The House of Lords Library only loans items to parliamentary users.  If you are a parliamentary user please log in using the link above. For more information on the House of Lords Library, visit the Parliament website.

Amazon cover image
Image from Amazon.com

Inside Thatcher's last election : diaries of the campaign that saved enterprise / by David Young.

By: Young, David Ivor, Baron Young of Graffham, 1932- [author.]Publisher: London : Biteback Publishing, 2021Description: xxx, 306 pagesContent type: text Media type: unmediated Carrier type: volumeISBN: 9781785906831Subject(s): Young, David Ivor, Baron Young of Graffham, 1932- | Thatcher, Margaret Hilda, Baroness Thatcher, 1925-2013 | Great Britain. Parliament -- Elections, 1987 | Politicians -- Great Britain -- Diaries | Political campaigns -- Great Britain -- History -- 20th century | Elections -- Great Britain -- History -- 20th century | Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1979-1997DDC classification: 920 Summary: "The year is 1987. Having made history by becoming the UK’s first female Prime Minister and then driving out the most left-wing manifesto the country has ever seen, Margaret Thatcher faces a climactic third election campaign. Her eight years in power have been pivotal in guiding the UK back onto the path towards prosperity, and as he surveys the scene, David Young, Secretary of State for Employment, can see the fragile seeds of Thatcher’s government beginning to grow. But this third election threatens to destroy it all, plunging the nation back into the chaos of union militancy, the three-day week and the Winter of Discontent, when Britain ground to a halt and even the bodies lay unburied. Drafted in to run the campaign, Young knows one thing for certain: the country cannot afford to go back. Written in lucid, powerful prose, Young’s remarkable diary of the election that set the UK on course for the next thirty years invites readers into the room with the key players, including the Prime Minister herself. Full of gut-wrenching claustrophobia, tension and paranoia, Inside Thatcher’s Last Election reveals the personality clashes that threatened to derail the campaign from the beginning and presents a very different woman from the Thatcher we think we know. For those in the eye of the storm, there was little doubt about what was at stake: the future of Britain’s enterprise."-- Taken from book-cover.
Holdings
Item type Current library Class number Status Date due Barcode
Book House of Lords Library - Palace Dewey 920 YOU (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Available 019315

"The year is 1987. Having made history by becoming the UK’s first female Prime Minister and then driving out the most left-wing manifesto the country has ever seen, Margaret Thatcher faces a climactic third election campaign. Her eight years in power have been pivotal in guiding the UK back onto the path towards prosperity, and as he surveys the scene, David Young, Secretary of State for Employment, can see the fragile seeds of Thatcher’s government beginning to grow. But this third election threatens to destroy it all, plunging the nation back into the chaos of union militancy, the three-day week and the Winter of Discontent, when Britain ground to a halt and even the bodies lay unburied. Drafted in to run the campaign, Young knows one thing for certain: the country cannot afford to go back. Written in lucid, powerful prose, Young’s remarkable diary of the election that set the UK on course for the next thirty years invites readers into the room with the key players, including the Prime Minister herself. Full of gut-wrenching claustrophobia, tension and paranoia, Inside Thatcher’s Last Election reveals the personality clashes that threatened to derail the campaign from the beginning and presents a very different woman from the Thatcher we think we know. For those in the eye of the storm, there was little doubt about what was at stake: the future of Britain’s enterprise."-- Taken from book-cover.

Contact us

Phone: 0207 219 5242
Email: hllibrary@parliament.uk
Website: lordslibrary.parliament.uk

Accessibility statement