Former Cabinet Secretary Robin Butler: “I'd heard bombs before, so I knew it was a bomb.”
Thursday 24 October 2024
Forty years ago this month, Robin Butler (Lord Butler of Brockwell) was in a hotel room in Brighton with Margaret Thatcher on the night before her party conference speech, when an IRA bomb detonated on the sixth floor of the Grand Hotel directly above her suite.
In a new interview with the Lord Speaker, Lord McFall of Alcluith, published today, the former Cabinet Secretary discusses in detail what happened that night:
“I’d heard bombs before, so I knew it was a bomb. I suddenly came to, and I thought, “You're alone with the prime minister. Somebody's trying to blow her up. You had better do something sensible.” So I said to her, ‘I think you should come away from the windows in case there's another bomb.’ She didn't hesitate for a moment. She said, "I must see if Denis is all right."
Lord Butler told Lord McFall how Mrs Thatcher responded when he suggested she delay the start of the Conservative Party Conference the next morning:
“I was appalled. I said to her, "This terrible thing's happened. Some of your closest colleagues have been killed and badly injured. You can't be going on with a party conference." And she said, ‘This is our opportunity to show that terrorism can't defeat democracy.’ Of course, she was right, and I was wrong, and that's what she did demonstrate. And at 9:30, there she was on the platform saying, "We're shaken, but not daunted."
Lord Butler worked closely with five successive prime ministers, from Edward Heath to Tony Blair. During the interview he also discusses the work of prime ministers on Northern Ireland, negotiations with Europe, why he joined the Civil Service and his views on the growing role of special advisers.
He also shares his thoughts on reforming the Civil Service, arguing that “You’ve got to reform it constantly… But you've got to lead the Civil Service in my view, and not drive them.”
