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After Margaret: Thatcher: the Downing Street Years: Best of Enemies

on BBC One London

The enmity between Margaret Thatcher and Michael Heseltine is at the heart of the second part of this major profile of the ex-Prime Minister.
In her second term in office after victory in 1983, Mrs Thatcher's position seemed impregnable. Her conduct of the Falklands War was popular, she had trounced Arthur Scargill and the striking miners In 1984/5, and had survived the bombing by the IRA of the Grand Hotel at Brighton. But defence secretary Mr Heseltine's handling of the Westland affair nearly led to a general election and the threat of defeat. "Over-poweringly ambitiousand self-centred," is how she describes Mr Heseltine.
Ill-feeling between the two was to break out again dramatically in 1990, when Heseltine led the challenge to Thatcher's leadership of the party which preceded her overthrow.
Cabinet secretary Robert Armstrong and ex-chancellor Nigel Lawson are among those contributing their views on this tempestuous relationship.
"People were very ready to give us their opinions on Mrs Thatcher," says series producer Hugh Scully. "When it became clear that she was going to talk openly about her years in power, many of her colleagues realised that this was going to be a historical document and wanted their voices to be heard."

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Contributors

Unknown:
Margaret Thatcher
Unknown:
Michael Heseltine
Unknown:
Arthur Scargill
Unknown:
Robert Armstrong
Unknown:
Nigel Lawson
Executive Producer:
Hugh Scully.
Executive Producer:
Samir Shah
Series Producer:
Denys Blakeway

BBC One London

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