The end of Thatcherism
The end of Thatcherism

This was an altogether quite remarkable month and one dominated by politics, marked by the End of Thatcherism, and her replacement was the Huntingdon MP, John Major, in whose constituency we are politically active and whose family we know well.

The month continued with all the poignancy of the anniversary of my Father's death as last year at this time he was dying slowly and tragically. In tribute, I paused on the 11am on the 11th of this month for the Cenotaph commemorative silence remembering my father who died at this time of year from skin cancer probably provoked by his war-time exposures.

Freda completed her first six months trading of Redgrave, but we have yet to see any figures. Debbie's schoolwork was going well, coming first in History, and she was enjoying her riding too. Daniel was coping well with his Computer Science degree work at UEA and brought home his new girlfriend Angela, who is studying Chemistry. We heard about the interview and tests that Della has to take to get into Kimbolton for the 7's entry next February.

I managed to get over to Heronshaw twice this month and succeeded in breaking the back of the outstanding work by jacking up the garage and under-pinning the structure with brickwork. There had also been serious management and financial problems at my new investment company, ON-SITE Training, which took three meetings to sort out.

Thatcher's Conservative leadership crisis came after a succession of opinion polls, gave the Tories very little chance of winning the next election and showed disgust with their economic policies and the Poll Tax. After a disastrous local election result, and a clinical assassination of her in the Commons by her former minister Sir Geoffrey Howe, Thatcher saw the writing on the wall and withdrew from the second round of a leadership contest. The Tories divided between two strong candidates and recent Chancellor John Major became the compromise choice.

I was therefore thrown into a frenzy of activity, both in terms of publicity with a round of radio and TV interviews, Radio Cambridgeshire came on the telephone for an early interview and in securing a parliamentary candidate for our party to act as opposing spokesman otherwise I would have had to stand myself! All this as I was in the middle of a personally active political month working on the Little Paxton Parish Council, the Village Hall Committee and the Huntingdonshire District Council leading our party group into marathon Council sessions to hold the Tory majority to account

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This was a month of some fine days but also one of some chilly nights too with overnight frost; but it was also an altogether quite remarkable month and one dominated by politics. Nationally, we had the spectre of the fall of Margaret Thatcher and, locally, we were involved because her replacement was the Huntingdon MP, John Major, in whose constituency we are politically active and whose family we know well. The month started with a London visit for me alone to attend to my forestry affairs, before rushing back for the Kimbolton Fireworks display after which an evening attending a committee meeting of the Kimbolton School Society. We noted how well and lucrative the fireworks display had been, but then got bogged down on the Christmas Fair details. The month continued with all the poignancy of the anniversary of my Father's death. This time last year at he was dying slowly and tragically and, as the leaves fell on a chill and dull November day, we thought of him. I also stopped Cenotaph commemorative silence at 11am on the 11th of the month for the remembrance of all who died in the wars and again for my father as his skin cancer was probably provoked by his war-time African posting. Mum made a special visit over here on his former birthday, the 2nd, and we were sad but all right. We celebrated my 44th birthday the following day. Mum managed to get back into the routine of visiting Freda and Alf and staying with them during the month and they all seem to be well and their shop and post office business seems to be holding up despite the onset of a really vicious business recession in the economy at large. There were no figures, however, so I asked Freda to get the accountants in to report on the first six months trading of her ownership of the Redgrave Stores.

It was quite a month for Debbie and Daniel as well. Debbie's schoolwork was going well with above average marks in general and some spectacular ones in particular such as coming first in History. Her horse-riding is a happy foil - this month she had a spectacular 21-mile hack and a show-jumping event that they had organised at Staughton. For Daniel, we were pleased to see his new girlfriend, Angela, who he proudly brought home to show us and he is coping well with his Computer Science degree work at UEA. She is studying Chemistry there and hopes to take advantage of a year in France as part of it. They seemed very relaxed together and enjoy one-another's company He was still visiting home regularly as well as Heronshaw in Horning to use the washing machine.  Della had been given costume for the school play. after we had heard from Kimbolton School about the interview and tests that she has to take to get into the 7's entry next February.

I managed to get over to Heronshaw twice this month stopping off at Cosy Corner and collected a bag of masonry cement and so took a cement mixer on hire for the weekend and succeeded in breaking the back of the outstanding work by jacking up the garage and under-pinning the structure with brickwork. With architects, I mused on the designs for the rebuilding of Heronshaw and restoration of its garage, following receipt of draft designs. I had marked out my garage foundation and prepared to lay the bricks ready when the Blooms to arrive and helped me move bricks. I had ordered some 20 13ft crossing timbers which will eventually span the garage floor. Also, this month, I found time to do some long gardening sessions to keep the lawns clear of leaves, applying fertiliser and weedkiller and building a compost heap. There had also been serious management and financial problems at my new investment company, ON-SITE Training, which had taken three meetings to sort out. Quite a month!

The second visit to Norfolk came in the middle of Thatcher's Conservative leadership crisis which came after a succession of opinion polls, giving the Tories very little chance of winning the next election and showing disgust with their economic policies and the Poll Tax. It was the loss of a bye-election in Eastbourne to the Liberal Democrats and us beating the Tories into third place in Bradford North that got their party worried (some "dead parrot"!) and then the speech by Sir Geoffrey Howe (some "dead sheep"!) in the Commons on the 13th November that brought things to a head and it came as a damning indictment of Thatcher government policies and style. When Heseltine decided to throw his hat into the ring on the following day with a will to "immediately and fundamentally review" the Poll Tax, the cat was really amongst the pigeons! In a frenzy of recrimination, excitement and political intrigue, the 373 members of the Parliamentary Conservative Party (who describe themselves as "the most devious and sophisticated electorate in the world") jostled and manoeuvred their way into choosing the next Prime Minister; none other than John Major. That we know the family well, (his daughter being a classmate of Daniel and a riding school companion of Debbie until this year), is coincidence enough; but that my political activities are centred on his constituency is quite remarkable. I was therefore thrown into a similar frenzy of counter-measures, both in terms of publicity with a round of radio and TV interviews, Radio Cambridgeshire came on the telephone for an early interview and in securing a parliamentary candidate for our party to act as opposing spokesman otherwise I would have had to stand myself! The tragedy is that Major is too young, inexperienced and, frankly, intellectually inadequate to do the task and his family would much rather have retained their privacy and normality of life. Wife Norma is as shy and reluctant a Westminster Wife as Diana would be. His daughter Elizabeth only passed one "A"-level in the end and is working at Newmarket with her favourite horses and is desperate about the new lack of privacy. Their cocky son James is 15 and was unwisely allowed to appear on TV when the result was announced. We now have the headache of security problems at Kimbolton School in the middle of an IRA campaign.

All this as I was in the middle of a personally-active political month on both the Little Paxton Parish Council, the village’s Village Hall Committee and the Huntingdonshire District Council leading our party group into marathon Council sessions and committee meetings effective at highlighting the evils of the Poll Tax and calling on the Council to invite John Major to discuss them with us!

Other UK news was of British Rail being prosecuted for safety violations by the inspectorate for the Clapham Junction crash. Elsewhere,  US Secretary of State, Baker, was in the Gulf where his troops gave him the message that they wanted either to get on with it or come home. At last the EEC has agreed its GATT negotiating position on reducing agricultural subsidies by 30%