{"id":145548,"date":"2026-05-10T13:01:50","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T12:01:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.politics.co.uk\/?p=145548"},"modified":"2026-05-11T15:11:31","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T14:11:31","slug":"the-stalking-horse-returns-what-thatchers-1989-challenge-tells-us-about-starmers-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politics.co.uk\/news-feature\/2026\/05\/10\/the-stalking-horse-returns-what-thatchers-1989-challenge-tells-us-about-starmers-test\/","title":{"rendered":"The stalking horse returns: what Thatcher\u2019s 1989 challenge tells us about Starmer\u2019s test"},"content":{"rendered":"

A prime minister under not inconsiderable political pressure faces a leadership challenge from an obscure backbench MP posing as a proxy for more prominent pretenders.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These words accurately describe the political landscape Keir Starmer, Britain\u2019s incumbent embattled premier, faces after Catherine West announced her plan to launch a leadership bid. West\u2019s plan, hastily organised in the wake of this week\u2019s local elections, is designed to smoke out prospective challengers better placed to take on Starmer in a full contest. More specifically, West\u2019s scheme is aimed at engineering a contest among those candidates who currently serve as members of parliament \u2013 thereby excluding Andy Burnham, the mayor of greater Manchester.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In any case, Starmer is not the first prime minister to face such a manoeuvre from a self-styled \u201cstalking horse\u201d candidate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On 22 November 1989, Sir Anthony Meyer, a backbench critic of Margaret Thatcher\u2019s premiership, launched a bid to oust the prime minister.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Meyer was also a reluctant candidate, standing in the place of far more senior Thatcher-critics such as Michael Heseltine. He acknowledged that he had no chance of winning, but believed a contest \u2013 initiated by a stalking horse candidate \u2013 was necessary to test the party’s confidence in its leader.<\/p>\n

Conservative discontent with Thatcher\u2019s leadership had been simmering since at least the Westland affair (1986), which featured the resignation of Heseltine as defence secretary. By late 1989, the government was suffering from the intense unpopularity of the community charge, known universally as the \u201cpoll tax\u201d, and internal spits over its policy on European integration.<\/p>\n

The Conservatives lost 13 seats in the July 1989 European Parliament election \u2013 the party\u2019s first national election defeat since October 1974. The campaign was conducted in the shadow of Thatcher\u2019s famous Bruges speech (September 1988) \u2013 a trenchant, and divisive, statement of her euroscepticism.<\/p>\n

The European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM), an economic stability measure, emerged as a flashpoint in 1989.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Geoffrey Howe and Nigel Lawson reportedly threatened to resign as foreign secretary and chancellor respectively if Thatcher failed to oversee Britain\u2019s entry into the ERM. Thatcher responded with a reshuffle in July 1989, replacing Howe as foreign secretary with John Major. Howe was made leader of the commons, a post embellished with the title of deputy prime minister. Lawson then resigned in October 1989 following a dispute over the influence of Thatcher’s economic adviser, Sir Alan Walters. Walters opposed Britain\u2019s entry into the ERM.<\/p>\n

Under the Conservative Party\u2019s leadership procedures at the time, Thatcher was subject to annual re-elections. But she had been returned to her post unopposed since 1975.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

1989 was different.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Meyer, a 69-year-old europhile backbencher, put himself forward as a candidate, triggering the first Tory leadership election since Thatcher toppled Edward Heath in 1975.<\/p>\n

Meyer was a long-standing critic of Thatcher\u2019s leadership.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In November 1981, Meyer was among the Conservative \u201cgang of 25\u201d who signed a letter threatening to vote against the government\u2019s latest round of monetarist measures delivered at the autumn statement. In the wake of the Westland affair, he argued<\/a> that the time had come \u201cwhen we should be thinking in terms of choosing another leader\u201d.<\/p>\n

The short 1989 Conservative leadership election featured an intervention from Heath, Thatcher\u2019s predecessor as Conservative leader. The europhile former prime minister described<\/a> Thatcher as a \u201cnarrow little nationalist\u2026 unable to move with the movement of history in creating the greater Europe\u201d.<\/p>\n

Meyer, meanwhile, was derided by the tabloid press as \u201cSir Anthony Whats\u2019isname\u201d and a \u201cstalking donkey\u201d. In an open letter to Conservative MPs, he wrote: \u201cOn Europe above all, the prime minister stands apart not only from many of her own cabinet.\u201d<\/p>\n

One opinion poll, published shortly before voting began in the contest, found two-thirds of voters were unsatisfied with Thatcher\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n

On the day of the election, 5 December, Thatcher attended the commons for prime minister\u2019s questions.<\/p>\n

Labour MP Alice Mahon\u00a0asked<\/a>: \u201cSince this might be the last time that the prime minister answers questions at the dispatch box\u2026 will she tell us her proudest achievement?<\/p>\n

\u201cIs it the number of homeless? Is it the deeply unpopular poll tax or is it the image of a government who resort to seedy bribes to get their privatisation programme through?\u201d<\/p>\n

Thatcher responded: \u201cMy proudest achievements have been bringing Britain from the decline of socialism to the prosperity of Conservatism.\u201d<\/p>\n

