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John Major: My working life with Margaret Thatcher began with a ‘furious row’ while I was serving as her chief whip
- Sir John was discussing working relationship at Chalke Valley History Festival
- He said his ‘Victorian upbringing’ may have influenced how he responded to her
Sir John Major has told how his professional relationship with Margaret Thatcher began with a ‘furious row’.
The former prime minister detailed a fiery exchange between himself and Lady Thatcher while he was serving her as a whip.
Speaking at the Chalke Valley History Festival, sponsored by the Daily Mail, Sir John also admitted his ‘Victorian upbringing’ may have influenced how he responded to her because she was a woman.
Lady Thatcher endorsed Sir John’s leadership campaign after withdrawing from the 1990 Tory leadership contest herself, ending the first female prime minister’s 11-year premiership.
Sir John served as prime minister between 1990 and 1997. However, the pair disagreed on a number of issues – including Britain’s relationship with Europe.
Speaking at the Chalke Valley History Festival, sponsored by the Daily Mail, Sir John also admitted his ‘Victorian upbringing’ may have influenced how he responded to her because she was a woman
Lady Thatcher endorsed Sir John’s leadership campaign after withdrawing from the 1990 Tory leadership contest herself, ending the first female prime minister’s 11-year premiership
Yesterday he spoke of how, as a whip, he had been tasked with reporting back ‘unfavourable’ opinions of Tory MPs who were unhappy with Lady Thatcher’s economic policies.
‘I reported exactly what the party thought’, Sir John said. ‘Margaret was outraged. I don’t think anybody had told her before how upset, nervous, the party was over the economic policy at the time… And she attacked me as the messenger.
‘At the end of the meeting, sitting at the back had been a number of people – one of whom was Margaret’s husband. Denis came over and tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘She’d have enjoyed that, don’t worry’. The other group said to me, ‘Well that’s the end of your career.’ ‘
The pair found common ground the very next day. Sir John said: ‘I was sitting on the Treasury bench… and Margaret came in from the prime minister’s office behind the Speaker’s chair and sat down beside me and said, ‘I’ve been thinking about our conversation last night. I think we’d better start again and talk about it’. And we did and five weeks later she put me in her government.’
Yesterday Sir John spoke of how, as a whip, he had been tasked with reporting back ‘unfavourable’ opinions of Tory MPs who were unhappy with Lady Thatcher’s economic policies
When he was 13 a politician bought him tickets to visit the House of Commons. ‘The atmosphere reached out, grabbed me, and I thought – this is where I wish to spend my life,’ he said.
Born to a 63-year-old father, Sir John, now 80, said he had a ‘Victorian upbringing’. He admitted his ‘strict upbringing’ influenced how he ‘behaved’ towards other people and ‘particularly… women’.
Addressing how this affected his relationship with Lady Thatcher, he said: ‘I felt a little restricted in publicly responding, though privately we did talk about it – sometimes quite fiercely.’
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