Denis Thatcher, the ultra-loyal consort to the prime minister, vetted the entire guest list for a party to celebrate the Tories 1987 election victory, Downing Street files reveal.
Documents released on Saturday by the Margaret Thatcher Foundation show Denis marked names with a red pen, dispersing ticks and question marks to indicate suitability or suspicion. The comic actor Eric Sykes received four ticks; Sir David Attenborough, Paul McCartney and Shirley Bassey were all rebuked with question marks.
The function, held in Downing Street on 18 April 1988, was initially intended to thank only the 45 show business and sporting celebrities who attended the party’s rally at Wembley before polling day. As preparations advanced, however, it expanded into a grander affair.
Stephen Sherbourne, outgoing political secretary in Downing Street, suggested adding more personalities “from the world of the arts (high-brow and middle-brow), television, and radio, sport etc which would have an immensely wide appeal as the cameras saw people arrive at N10.”
A list of nominees from the Conservative party group for the arts appeared. Those who had been “helpful” with the Conservative national golf tournament were proposed. In February, John Whittingdale, the new political secretary, added his “preliminary thoughts for show biz reception”. These included Paul McCartney; Cliff Richard; Freddie Mercury; Nigel Kennedy; Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall; and Andrew Lloyd Webber.
By the end of the month, the guest list had grown to 229 individuals – not counting spouses. The full list was circulated and copied in to Denis Thatcher who replied in a three-page, handwritten letter.
“Whilst I accept, of course, that not everyone who comes to our reception are necessarily on ‘our’ side, I find it both unpleasant and embarrassing to entertain those who publicly insult the PM. This list therefore needs some careful checking in this regard.
“I have ticked those who I would personally like to see included and have shown doubt [with question marks] of those who, I believe, do not help.”
Beneath his signature, he added an explanatory note. A red tick, he said, “means especially welcome. More than one tick means super person and a known friend and wonderful to have them here.”
Not all names were marked. Tim Rice, Judith Chalmers, Ronnie Corbett, Penelope Keith, Donald Sinden and Edward Fox all gained two ticks. The opera singer Sir Geraint Evans, the composer Sir Noël Tredinnick and the golfer Peter Alliss acquired three ticks. Eric Sykes was accorded the unique status of four red ticks.
Those disapproved of with question marks included Sir David Attenborough, Paul McCartney, Sebastian Coe, Gilbert and George, Paul Daniels, Shirley Bassey and Jan Leeming.
Denis Thatcher’s mood may have been darkened by a clash earlier in the year with the BBC over the Today programme which had run a fictional story imagining that the prime minister had legalised hard drugs.
Her husband generally appears in the files “scribbling assent to attend this or that engagement, often with ironic complaint: ‘Yes, as if I had a choice’”, observed Chris Collins of the Margaret Thatcher Foundation. “On this occasion he was much more engaged. His intervention is slightly unusual. The story about the BBC may explain the steam coming out of his ears at that stage.”
Eventually the event was slimmed down to the original 45 guests plus the British Winter Olympic squad and a number of government ministers. Eddie the Eagle could not make it because of prior commitments.
When too few ministers were available, members of the parliamentary ski club – who had just beaten their Swiss counterparts – were invited to make up the numbers. “The upshot,” Collins said, “was that Ronnie Corbett rubbed shoulders, as it were, with the [skiing] Earl and Countess of Verulam. It must have been a bit disappointing.”
