Mrs T’s strained relations with ‘Tebbit the moaner’

NORMAN Tebbit was a ‘moaner’ and had ‘strained relations’ with Margaret Thatcher, the National Archives reveal.

Her press secretary Bernard Ingham revealed problems between the Prime Minister and the Tory Party chairman, who was once regarded as one of her closest allies.

‘The Government would be in a stronger position if it stopped gossiping, not least if it stopped gossiping about your allegedly strained relations with Norman Tebbit,’ he told her. He also warned that Tebbit’s abrasive style was counter-productive with broadcasters who had got stories wrong.

‘In my experience, the media, and not least the BBC’s Today programme, welcome advice, put in a constructive way, about where they have got their facts wrong,’ he wrote. ‘This is quite different from moaning subjectively about programmes. ‘I am afraid Mr Tebbit has acquired a reputation with some broadcasters as simply a moaner.’

Ingham also praised her in a 1986 memo, telling her that after nearly seven years in office, she was ‘still not regarded as boring by the media’. He added: ‘Your achievements are seen to be real and numerous by all but the most prejudiced commentators. You are not felt to have run out of steam. Your leadership is regarded as indispensable; you are felt to have no credible rival.’

He told her that after the Westland Helicopters crisis when ministers fell out over how to save the firm, she had had an ‘astonishingly rapid restoration’. But he warned: ‘You need to be seen to be imposing your will.’