Gang of 25

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Thatcher in 1981

The Gang of 25 or the Group of 25

Autumn Statement. The statement contained monetarist
measures to control inflation. Similar measures introduced since 1979 had reduced inflation but caused job losses in the manufacturing sector.

The majority of the Gang put their names to a 25 November letter to Thatcher's Chief Whip, Michael Jopling, that stated they would vote against any deflationary economic measures. A potential revolt by the Gang, plus twenty others suspected by Jopling, could negate the Conservatives' 45-seat majority and lead to the government being defeated in the House of Commons. The move came at a low point for Thatcher, following the Brixton and Toxteth riots and when the new SDP–Liberal Alliance was polling strongly. There were concerns that Stephen Dorrell would defect to the SDP, to join Christopher Brocklebank-Fowler, who had defected in March. A conciliatory approach was adopted, with meetings arranged between Gang members and senior government figures. Thatcher's Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS), Ian Gow, took over the response to the crisis, and he considered that Jopling was overstating the risk of a significant rebellion. The vote on the Autumn Statement passed on 8 December, with none of the Gang voting against the government, though 12 were among 14 Conservative MPs who abstained on the motion.

Background

Thatcher, leader of the

rate of interest.[3]: 142  This was increased from 12% at the 1979 election to 17% by the end of the year.[5]

Interest rates were lowered to 12% by early 1981 as the high rate had increased the value of

government subsidies, led to the collapse of many manufacturing companies and an increase in unemployment.[2]

Threat from the SDP

By mid-1981, Thatcher's leadership was in her "darkest hour"; her popularity plunged after the

minority party, achieving just 16% of the vote (compared to the SDP–Liberal 40%) which would be their worst election performance for 100 years.[6][8] The Conservative leadership feared the party was close to splitting.[8]

Thatcher carried out a

wets, the left-leaning Conservatives who tended to disagree with her economic policies.[8] The party was shaken by SDP–Liberal by-election victories in the formerly Conservative-held seats of Croydon (22 October) and Crosby (26 November). The SDP at this time was actively courting Conservative MPs to join their party to demonstrate their centrist appeal.[8]

Gang of 25

Gang of 25 letter to Chief Whip
Collective protest against govt economic policy
21 names
Signatures in the order they appeared on the letter
image icon 25 November letter (released 2012)[1]

On 25 November, Thatcher's

Autumn Statement was to "deflate aggregate demand in the economy". The letter was typed on one side of paper, headed with the House of Commons logo. The text is just two sentences long, and the remainder of the page is taken up by the handwritten signatures of the MPs.[1]

The letter came when Thatcher's economic policies did not show results, with factories closing, unemployment increasing, and inflation increasing.

Ian Gilmour, a "wet" who had lost his position as Lord Privy Seal and Commons foreign affairs spokesman in the September reshuffle, and another was Keith Speed, a former navy minister who Thatcher had sacked in May for objecting to defence cuts.[9][10]

There were particular concerns that Stephen Dorrell was on the verge of defecting to the SDP, but Jopling managed to extract an assurance from him that he would not do so. During a period described as "brutal in-fighting", the leadership adopted a conciliatory approach, inviting Dorrell, Patten and Tristan Garel-Jones to drinks with Thatcher in the House of Commons.[6] Garel-Jones was not a member of the Gang of 25 but was a "wet" who held pro-European views; he had voted against the government in his 1979 maiden speech.[11] The measures had little effect and, on 4 December, Jopling wrote to Thatcher warning her that up to 20 other MPs were considering abstaining on a key vote on the Autumn Statement. He stated, "We have got far more dissidents than I expected, and some are very unhappy indeed … We are facing a very serious situation which we must discuss".[6] The Conservative majority in the House was only 45, so this number of rebels would be problematic to the government.[8]

Thatcher's PPS, Ian Gow, took charge of the situation and arranged for each of the potential dissidents to meet with Howe and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Leon Brittan. Gow considered that Jopling was overstating the potential for a rebellion; he wrote to Thatcher that Jopling, "though an outstanding chief whip, does not share our conviction. Like the original 25, he, in his heart, favours reflation and foresees the deepest difficulty for our party if the budget is not reflationary. I take the opposite view. In my opinion, the gravest danger for our country is if we follow our predecessors, and lose our nerve".[6]

The critical vote on the Autumn Statement came on 8 December. None of the Gang of 25 voted against the government though 14 Conservative MPs abstained, including 12 of the Gang.[6][12] The government won the vote by 307 votes to 265, and it, and the party, survived. At the end of the year, Gow wrote an emotional letter to Thatcher reassuring her that the views of the Gang of 25 did not reflect those of the party or the nation as a whole. He called her a "giant amongst pygmies" but cautioned that "[w]hether that iron resolve will be sufficient, we do not know".[6][8]

