The latest in a series of conversations with the men in the room when Margaret Thatcher resigned in November 1990. Today's guest is Kenneth Clarke - her then Health Secretary - who told her directly in a one to one meeting it was time to go.

The Fall of Thatcher - it ends in tears

Nov 21st, 2020 28m 6s

Margaret Thatcher was a triple election winner, feted abroad, whose premiership ended with her sobbing through her resignation statement. Ben Monro-Davies talks to the men and one woman in room where it happennedIn this episode we hear from Pe

The Fall of Thatcher - a Scottish perspective

Nov 21st, 2020 20m 28s

Margaret Thatcher was the longest serving Prime Minister of the Twentieth Century. And she thought she more time to run - until her party - and in her eyes, the cabinet - deserted her.On the Big Ben History podcast - Ben Monro-Davies interview

The Fall of Thatcher - Morrison to Blame

Oct 2nd, 2020 13m 37s

The latest Conversation with the men (and one other woman) in the cabinet room when Margaret Thatcher resigned in November 1990. Today's guest is Michael Howard, who went on to be Home Secretary and Leader of the Tories. He was an ardent Thatch

The Fall of Thatcher - Morrison to Blame

Sep 11th, 2020 13m 37s

The Fall of Thatcher - more Grandeur, less Grantham

Feb 29th, 2020 39m 21s

Andrew Turnbull, like other senior officials and her cabinet ministers, witnessed Margaret Thatcher tearfully read out her resignation statement to her colleagues in November 1990. As her Principal Private Secretary, he was also in the room for

The Fall of Thatcher - Loyal Lamont's dilemma

Oct 9th, 2019 21m

This is the latest in a series of conversations with those in the cabinet room when Margaret Thatcher resignedNormal Lamont considers himself a Thatcherite. He thought his leader was right on Europe - unlike most of his cabinet colleagues. But

The Fall of Thatcher - the Last Man In

Jul 31st, 2019 28m 15s

Perhaps no-one has experienced as bewildering a month in politics as Wiliam Waldegrave in November 1990. He was running the diplomatic effort to oust Saddam from Kuwait when he was suddenly promoted to the cabinet. Then just weeks later he was

The Fall of Thatcher - She could have held on

Jun 24th, 2019 26m 4s

Lord Baker was Chairman of the Conservative Party at the time of Margaret Thatcher’s fall. He’d been given the job with specific aim of keeping in No 10 - and until November 1990 all seemed to be going fine. But Mrs Thatcher lost her temper wit

The Fall of Thatcher - in the middle of war

Apr 18th, 2019 31m 51s

Tom King was Margaret Thatcher's defence secretary. In November 1990 he was running the biggest deployment of UK troops since World War II for Operation Desert Shield against Saddam Hussein. He returned to find his boss on the way out and plead

The Fall of Thatcher - a squalid coup

Mar 24th, 2019 21m 23s

Charles Powell was Margaret Thatcher’s foreign affairs adviser for most of her premiership. They remained friends after she left office. He was with her in Paris when she discovered she had failed to beat Michael Heseltine by the necessary numb

The Fall of Thatcher - what Butler saw

Mar 14th, 2019 25m 54s

Robin Butler served Prime Ministers from Wilson to Blair. But as he said at her leaving do, there is only one anyone asks him about. He recalls her fall from power and his efforts to ensure the ship of state kept sailing.

The Fall of Thatcher - and #metoo

Mar 14th, 2019 29m 22s

Caroline Slocock was private secretary to Margaret Thatcher - and the only other woman in the room when she resigned to cabinet. She saw her fall very much as a woman surrounded by and undone by men - even though she had little sympathy for man

The fall of Thatcher - Inside the Bunker

Mar 14th, 2019 31m 12s

Barry Potter and Dominic Morris were private secretaries to Margaret Thatcher at the time of her fall. They were in the room when she stumbled through her resignation statement to cabinet. And they supported her in the painful days afterwards a

The Fall of Thatcher - the remainer

Mar 14th, 2019 28m 52s

John Gummer was there in the cabinet room when Thacther resigned and afterwards helped write her speech defending herself in a vote of no confidence against Neil Pinnock. She would often warn him as a pro-European that she was about to go off o

The Fall of Thatcher - The Brighton Bomb

Mar 8th, 2019 42m 24s

John Wakeham was summoned at the last minute to try and save Margaret Thatcher's premiership. He was in charge of her campaign for six hours - long enough to learn she was doomed. His main job was to make sure she knew exactly how bad things we

Rate