The day Margaret Thatcher’s life was saved by an accident of architecture
Before all the drama and debate of a leadership election kicked off at this year’s Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, there was an acknowledgement of an important anniversary.
Michael Winstanley, the chairman of the conference, made sure it was placed at the very beginning of his opening speech, ahead of his barbs at the Labour government.
He said: ‘This year marks the fortieth anniversary of the Brighton bombing at the Conservative Party conference, and I think that it’s right that we take a moment to remember all those who were murdered and injured by that cowardly terrorist attack.’
His voice wavering with emotion, he quoted from the speech delivered by Margaret Thatcher hours after she was almost killed in her hotel room.
‘This was an attack on democracy, not only to disrupt and terminate the Conservative Party conference, but also an attempt to cripple Her Majesty’s democratically elected government.
‘That is the scale of the outrage in which we have all shared, and the fact we are gathered here now – shocked, but composed and determined – is a sign not only that this attempt has failed, but all attempts to destroy democracy by terrorism will fail.’
For those who lived through it, there are images from the IRA’s assassination attempt on October 12 1984 that remain indelible.
The facade of the Grand Hotel on the Brighton seafront, left with a great hole crumbling onto the street. Dazed guests stumbling out, covered in dust. Trade and Industry Secretary Norman Tebbit carried on a stretcher by firefighters.
But what is less well-known is how close the country came to a serving Prime Minister being murdered for only the second time in history.
According to Rory Carroll’s book Killing Thatcher, which covers the build-up and aftermath of the attack, IRA operative Patrick Magee deliberately placed the long-delay time bomb close to the hotel’s internal chimney stack.
This had the effect of boosting the extent of destruction from the blast, as it would cause a cascade of rubble to tear through each floor.
Carroll writes that the bathroom of Thatcher’s Napoleon Suite was among the rooms that sustained serious damage from the collapsing chimney.
The Prime Minister had still been awake making adjustment to her conference speech at the time of the explosion, and was using the bathroom just two minutes before.
If she had timed her break even slightly later – or if the chimney had fallen in a slightly different direction – the terrorists would likely have succeeded where Guy Fawkes failed 380 years earlier, and killed the head of the government.
Of course, while Thatcher escaped unharmed, others were less unfortunate. Five people were killed in the attack:
- Sir Anthony Berry, Member of Parliament for Enfield Southgate
- Lady Muriel Maclean, wife of Scottish Conservatives president Sir Donald Maclean, died five weeks after the explosion from her injuries
- Lady Jeanne Shattock, a magistrate and school governess who was the wife of Conservative Western-area chairman Sir Gordon Shattock
- Eric Taylor, chairman of the North-West Conservative Association
- Roberta Wakeham, wife of South Colchester and Maldon MP and Conservative Chief Whip John Wakeham
Tebbit’s wife Margaret was among the 32 people injured in the blast. She was paralysed from the chest down and used a wheelchair until her death in 2020.
Today, the Grand Hotel has been restored so that the only visible sign of the destruction 40 years ago is a memorial plaque in the foyer.
But had the night gone differently, it could have been the site of one of British politics’ most consequential moments.
As Carroll writes in his book: ‘For want of two minutes, or a few feet, history could have turned, and with it the fate of Northern Ireland, Thatcherism, and the Cold War.’
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