The startling admission from the former prime minister is contained in a set of diaries by Lord Spicer, the Tory grandee, which is being serialised in tomorrow's Sunday Telegraph.
The book gives a well-placed insider’s view of the Thatcher years, including the Falklands War, the Brighton Bomb and her departure in 1990 when she was hounded out of office by her own party.
Lord Spicer, a former minister and party official who left Parliament at the 2010 election, also provides a vivid portrayal of the bitter struggle over the Maastricht Treaty which split the Conservatives and brought John Major’s government to its knees in the 1990s, as well as the fall of Iain Duncan Smith as Tory leader and the rise of David Cameron.
Lady Thatcher’s admission came in April 1995, shortly before Sir John’s resignation as Conservative leader – which followed years of warfare with the Right wing of his party which sought to use his predecessor, according to The Spicer Diaries, as a “rallying point.”
The former prime minister, Lord Spicer writes, had become disillusioned after stepping down in November 1990, telling him in the Commons in February 1991: “I hate coming to this place now.” » | Patrick Hennessy, Political Editor | Saturday, March 24, 2012
