Inside Story: Politics, Intrigue and Treachery from Thatcher to Brexit. Philip Webster

      

      

       Copyright

      William Collins

      An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

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      London SE1 9GF

       WilliamCollinsBooks.com

      This eBook first published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2016

      Copyright © Philip Webster 2016

      Peter Brookes cartoons © Peter Brookes

      Photograph in Introduction © Dave Bebber/The Times

      Cover photograph © David Bebber for The Times

      While every effort has been made to trace the owners of copyright material reproduced herein, the author and publishers would like to apologise for any omissions and will be pleased to incorporate missing acknowledgements in any future editions.

      Philip Webster asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

      Source ISBN: 9780008201333

      Ebook Edition © September 2016 ISBN: 9780008201340

      Version: 2017-08-23

       Dedication

      To my late sister, Kay, for encouraging me to become a journalist, and to Sally, for encouraging me to write this book.

      Contents

       Cover

       Title Page

       Copyright

       Dedication

      

      

       Introduction

      

      

       A Nervous Breakdown as Britain Votes ‘Out’

       John and Edwina: The Liverpool Novel

1970s: Scary Days in the Commons Gallery

Return of The Thunderer

The Iron Lady: Early Lobby Years

How I Upset the Commons by Doing My Job

The Foreign Secretary Who Never Was

Dangerous Travelling with Thatcher

Some Stories Are Just Too Good …

Westland and Wapping Wars

A Horse, A Horse – My Paper for a Horse

The Lobby Lunch

       Madrid – and Dominic Lawson’s Star Turn

       Thatcher’s Fall, Major’s Arrival – and How the Rugby Team Might Have Saved Her

       Kinnock and the White House Stitch-Up

       As Thatcher Rules, Labour Battles for Its Soul

       Was She Crying? Oh Yes, She Was: Glenys on the West Bank

       Held at Gunpoint in the African Bush

       Jenkins, Owen, Steel: Third Party Hell

       John Smith: Britain’s Lost PM

       After 1992, the Deluge

       Carrying On up the Khyber

       A Day in the Life of a Political Editor

       1997: Granita and All That

       My Part in Keeping Britain Out of the Euro

       Taking a Punt on the 2001 Election

       Tony and Gordon: Give Me the Euro, I’ll Give You Britain