Topic description and stories

Thatcher papers for 1988 reveal her 'deep enthusiasm' for the single market

21 Jul 2018

Margaret Thatcher’s infamous Bruges speech – which helped to coin the phrase ‘Euroscepticism’ – was never intended to be an anti-European diatribe...

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Thatcher speaking in the White House grounds during her 1987 visit to the USA

‘Don’t put yourself through it again’: Thatcher papers reveal ‘distress’ after bruising election win

10 Oct 2017

Margaret Thatcher’s third and final election victory dominates the 50,000 pages of her personal papers for the year 1987 – opening to the public from...

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Diaries of Captain Scott's widow secured by Cambridge University Library

26 Apr 2016

The diaries of Captain Scott’s widow – and the papers of her second husband, Lord Kennet – will be made accessible to researchers at Cambridge...

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Margaret Thatcher

‘Hectoring, strident and bossy’: Thatcher papers for 1985 reveal plans to soften the Iron Lady

09 Oct 2015

Massive unemployment, the end of the miners’ strike and a controversial decision to try and exclude the Prime Minister from a Falklands War memorial...

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A Sellotaped page from the speech that never was. Homepage image: Miner's strike, 1984 by Nick Sarebi (CC: Att)

The speech that never was – Thatcher papers for 1984 open to the public

03 Oct 2014

Papers opened to the public today reveal how the Brighton bombing stopped Margaret Thatcher from widening her infamous ‘enemy within’ rhetoric to...

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Professor John Spencer

Householders who use violence against burglars

30 Oct 2012

At the 2012 Conservative Party conference, new Justice Secretary Chris Grayling announced plans to amend the criminal law to ensure that even...

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Detail from a page of doodles by President Ronald Reagan, kept by Margaret Thatcher

Thatcher papers reveal her ‘grimmest year’

17 Mar 2012

Thousands of papers relating to perhaps the toughest year of Margaret Thatcher’s premiership are to be opened to the public at Cambridge University’s...

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