw this as a move to silence him. So he resigned.
Not later that day, in the form of a statement or speech. He stood up in Cabinet, told them he could not carry on, and stormed out. The first person to be informed was the BBC journalist waiting outside Number 10. What a scoop that was.
In the end, Thatcher survived Westland. The Labour party failed to press home its advantage, and she survived the parliamentary debate apparently unscathed.
But, it was the beginning of the end for her. Heseltine remained lurking in the shadows for the next four years, biding his time. And when her government was truly beleagured, in the autumn of 1990, Heseltine struck. His leadership challenge sank Thatcher. The fuse lit on a January morning nearly five years earlier had come back to destroy her.
This was an argument on many levels. On the one hand, it was about the fundamental split in opinion over Britain's place in the world which has dogged this country since the Second World War. Are we a European power, or America's primary ally? Do we look to Brussels, or to Washington? Mrs Thatcher was an Atlanticist, Michael Heseltine, her Defence Secretary, was a European.
It was also about power. Heseltine was the most serious threat to Thatcher's authority within the Conservative party. He gave barnstorming conference performances. He was not from her ideological wing, being more of a Heathite. He was charismatic and was good on TV, as shown by his performance in Liverpool after the riots in 1981, and when he faced down the anti-nuclear protesters at Greenham Common. Above all, he had hair to rival Thatchers.
So what seemed to be a pointless row reached epic proportions, with briefing and leaks galore. As Cabinet began on 9th January 1986, Thatcher read a statement insisting that all statements on Westland had to be cleared by her. Heseltine saw this as a move to silence him. So he resigned.
Not later that day, in the form of a statement or speech. He stood up in Cabinet, told them he could not carry on, and stormed out. The first person to be informed was the BBC journalist waiting outside Number 10. What a scoop that was.
In the end, Thatcher survived Westland. The Labour party failed to press home its advantage, and she survived the parliamentary debate apparently unscathed.
But, it was the beginning of the end for her. Heseltine remained lurking in the shadows for the next four years, biding his time. And when her government was truly beleagured, in the autumn of 1990, Heseltine struck. His leadership challenge sank Thatcher. The fuse lit on a January morning nearly five years earlier had come back to destroy her.
Heseltine resigning from the Cabinet, 9th July 1986
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