Commissioned by the Cabinet Office and using hitherto untapped British Government records, this book presents an in-depth analysis of the successful project of 1986-94. This is a vivid portrayal of the complexities of quadripartite decision-making (two countries, plus the public and private sectors), revealing new insights into the role of the British and French Governments in the process. This important book, written by Britain’s leading transport historian, will be essential reading for all those interested in PPPs, British and European economic history and international relations. The building of the Channel Tunnel has been one of Europe’s major projects and a testimony to British-French and public-private sector collaboration. However, Eurotunnel’s current financial crisis provides a sobering backcloth for an examination of the British Government’s long-term flirtation with the project, and, in particular, the earlier Tunnel project in the 1960s and early 1970s, which was abandoned by the British Government in 1975.
This volume describes the events from 1963 up until the British entry into the Common Market in 1975. It will be of interest to students of British political history, European Union politics, diplomatic history and international relations in general.
"One of the masterpieces of British political history” (The New York Times) boasts unprecedented access to Thatcher colleagues, friends, family, and all her government and private papers, and offers a groudbreaking and essential portrait of a titanic figure, with all her capabilities and flaw, during the years of her greatest power. In June 1983 Margaret Thatcher won the biggest increase in a government’s parliamentary majority in British electoral history and proceeded to transform relations with Europe, prioritize British industry, and reinvigorate the economy. For the only time since Churchill, Britain had a central place in dealings between the superpowers. But even at her zenith, Thatcher was best by difficulties. She regularly faced calls for resignation, grew isolated in her own government, butted heads with the Queen, bullied her senior colleagues, and was deceived by her closest ally, Ronald Reagan, during the U.S. invasion of Grenada. Thatcher storms from these pages as from no other book.
In June 1983 Margaret Thatcher won the biggest increase in a government's Parliamentary majority in British electoral history. Over the next four years, as Charles Moore relates in this central volume of his uniquely authoritative biography, Britain's first woman prime minister changed the course of her country's history and that of the world, often by sheer force of will. The book reveals as never before how she faced down the Miners' Strike, transformed relations with Europe, privatized the commanding heights of British industry and continued the reinvigoration of the British economy. It describes her role on the world stage with dramatic immediacy, identifying Mikhail Gorbachev as 'a man to do business with' before he became leader of the Soviet Union, and then persistently pushing him and Ronald Reagan, her great ideological soulmate, to order world affairs according to her vision. For the only time since Churchill, she ensured that Britain had a central place in dealings between the superpowers. But even at her zenith she was beset by difficulties. The beloved Reagan two-timed her during the US invasion of Grenada. She lost the minister to whom she was personally closest to scandal and almost had to resign as a result of the Westland affair. She found herself isolated within her own government over Europe. She was at odds with the Queen over the Commonwealth and South Africa. She bullied senior colleagues and she set in motion the poll tax. Both these last would later return to wound her, fatally. In all this, Charles Moore has had unprecedented access to all Mrs Thatcher's private and government papers. The participants in the events described have been so frank in interview that we feel we are eavesdropping on their conversations as they pass. We look over Mrs Thatcher's shoulder as she vigorously annotates documents, so seeing her views on many particular issues in detail, and we understand for the first time how closely she relied on a handful of trusted advisors to help shape her views and carry out her will. We see her as a public performer, an often anxious mother, a workaholic and the first woman in western democratic history who truly came to dominate her country in her time. In the early hours of 12 October 1984, during the Conservative party conference in Brighton, the IRA attempted to assassinate her. She carried on within hours to give her leader's speech at the conference (and later went on to sign the Anglo-Irish agreement). One of her many left-wing critics, watching her that day, said 'I don't approve of her as Prime Minister, but by God she's a great tank commander.' This titanic figure, with all her capacities and all her flaws, storms from these pages as from no other book.
