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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Westland
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(1986)
The most public cabinet row during the Thatcher administration. The subject was the financially insecure Westland helicopter company, based in Yeovil in Somerset. Michael Heseltine, the secretary of state for defence, favoured a rescue bid by a European consortium; Leon Brittan, secretary of state for trade and industry, agreed with the Westland directors in preferring a deal with a US firm, Sikorski. In January 1986 Heseltine caused a sensation by resigning in the middle of a cabinet meeting, when Mrs *Thatcher insisted that ministerial statements on the issue should be approved by the Cabinet Office. Subsequently a letter from the solicitor general, critical of Heseltine, was leaked.
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By the end of January Brittan had also resigned, admitting that he had approved the leak. The Opposition argued that it must have been authorized at a higher level, by the prime minister; but she stated that she had not been informed, though her press secretary had known the details. The deal with Sikorski went through; and nearly five years later Heseltine challenged for the leadership of the Conservative party, starting a process which brought Mrs Thatcher's premiership to an end.
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