For some time Nigel Lawson and Margaret Thatcher had been at odds over the management of the economy. ibid.
Only four cabinet colleagues offered their unqualified support. ibid.
The Tory Party, I suppose – bunch of pygmies in the end. Margaret starring Lindsay Duncan & Ian McDiarmid & Roger Allam & Michael Cochrane & Oliver Cotton & Philip Jackson & Robert Hardy & James Fox et al, director James Kent, Denis to Margaret, BBC 2009
Jack Linden was about sixty-seven years old, but like Philpot, and as is usual with working men, he appeared older because he had had to work very hard all his life, frequently without proper food and clothing. His life had been passed in the midst of a civilisation which he had never been permitted to enjoy the fruits of. But of course he knew nothing about all this. He had never expected or wished to be allowed to enjoy such things; he had always been of the opinion that they were never intended for the likes of him. He called himself a Conservative and was very patriotic. Robert Tressell, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist
As they sang the words of this noble chorus the Tories seemed to become inspired with lofty enthusiasm. It is of course impossible to say for certain, but probably as they sang there arose before their exalted imagination, a vision of the Past, and looking down the long vista of years that were gone, they saw that from their childhood they had been years of poverty and joyless toil. They saw their fathers and mothers, wearied and broken with privation and excessive labour, sinking unhonoured into the welcome oblivion of the grave. ibid.
It took only a few individuals: they included an old Etonian chicken farmer, a dashing millionaire who became a mad monk, an Austrian seer, a classical scholar and a chemistry student who became an Iron lady. At first they were voices in the political wilderness, their views thought at best eccentric, at worst – mad. But this small band of right-wing revolutionaries was to change the course of life in Britain. Tory! Tory! Tory! I: Outsiders, BBC 2006
Hayek saw the social and economic planning brought in during the war as the thin end of a dangerous wedge. ibid.
Hayek took [Anthony] Fisher under his wing and introduced him to his own private thinkers club in Switzerland. ibid.
‘It was a period of collective amnesia madness.’ ibid. Ralph Harris
There was a consensus among the parties: capitalism should be tempered by socialism. ibid.
Holidaymakers going abroad could take a mere handful of money out of the country. ibid.
Britain has been haunted by stagflation. ibid.
Milton Friedman really turned them into monetarists. ibid.
[Enoch] Powell was a free market trailblazer. ibid.
The three-day-week destroyed the Heath government. ibid.
Mrs Thatcher stood for the leadership of the party in place of her friend Keith Joseph. ibid.
In 1975 Mrs Thatcher became the leader of the Conservatives. ibid.
She was to be the anointed one. ibid.
There was another side to the ’70s: rising inflation, high unemployment, power blackouts and industrial anarchy. Tory! Tory! Tory! II: Path to Power
An election of mavericks and outsiders who set out to kickstart a political revolution. ibid.
To [John] Gouriet the world was locked in a titanic struggle between capitalism and communism … Many thought that the unions had become too powerful, and John Gouriet and his friends the McWhirters were horrified. Together they conceived a new organisation – The Freedom Organisation … The biggest and more influential right-wing group in Britain. ibid.
It all started in north London at a small photographic processing lab called Grunwick … He [Ward] sacked the strikers … He still wouldn’t deal with the unions: it was the Freedom Association … There were over 50 vehicles involved in [Operation] Pony Express … 20,000 pickets came to Grunwick … The Freedom Association kept George Ward in business. ibid.
Keith Joseph was an intellectual on a mission. ibid.
Hoskyns and Strauss produced a strategic plan for the Conservatives called Stepping Stones. ibid.
The Conservative manifesto said very little about tackling the unions. ibid.
But then came a winter of discontent. ibid.
One big change – policies to rein in the trade unions. ibid.
Mrs Thatcher thrived on confrontation. ibid.
Monetarism was extremely controversial … In 1980 unemployment started to climb. ibid.
In 1980 there was a massive strike in the steel industry; inflation was high and workers wanted a pay rise to match it … The strike went on for three months. ibid.
‘Instead of changing the policies she changed the cabinet.’ ibid. Parkinson
Ted Heath went on television to denounce the policies of his own party. ibid.
Mrs Thatcher’s ideological crusade would divide Britain and even her own party. Tory! Tory! Tory! III: The Exercise of Power
A new buzzword entered the vocabulary: privatisation. ibid.
The first company put up for sale was British Telecom. ibid.
‘Popular capitalism is nothing less than a crusade.’ ibid. Thatcher
The biggest privatisation of all was council houses. ibid.
For those miners, Thatcherism was a destructive force … Public sympathy was with the miners. ibid.
The No Turning Back Group wanted to push Thatcherism to the extreme. ibid.
Mrs Thatcher would make the biggest blunder of her career. She backed a policy that would lead to her own downfall [Poll Tax]. ibid.
When the leadership contest was declared, Mrs Thatcher reacted with wounded pride. ibid.
The party was traumatized by the political assassination of its most charismatic leader since Churchill. ibid.
A year ago a battle took place for the leadership of the country. This is the story of what went on behind the scenes. Some scenes have been dramatised … It’s a story of betrayals and backstabbings which handed victory to a Remainer. All in 20 days. Theresa vs Boris: How May Became a PM, captions, BBC 2017
‘There’s a lot of people we know who want a grown-up as leader of not a comedian or a gambler, and that is you, Theresa.’ ibid. non-discreet meeting
‘The kingdom at our feet there for the taking.’ ibid. Boris
‘The most dishonest electorate in history.’ ibid. George Hollingbery
‘Boris is a rock-star.’ ibid. Gavin
‘We are not dealing with a public or even a membership here but 331 Tory MPs – insincere duplicitous bastards.’ ibid. Team Boris
‘Boris – I’m sorry you’ve been badly treated. Theresa.’ ibid. text
This is the story of two men who fought for the soul of their party and the dirty war between their supporters. William Hague’s friends smelt treachery and they cannot forgive. Michael Portillo’s friends talk of sabotage: they won’t forget. This is the man who inherited what’s left [Ian Duncan Smith]. Behind him the woman who’s haunted the party for more than a decade [Margaret Thatcher]. Nick Robinson, The Tories: The Curse of the Mummy, BBC 2001
Hague’s senior colleagues were furious. ibid.
‘Where is our train going?’ ibid. Ann Widdecombe
Jeffrey Archer craved to be London’s first ever elected mayor. ibid.
Within a day Portillo’s hand could be felt on the Tory tiller. ibid.
‘Ann [Widdecombe] herself was out of touch with large sections of the community.’ ibid. Tim Yeo
Platell and Widdecombe would late wreak revenge on those they blamed for the fiasco: Portillo and Maude. ibid.
Hague would fight that election on his own brand of Tory populism. He was now following his instincts. ibid.
Hague’s formula for success came in three words: Save the Pound. ibid.
She [Thatcher] had a new favourite son: Iain Duncan Smith. ibid.
Ted Heath was the most musical of British prime ministers. But Heath was also one of the most controversial of prime ministers. A Very Singular Man: A Film Portrait of Edward Heath, BBC 1998
His singular personality often made him his own worst enemy. ibid.
Ted Heath was a prophet largely without honour in his own party. His critics have tried to airbrush him out of Tory history. And his record as prime minister is hotly disputed. ibid.
He’d come to power in 1970 promising to create one nation. ibid.
1937: He visited Nazi Germany … where he was to witness the Nuremberg rally. ibid.
He enjoyed the disciplined army life … He was put in charge of the firing squad … ‘I felt uneasy.’ ibid.