This is Volume II of Professor Parker's authoritative Official History of Privatisation, covering the period from the re-election of Margaret Thatcher in 1987 to the election of Tony Blair in 1997. Volume II considers in detail several of the major privatisations, including those of airports, steel, water, electricity, coal and the railways, as well as a number of smaller ones. Each privatisation involved major challenges in terms of industrial restructuring, organising successful sales and, in a number of cases, establishing effective regulatory regimes. The policy evolved and new methods of selling and regulating were put in place that enabled further disposals to occur. Monolithic nationalised industries with their emphasis on the benefits of economies of scale, vertical integration and rationalisation, were replaced by industrial structures rooted in the importance of commercial management, risk taking and competition. In government departments and parts of the National Health Service, direct employees were replaced by private contractors, and private investment became a characteristic of public infrastructure in the form of PFI/PPP schemes. This study draws heavily on the official records of the British government, to which the author was given full access and on interviews with the leading figures involved in each of the privatisations, including ex-ministers, civil servants, business and City figures, as well as academics that have studied the subject. This book will of great interest to students of privatisation, British political history and of business and economics in general.
Volume One of the Official History of the Joint Intelligence Committee draws upon a range of released and classified papers to produce the first, authoritative account of the way in which intelligence was used to inform policy. For almost 80 years the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) has been a central player in the secret machinery of the British Government, providing a co-ordinated intelligence service to policy makers, drawing upon the work of the intelligence agencies and Whitehall departments. Since its creation, reports from the JIC have contributed to almost every key foreign policy decision taken by the British Government. This volume covers the evolution of the JIC since 1936 and culminates with its role in the events of Suez in 1956. This book will be of much interest to students of intelligence studies, British politics, international diplomacy, security studies and International Relations in general. Dr Michael S. Goodman is Reader in Intelligence and International Affairs in the Department of War Studies, King’s College London. He is author or editor of five previous books, including the Routledge Companion to Intelligence Studies (2013).
Written by the leading expert in the history of UK energy, this study provides new, in-depth analysis of the development of UK petroleum policies towards the North Sea oil and gas industry from the early 1960s to the early 1980s. Following on from volume I (The Growing Dominance of the State) to discuss the more recent history of the North Sea oil and gas industry, here Alex Kemp offers new insights into developments in the industry. The controversial decisions to raise gas prices to consumers and to introduce the Gas Levy are discussed, while the thinking behind the gradual reduction in taxation - including the abolition of SPD (Supplementary Petroleum Duty) and the removal of royalties on new developments - is fully explained. The various options considered to reduce the powers of BNOC (British National Oil Corporation), then privatise its upstream assets, and finally to abolish the state company altogether are fully discussed, as is the thinking leading up to the privatisation of the British Gas Corporation in 1986. This volume also sheds light on the development of policies onshore, particularly the role of the OSO (Offshore Supplies Office), and the response of British industry to the North Sea opportunity. Finally, the evolution of policies relating to health, safety, decommissioning, and the environment over the whole period of the study are examined. The Official History of North Sea Oil and Gas will be of interest to students of North Sea oil and gas, energy economics, business history, and British politics, as well as to petroleum professionals and policymakers.
This first volume of the Official History of the UK Civil Service covers its evolution from the Northcote-Trevelyan Report of 1854 to the first years of Mrs Thatcher’s government in 1981. Despite current concerns with good governance and policy delivery, little serious attention has been paid to the institution vital to both: the Civil Service. This Official History is designed to remedy this by placing present problems in historical context and by providing a helpful structure in which others, and particularly former officials, may contribute to the debate. Starting with the seminal 1854 Northcote-Trevelyan Report, it covers the ‘lost opportunity’ of the 1940s when the Service failed to adapt the needs of ‘big government’ as advocated by Beveridge and Keynes. It then examines, in greater detail, the belated attempts at modernisation in the 1960s, the Service’s vilification in the 1970s and the final destruction of the ‘old order’ during the first years of Mrs Thatcher’s government. Particular light is shed on the origins of such current concerns as the role of special advisers the need for a Prime Minister’s Department the evolution of Parliamentary Select Committees to resolve the potential tension between bureaucracy and Parliamentary democracy. This Official History is based on extensive research into both recently released and unreleased papers as well as interviews with leading participants. It has important lessons to offer all those, both inside and outside the UK, seeking to improve the quality of democratic government. This book will be of great interest to all students of British history, British government and politics, and of public administration in general.
