Just before 3am on 12th October, 1984, a 100lb bomb planted by the IRA in the Grand Hotel, Brighton blew up in an attempt to kill Mrs Thatcher and other members of the Cabinet, who had been staying there during the annual Conservative Party Conference. Despite the collapse of a central section of eight floors into the basement, causing many casualties, the hotel remained standing. Mrs Thatcher insisted that the conference continue to open on schedule at 9.30am, and later that morning, made her address:
“Mr. President, My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen,
The bomb attack on the Grand Hotel early this morning was first and foremost an inhuman, undiscriminating attempt to massacre innocent unsuspecting men and women staying in Brighton for our Conservative Conference. Our first thoughts must at once be for those who died and for those who are now in hospital recovering from their injuries. But the bomb attack clearly signified more than this. It was an attempt not only to disrupt and terminate our Conference; It was an attempt to cripple Her Majesty's democratically-elected Government. That is the scale of the outrage in which we have all shared, and the fact that we are gathered here now—shocked, but composed and determined—is a sign not only that this attack has failed, but that all attempts to destroy democracy by terrorism will fail. “
|
