Please see my latest wire as Brexit diarist for The New York Sun, ‘Ghosts of the Thatcher Coup’:
As rumors swirl about challenges to Theresa May, the British press has been dogging a politician with first-hand experience in the art of ousting a sitting prime minister — Michael Heseltine. He infamously defenestrated Margaret Thatcher. Will it be déjà vu all over again, this time with Boris Johnson as the leading conspirator against the lady in power?Lord Heseltine challenged Mrs. Thatcher in November 1990, arguing that the Iron Lady was no longer “fit for purpose.” There’s some irony that the row was ignited by the desire of some of the Conservatives to join the European Exchange Rate Mechanism. Mrs. Thatcher objected. I wouldn’t want to press the point too far, but that beef was an early seed of Brexit.
While successful in the overthrow, Lord Heseltine himself failed to emerge in the top spot. Those who “do in” their leaders rarely do. Yet he remains active in Conservative politics, both as a life peer and a prominent opponent of Brexit. He’s making the most of the efforts by the press to cast him as a wise man.
Asked about the career prospects of Mrs. May’s potential challenger, Lord Heseltine agrees that BoJo is adept at “playing the game of becoming leader of the Conservative party.” As to the larger issues of uniting the party and the nation toward finalizing Brexit, these are, Lord Heseltine harrumphs, “key questions about achieving power and my doubts and reservations are very substantial.”
My thanks to editor Seth Lipsky of The New York Sun.
DMI wishes its American friends a happy ‘Constitution Day’!
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