The prime minister survived Meyer\u2019s challenge, of course. She secured a seemingly decisive victory with 314 votes to Meyer’s 33. But the result exposed<\/a> significant discontent within her party. A total of 60 MPs \u2013 one in six \u2013 failed to support her, either by voting for Meyer, spoiling their ballots (24), or abstaining (3).<\/p>\n

Thatcher, however, hailed<\/a> her victory as \u201csplendid\u201d in a statement outside No 10.<\/p>\n

She said<\/a>: \u201cI would like to say how very pleased I am with this result and how very pleased I am to have had the overwhelming support of my colleagues in the House and the people from the party in the country.<\/p>\n

Kenneth Baker, the Conservative chairman, said: \u201cWhat the Conservative Party has decided today is that they want to be led into the 1990s and the next election by Margaret Thatcher.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added<\/a>: \u201cThe leadership question is now settled.\u201d<\/p>\n

George Younger, Thatcher\u2019s campaign manager, stated: \u201cIt is a marvellous result; 85% of MPs voted for her. It will strengthen her authority for some time to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Norman Tebbitt, the former Conservative chairman, said<\/a> the result was \u201cvery close to an absolute triumph\u201d.<\/p>\n

Privately, however, Thatcher\u2019s team was alarmed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Younger warned<\/a> that many MPs had voted for her with \u201cvarying degrees of reluctance\u201d. He classified 50 MPs as \u201creluctant supporters\u201d, who could in time make Thatcher\u2019s position vulnerable.<\/p>\n

In a memo, Younger said: \u201cThe result is not as good as the figures. Many voted with varying degrees of reluctance for the prime minister. They cannot all be relied upon another time.\u201d<\/p>\n

He predicted future danger, noting: \u201cAs there are likely to be economic and polls difficulties in a year’s time, another challenge is not improbable.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cIt is felt that there are personality tensions within cabinet and that these must be resolved if confidence is to be restored. In particular, Geoffrey Howe must be seen and treated as the PM’s right-hand man.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of Thatcher\u2019s whips, Tristan Garel-Jones, put it more bluntly when he said<\/a>: \u201cWe are talking about the beginning of the end of the Thatcher era.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cWe have to try and ensure that that is managed in a way that enables her to go to the end of her prime ministership with dignity and honour. The most we can achieve is that she wins the next election.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that is possible, but not certain.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 1989 campaign therefore shattered any lingering sense of Thatcher\u2019s political invulnerability. Heseltine was reported to be one of the three MPs who abstained. Heath hinted<\/a> that he had voted for Meyer.<\/p>\n

Meyer was pleased with his showing, saying<\/a> he received \u201cmore votes than I expected to get.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cI think what I have done is think the unthinkable as it were, raise the very question of the leadership at a time when others weren’t willing to discuss it.<\/p>\n

Meyer maintained that the contest was \u201cworth it because it’s raised the whole question of whether Mrs Thatcher’s policies and Mrs Thatcher’s style of leadership are the ones which are most likely to win the next election for the Conservative Party and the ones most suited to British needs at this critical junction in the history of Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n

In January 1990, Meyer was deselected by his constituency party in Clwyd North West.<\/p>\n

In the year that followed Meyer\u2019s challenge, the issues that inspired his candidacy intensified.<\/p>\n

On 1 November 1990, Geoffrey Howe \u2013 the last remaining member of Thatcher\u2019s 1979 cabinet \u2013 stood down as deputy prime minister. He cited fundamental disagreements with Thatcher’s stance on European integration. It came after Thatcher issued her most strident denunciation of European integration to date with her famous \u201cNo. No. No.\u201d declaration on 30 October 1990.<\/p>\n

Howe\u2019s famous resignation speech spurred Heseltine to launch a formal leadership challenge the following day, 14 November. He won just enough of the vote on the first ballot to force Thatcher\u2019s resignation.<\/p>\n

Meyer went on to join the Pro-Euro Conservative Party (1998-2001) and then the Liberal Democrats from 2001.<\/p>\n

Meyer died on 24 December 2004, aged 84.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A prime minister under not inconsiderable political pressure faces a leadership challenge from an obscure backbench MP posing as a proxy for more prominent pretenders.\u00a0 These words accurately describe the political landscape Keir Starmer, Britain\u2019s incumbent embattled premier, faces after Catherine West announced her plan to launch a leadership bid. West\u2019s plan, hastily organised in… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":183,"featured_media":142698,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6511],"tags":[6160,5946,770],"editors-picks":[],"maps":[],"class_list":["post-145548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-feature","tag-catherine-west","tag-keir-starmer-2","tag-margaret-thatcher"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe stalking horse returns: what Thatcher\u2019s 1989 challenge tells us about Starmer\u2019s test - Politics.co.uk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.politics.co.uk\/news-feature\/2026\/05\/10\/the-stalking-horse-returns-what-thatchers-1989-challenge-tells-us-about-starmers-test\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The stalking horse returns: what Thatcher\u2019s 1989 challenge tells us about Starmer\u2019s test - Politics.co.uk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A prime minister under not inconsiderable political pressure faces a leadership challenge from an obscure backbench MP posing as a proxy for more prominent pretenders.\u00a0 These words accurately describe the political landscape Keir Starmer, Britain\u2019s incumbent embattled premier, faces after Catherine West announced her plan to launch a leadership bid. West\u2019s plan, hastily organised in... 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