Well, here it is finally. Hope you enjoy my first (and no doubt lacking) attempt at an actual timeline:
The attack was originally planned with the purpose of assassinating then Prime Minister Thatcher (an obvious figure of hate within the IRA) but her unanticipated departure from office after the Conservative leadership election in November 1990 made the implementers uncertain whether to proceed. They knew where Thatcher had stood vis-à-vis Ireland but her successor, John Major, was an unknown quantity. A late arrival to the Thatcher Ministry, Major had played no part in determining or enforcing the government’s Ireland policies. What stance he would take on the issue was unclear to the Army Council and indeed to this day political historians debate the course the Major Ministry may have taken had it avoided being snuffed out in its early days.
Needless to say, the plan proceeded…
- From: Going out with a Bang: The IRA in the aftermath of the February 7th Attack (Roy English, 2003)
The Van pulled up to the pavement just as Big Ben was striking ten that morning. A few miles away, the War Cabinet sat around a large table. Perusing files, discussing policy, these were men who had grown old and grey in the service of their country. Men I had served with for over a decade. Men I had come to hold in great esteem. At 10:08 the shells flew upwards. I had failed them …
- Former Home Secretary Kenneth Baker being interviewed in 2005 for Andrew Marr’s BBC documentary ‘The Dark Decade: Britain in the 90’s’
We interrupt this program to bring you an urgent bulletin from the BBC newsroom. In the last few minutes, we have been informed that an attack was launched on 10 Downing Street just after 10’o clock today. A mortar shell containing some form of explosive hit the rear of the building where the Prime Minister was holding a meeting of the War Cabinet. Casualties are unknown as of yet but it is feared that the Prime Minister and those present at the meeting are among them…
- An Emergency BBC news bulletin broadcasted on February 7 1991 at 10:15 AM
Within minutes, the phones were ringing themselves off the tables! People with questions upon questions: What’s going on? What do we do? What do we say to the press? I realised all too clearly that somehow I’d have to answer every last one them, and I’ll be honest: I sobbed…
-Former Home Secretary Kenneth Baker being interviewed in 2005 for Andrew Marr’s BBC documentary ‘The Dark Decade: Britain in the 90’s’
Government decapitated in terrorist attack
At 10:08 AM yesterday morning, three IRA mortar shells (fired from a van parked 200 yards away) were fired at 10 Downing Street, one of which succeeded in hitting its target. The epicentre of the ensuing explosion was the conference room where John Major was holding a meeting with senior political and military officials discussing policy in the current fighting in the Middle East.
The known list of casualties is as follows:
John Major: Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury
Norman Lamont: Chancellor of the Exchequer
Douglas Hurd: Foreign Secretary
Thomas King: Defence Secretary
Peter Lilley: Secretary for Trade and Industry
John Wakeham: Energy Secretary
David Mellor: Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Robin Butler: Cabinet Secretary
David Craig: Chief of the Defence Staff
Percy Cradock: Foreign Policy Adviser
Patrick Mayhew: Attorney General
Charles Powell: Private Secretary to the Prime Minister
Gus O’Donnell: Press Secretary to the Prime Minister
In a press conference yesterday evening the newly selected prime minister…
-Excerpt from the front page of the Daily Telegraph February 8th 1991
The February 7th attack created a brief crisis for the Conservative government. With the party leader and many senior figures dead, the party was in effect a headless chicken; still running around but with no one running it. Baker, the Home Secretary and senior surviving Cabinet member, assumed running of the government for the first few hours after the attack until an emergency Party conference was called on the evening of February 7th. Given the situation it was decided that a new leader was needed immediately. What’s more, the new leader would need to be strong, capable; someone the party could unite behind.
Deciding that was easy. Finding someone like that was the more difficult part. Most of the obvious candidates for the leadership were among the casualties of the mortar attack. Senior cabinet survivors such as Baker and Heseltine were considered too weak-willed or divisive in a situation where party unity was vital. In the end only two individuals stood on the ballot, both of them relatively junior party figures. Education Secretary Clarke and Employment Secretary Michael Howard.
The result was generally considered a foregone conclusion. Clarke was clearly capable as an administrator and under different circumstances would have made a good leader for his party and country. However, the circumstances called for someone a bit sterner to meet the terrorist threat. Howard was elected the party leader and Prime Minister by a substantial majority.
-From: The British Conservative Party 1991-2008 (John Ramsden, 2009)
I guess they’re getting their 24 hours now…
-Overheard comment by Michael Heseltine as Conservative leadership result announced Feb 7th 1991
Well...shall I continue?
