‘Britain is about to enter a new political era with a conservative government and its first woman prime minister.’ Thatcher: A Very British Revolution II: Power, television news
Her mission – nothing less than the transformation of Britain. ibid.
‘You turn if you want to; the lady’s not for turning.’ ibid. Thatcher
‘When they really come out fighting at me, I really fight back … and I love it.’ ibid.
‘One forgets how unpopular the government was.’ ibid. Baker
By 1982 Margaret Thatcher is the most unpopular prime minister since polling began. Thatcher: A Very British Revolution III: Enemies, caption
Argentina has seized the British Falkland Islands. ibid. BBC news
After three weeks at sea the Task Force approaches the Falklands. The Argentine Navy closes in. ibid. caption
British troops have gone ashore in a number of raiding parties. ibid. news report
4 British ships are sunk and 49 servicemen killed during the landings. ibid. caption
The so-called Battle of Orgreave was horrifying. ibid. Kinnock
Frost: It means That Bloody Woman.
Thatcher: They don’t tell me. Thatcher: A Very British Revolution IV, BBC 2019
Not always standing there as moaning minnies. Now stop it. ibid. Thatcher
Autumn 1985: New Conservative Party Chairman Norman Tebbit is in charge of strategy for the forthcoming election. ibid. caption
It also coincided with a time when I think Margaret was beginning to grow more suspicious about people around her, and her relationship with Norman deteriorated really quite sharply. ibid. Michael Dobbs
Margaret Thatcher allows television cameras to film in the private flat at 10 Downing Street for the first time. ibid. caption
With her government behind in opinion polls Margaret Thatcher radically reshuffles her Cabinet. ibid.
I hope to go on and on. ibid. Thatcher, television interview
1989: ‘Ten more years.’ Thatcher: A Very British Revolution V: Downfall, conference chant
Wogan: Do you crave anonymity?
Thatcher: Erm, yes, of course you do. ibid.
She quite frankly got very fed up with the wetness of the Foreign Office on several issues and of course inevitably with the wetness of Geoffrey Howe. ibid.
He [Howe] turned out to be a brutal assassin. ibid. Baker
A Thatcher much romanticised. ibid. Heseltine
Ridley: Peter, we just can’t afford to keep those islands on indefinitely. Ian Curteis, The Falklands Play, BBC 2002
Carrington: Well I’d sooner face a herd of charging rhino. ibid.
Why can’t we simply leave things as they are? ibid. Thatcher
There’s a leader in La Prensa this morning which says that the only thing that holds this government now together is a war. ibid. Carrington to Thatcher
Can we leave Suez out of this conversation? ibid. Knott
The Government has now decided that a large task force will set sail as soon as preparations are complete. HMS Invincible will be in the lead and will sail on Monday. ibid.
It’s recognising the moment that justifies everything else. ibid. Willie Whitelaw
If in our hearts we really believe that Britain is dead, then it would be a crime of the direst and blackest sort to send in those men to fight, a crime of which the country would very soon find us guilty because their hearts were not in it. ibid. Thatcher
Mr [Alexander] Haig’s visit is perhaps the last opportunity to avoid a military confrontation but what real chance does he have? ibid. BBC news report from Argentina
British prime minister Margaret Thatcher and US president Ronald Reagan were in power together for eight years, most of the 1980s. They saw the beginning of the end of the Cold War as the world emerged from the shadow of nuclear Armageddon. Thatcher & Reagan: A Very Special Relationship I, BBC 2022
During her 1981 visit, Mrs Thatcher spent time with Reagan at not one but two gala dinners. ibid.
Their most striking achievement so far was the imminent arrival of hundreds more American nuclear missiles across western Europe. Thatcher & Reagan: A Very Special Relationship II
The big disagreement over Grenada came at an important time for Reagan. He was trying to find a way out of the nuclear arms race. ibid.
She [Thatcher] attacked the BBC because she saw it as full of fat cats and bloated bureaucracy. Days that Shook the BBC, BBC 2022
There was one issue that really angered Mrs Thatcher and that was the way the BBC covered Northern Ireland. ibid.
Margaret Thatcher’s … right-to-buy scheme gave Britain’s five million tenants a discount dead to buy their houses. Alan Titchmarsh, The Home that 2 Built s1e3: Eighties, BBC 2014
Orgreave Coking Plant, Yorkshire, 18th June 1984, Day 104 of the Strike: It was a beautiful morning. Not a cloud int’ sky. I can remember birds singing. Strike: An Uncivil War ***** comment, Netflix 2024
All the police guiding you in. Never seen this before. Because normally they’d stop you on the motorway and make you walk six, seven miles. ibid.
This was the arena of violence. They had set it up. Otherwise, they would never have let us in. ibid.
The miners’ strike of 72 and 74 were about wages … All the miners in the country came out on strike. ibid.
Mrs Thatcher is determined she is going to break the monopoly power of the trade unions. ibid.
Margaret Thatcher is preparing herself for what she knows will inevitably be a confrontation. ibid.
Behind the scenes they were creating a paramilitary police force. ibid.
The Government lies. And here is the document to prove it. ibid.
Mr McGregor had it in mind of the three years 1983/85 that a further 75 pits would be closed. ibid. Government document in national archives
It were about them beating you up. ibid. miner
For the first time in this country you see the use of the short shield and the baton, all straight out of the manual. ibid. comment
They had absolute permission to do whatever they wanted that morning. ibid. miner
By mid-morning the picketing had turned to rioting. ibid. TV news
It destroyed communities. ibid. miner
Behind those closed doors there’s been awful lot of suffering. ibid.
And they could do anything they wanted. ibid.
A few days after the miners marched back to work, the Home Office hosted a party with senior police officers and civil servants to celebrate the end of the strike. The guest of honour was Margaret Thatcher. ibid. caption
In 2016 the Conservative government ruled out an Inquiry into policing at Orgreave. 40 years on, the miners continue their search for answers. ibid.