Later events

Thatcher's interest rate policy was successful in reducing inflation; the inflation rate (as measured by

Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands and the British victory in the subsequent Falklands War (which ended in June).[6] She won an increased majority of 144 at the 1983 general election.[2]

By the end of her first term, Thatcher's government had inflation stabilised; the CPI rate remained between 3% and 6% until the end of

European Community and the failed implementation of the "poll tax" led to splits in the party and her resignation.[2]

Jopling remained Chief Whip until June 1983 when he was appointed Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.[13] Gow later rose to Minister of State for Housing in Thatcher's cabinet before he was murdered by the IRA in 1990, following his opposition to the Anglo-Irish Agreement.[8] Thatcher recognised that Garel-Jones did not support her politics but appointed him a whip in 1982; he held the position for eight years and became highly respected by both sides of the House.[11] Despite their dissent some of the Gang were later appointed to government positions by Thatcher. Dorrell became an assistant whip in 1987, a full whip the following year and a junior health minister in 1990.[14] Needham was appointed a junior Northern Ireland minister in 1985, holding the position beyond the end of Thatcher's premiership.[15] Patten was appointed a junior Northern Ireland minister in 1983 and held a string of ministerial positions, reaching the cabinet in 1989 with appointment as Secretary of State for the Environment.[16] In 1990, Thatcher arranged for Robert McCrindle to receive a knighthood for his service to the Conservative Party, even though he continued to be outspoken against some of her economic and social policies.[17]

Gang of 25 member

deselected ahead of the 1992 general election and in 2001 left the party to join the Liberal Democrats (the party formed in 1988 from the merger of the SDP and Liberal Party).[18][19] Meyer joined fellow Gang member Hugh Dykes, who had defected to the Liberal Democrats in 1997.[20] Dorrell also joined the party in 2019, having briefly been a Change UK member.[21]

Despite significant fears at the time of its formation, the Gang of 25 is now less well remembered as a Conservative faction than the wets and the young, left-wing "blue chips".[6] The 25 November letter from the Gang was given to the Churchill Archives Centre, which holds a collection of Thatcher archives, in 2012.[1]

Members

Member list as recorded by the Margaret Thatcher Foundation (members marked with an asterisk did not sign the letter of 25 November);[1] voting record from Hansard.[12]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Conservative Party: "Gang of 25" letter to Chief Whip". Margaret Thatcher Foundation. 25 November 1981. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d Margaret Thatcher at the Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-0-470-85516-4
    .
  4. ^ a b "Historic inflation Great Britain – historic CPI inflation Great Britain". www.inflation.eu. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  5. ^ a b "Bank Rate history and data". Bank of England Database. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Travis, Alan (17 March 2012). "Margaret Thatcher papers reveal how close Tories came to a split in 1981". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  7. ^ "Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation (1981)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons. 16 March 1981. col. 43.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Berg, Sanchia (17 March 2012). "Archived papers reveal Thatcher secrets". BBC News. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  9. ^ Travis, Alan (30 December 2011). "Thatcher battled cabinet 'wets' over Howe austerity plans". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  10. ^ "Sir Keith Speed". The Times. 19 February 2018. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  11. ^ a b Langdon, Julia (30 March 2020). "Lord Garel-Jones obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  12. ^ a b "Public Expenditure Proposals 1982 83 (1981)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons. 8 December 1981.
  13. ^ "Parliamentary career for Lord Jopling". MPs and Lords. UK Parliament. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  14. ^ "Parliamentary career for Mr Stephen Dorrell". MPs and Lords. UK Parliament. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  15. ^ "Parliamentary career for Sir Richard Needham". MPs and Lords. UK Parliament. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  16. ^ "Parliamentary career for Lord Patten of Barnes". MPs and Lords. UK Parliament. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  17. ^ Brown, Colin (22 October 2011). "Obituary: Sir Robert McCrindle". The Independent. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  18. ^ Perkins, Anne (5 June 2001). "Former Tory minister joins Labour". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  19. ^ Cornock, David (16 April 2013). "Margaret Thatcher and the north Wales stalking horse". BBC News. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  20. ^ "Dykes defects to Lib Dems". HeraldScotland. 15 September 1997. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  21. ^ Woodcock, Andrew (4 January 2021). "Former top Tory tells Starmer: Build Progressive Alliance to reform politics". The Independent. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
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