Starting Again: The Aftermath of the Downing Street Mortar Attack
By Alberto Knox
Part 1: Setting it off with a...
By Alberto Knox
Part 1: Setting it off with a...
The attack was originally planned with the purpose of assassinating then Prime Minister Thatcher (an obvious figure of hate within the IRA) but her unanticipated departure from office after the Conservative leadership election in November 1990 made the implementers uncertain whether to proceed. They knew where Thatcher had stood vis-à-vis Ireland but her successor, John Major, was an unknown quantity. A late arrival to the Thatcher Ministry, Major had played no part in determining or enforcing the government’s Ireland policies. What stance he would take on the issue was unclear to the Army Council and indeed to this day political historians debate the course the Major Ministry may have taken had it avoided being snuffed out in its early days.
Needless to say, the plan proceeded…
- From: Going out with a Bang: The IRA in the aftermath of the February 7th Attack (Roy English, 2003)
The Van pulled up to the pavement just as Big Ben was striking ten that morning. A few miles away, the War Cabinet sat around a large table. Perusing files, discussing policy, these were men who had grown old and grey in the service of their country. Men I had served with for over a decade. Men I had come to hold in great esteem. At 10:08 the shells flew upwards. I had failed them …
- Former Home Secretary Kenneth Baker being interviewed in 2005 for Andrew Marr’s BBC documentary ‘The Dark Decade: Britain in the 90’s’
We interrupt this program to bring you an urgent bulletin from the BBC newsroom. In the last few minutes, we have been informed that an attack was launched on 10 Downing Street just after 10’o clock today. A mortar shell containing some form of explosive hit the rear of the building where the Prime Minister was holding a meeting of the War Cabinet. Casualties are unknown as of yet but it is feared that the Prime Minister and those present at the meeting are among them…
- An Emergency BBC news bulletin broadcasted on February 7 1991 at 10:15 AM
Within minutes, the phones were ringing themselves off the tables! People with questions upon questions: What’s going on? What do we do? What do we say to the press? I realised all too clearly that somehow I’d have to answer every last one them, and I’ll be honest: I sobbed…
-Former Home Secretary Kenneth Baker being interviewed in 2005 for Andrew Marr’s BBC documentary ‘The Dark Decade: Britain in the 90’s’
Government decapitated in terrorist attack
At 10:08 AM yesterday morning, three IRA mortar shells (fired from a van parked 200 yards away) were fired at 10 Downing Street, one of which succeeded in hitting its target. The epicentre of the ensuing explosion was the conference room where John Major was holding a meeting with senior political and military officials discussing policy in the current fighting in the Middle East.
The known list of casualties is as follows:
John Major: Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury
Norman Lamont: Chancellor of the Exchequer
Douglas Hurd: Foreign Secretary
Thomas King: Defence Secretary
Peter Lilley: Secretary for Trade and Industry
John Wakeham: Energy Secretary
David Mellor: Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Robin Butler: Cabinet Secretary
David Craig: Chief of the Defence Staff
Percy Cradock: Foreign Policy Adviser
Patrick Mayhew: Attorney General
Charles Powell: Private Secretary to the Prime Minister
Gus O’Donnell: Press Secretary to the Prime Minister
In a press conference yesterday evening the newly selected prime minister…
-Excerpt from the front page of the Daily Telegraph February 8th 1991
The February 7th attack created a brief crisis for the Conservative government. With the party leader and many senior figures dead, the party was in effect a headless chicken; still running around but with no one running it. Baker, the Home Secretary and senior surviving Cabinet member, assumed running of the government for the first few hours after the attack until an emergency Party conference was called on the evening of February 7th. Given the situation it was decided that a new leader was needed immediately. What’s more, the new leader would need to be strong, capable; someone the party could unite behind.
Deciding that was easy. Finding someone like that was the more difficult part. Most of the obvious candidates for the leadership were among the casualties of the mortar attack. Senior cabinet survivors such as Baker and Heseltine were considered too weak-willed or divisive in a situation where party unity was vital. In the end only two individuals stood on the ballot, both of them relatively junior party figures. Education Secretary Clarke and Employment Secretary Michael Howard.
The result was generally considered a foregone conclusion. Clarke was clearly capable as an administrator and under different circumstances would have made a good leader for his party and country. However, the circumstances called for someone a bit sterner to meet the terrorist threat. Howard was elected the party leader and Prime Minister by a substantial majority.
-From: The British Conservative Party 1991-2008 (John Ramsden, 2009)
I guess they’re getting their 24 hours now…
-Overheard comment by Michael Heseltine as Conservative leadership result announced Feb 7th 1991
Well...shall I continue?
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