Biteback to publish Bernard Ingham’s Thatcher diaries

Biteback will publish Margaret Thatcher’s press secretary Sir Bernard Ingham’s diaries, charting the downfall of the former prime minister, this summer. 

The Bernard Ingham Diaries will be published in June 2019 to coincide with the 40th anniversary of Thatcher’s rise to power. 

As Mrs Thatcher’s press secretary, from 1979 to 1990, Sir Bernard was the civil servant most closely associated with her tenure at Downing Street. 

The diaries from January 1989 to December 1990 “will shed light on the final, dramatic years of Mrs Thatcher’s time as Prime Minister to detail the crises which saw her resign in November 1990, as well as the parts played by the big political beasts of the time”, said Biteback. “The final days of Mrs Thatcher’s prime ministership saw some of the most remarkable events in British political history, and Ingham was, for once, helpless to steer events. These diaries will come to be viewed as arguably amongst the most important primary source material about her unexpected fall from power.”

The 4th May sees the 40th anniversary of Thatcher becoming prime minister with Sir Bernard playing a prominent part in planned TV and radio documentary coverage, and events to mark her time in power running through the summer months.

Sir Bernard's previous works include 2003's The Wages of Spin (John Murray) and Kill the Messenger (HarperCollins), published in 1991.