:00:42. > :00:48.Margaret Thatcher was a deeply divisive figure. The very funeral
:00:48. > :00:56.prompted controversy with a towel over its cost and the suspension of
:00:56. > :01:06.Parliament to allow MPs and peers to attend. And in Republican areas of
:01:06. > :01:07.
:01:07. > :01:13.Northern Ireland, the unbridled hatred was obvious. Maggie's dead.
:01:13. > :01:19.Her death conjured up feelings from more than three decades ago.
:01:19. > :01:27.Republicans blame an uncompromising Margaret Thatcher for the deaths of
:01:27. > :01:35.ten prisoners on hunger strike. For them, she was and is a figure of
:01:35. > :01:43.hate. I viewed Margaret Thatcher as a detestable character. Her whole
:01:43. > :01:52.persona and Outlook towards the hunger strikers. Unionists turned on
:01:52. > :01:58.her too. Burning her effigy in response to an agreement which gave
:01:58. > :02:08.Dublin a role in Northern Ireland's affairs. The unionist people of
:02:08. > :02:10.
:02:10. > :02:20.northern Ireland, felt totally betrayed by Margaret Thatcher.
:02:20. > :02:22.
:02:22. > :02:29.hand this woman, Margaret Thatcher, over to the devil. Oh God, take
:02:29. > :02:37.action upon this wicked creature. Over the years many have reconcile
:02:38. > :02:43.their differences for the four Unionists, it was something that
:02:43. > :02:49.goes to the core of the identity of who they are. Despite the
:02:49. > :02:52.Anglo-Irish Agreement, Margaret Thatcher was a leader Unionists
:02:52. > :03:02.could identify with, proudly British and not afraid to stand up for her
:03:02. > :03:03.
:03:03. > :03:08.country. So why does she so bitterly divide opinion today? Delving into
:03:08. > :03:18.her rarely seen private papers, we uncover fresh insights into the
:03:18. > :03:21.
:03:21. > :03:29.so-called iron Lady. Now that she is dead, what is her legacy in Northern
:03:29. > :03:39.Ireland? Nobody knew about the explosion. Margaret Thatcher on the
:03:39. > :03:43.
:03:43. > :03:46.campaign trail in 1979. She was informed about a bomb attack. A rare
:03:46. > :03:51.glimpse of Margaret Thatcher and guarded and shaken. This was the
:03:51. > :03:58.moment when the turbulent and bloody relationship between Margaret
:03:58. > :04:02.Thatcher and Northern Ireland began. The INLA bomb had killed her
:04:02. > :04:08.political friend and adviser Airey Neave. A British war hero who
:04:08. > :04:14.masterminded her rise to the top. Those of us who believe in the
:04:14. > :04:19.things Airey Neave fought for will see however use argument that
:04:19. > :04:27.continue to live on in this country. His murder would hang
:04:28. > :04:30.darkly over the next 11 years of her time in office. Cambridge, it is to
:04:30. > :04:36.this university that Margaret Thatcher bequeathed her personal
:04:36. > :04:41.archive. I have been invited in to see for myself this extraordinary
:04:41. > :04:47.collection. Now revealing the secrets of some of the most
:04:47. > :04:54.controversial moment of our recent history. Andrew Daly is the man who
:04:54. > :05:01.looks after the Thatcher papers. first thing is just the huge scale
:05:01. > :05:05.of paperwork, a huge archive of well over 1 million individual documents.
:05:05. > :05:10.By faith alone it would have a huge importance. The elements of her
:05:10. > :05:17.annotation and the element of things that were private of her rated as
:05:17. > :05:22.highly as any collection in the UK. Inside this collection are official
:05:22. > :05:28.government notes and letters. More of which are released each year. Bit
:05:28. > :05:32.by bit this political and historical treasure is revealing more about the
:05:32. > :05:40.real Mrs Thatcher. Including fresh insights on her thinking of Northern
:05:40. > :05:49.Ireland. And especially striking what the continuing influence of the
:05:49. > :05:56.Airey Neave, long after his murder. Writing to Jim Callaghan just days
:05:56. > :05:59.after the death of Airey Neave, she vowed that the murder would not
:05:59. > :06:05.change her party 's stance on Northern Ireland vote up she also
:06:05. > :06:07.revealed that Airey Neave completed the Eilish section of the
:06:07. > :06:17.Conservative manifesto hours before his death and she was sticking to
:06:17. > :06:27.it. Mrs Thatcher 's papers are littered with reference to Airey
:06:27. > :06:30.
:06:30. > :06:36.Neave. It is clear what his views -- the effect his views had on her.
:06:36. > :06:39.This is a personal letter to Margaret Thatcher in April 1979
:06:39. > :06:46.expressing sympathy upon the death of Airey Neave. What is interesting
:06:46. > :06:50.is that it says at a time before either had been made prime minister
:06:50. > :06:55.that he hopes no British government will either have any truck with
:06:55. > :07:00.these people as has happened in the past. He is urging Mrs Thatcher not
:07:00. > :07:05.to talk to terrorists. We brought a copy of this letter and other papers
:07:05. > :07:08.from the archive back to Belfast. The letter is considered highly
:07:08. > :07:14.significant because it appears to mark the beginning of a hugely
:07:14. > :07:23.important personal relationship between her and Fitzgerald. It would
:07:23. > :07:27.have a later impact an Anglo-Irish relations. I think it is one of the
:07:27. > :07:33.most insightful letters we have come across dealing with this whole
:07:33. > :07:42.period of Thatcher and Ireland. Here he has put into Thatcher the prime
:07:42. > :07:46.minister designate. She will have to help someone like him who will no
:07:46. > :07:54.doubt become a display minister in the future to solve this problem.
:07:54. > :07:59.While Mrs Thatcher 's private views were open to some, in Northern
:07:59. > :08:03.Ireland itself, people waited to find out what her approach would be.
:08:03. > :08:06.At that time there was a sense of excitement. People were still
:08:07. > :08:12.looking at it with some sense of curiosity for that I do not think
:08:13. > :08:20.anybody fully realise the extent to which she was expressing the very
:08:20. > :08:28.right-wing views of her party in many instances. Her Majesty the
:08:28. > :08:34.Queen has asked me to form the new administration. At that time we
:08:34. > :08:40.thought it was time for a strong prime minister. She was determined
:08:40. > :08:47.not to let the IRA win and that was reassuring for Unionists. An early
:08:47. > :08:54.test of this result came in August 1979 when the IRA killed soldiers in
:08:54. > :08:57.County Down. She was furious that the bombers were able to detonate
:08:57. > :09:04.the bomb is from the south of the border with the Army could not
:09:04. > :09:14.pursue them. Within 48 hours, Margaret Thatcher was in Belfast,
:09:14. > :09:19.
:09:19. > :09:29.her first visit as prime minister. Please stand still. Mrs Thatcher's
:09:29. > :09:30.
:09:30. > :09:39.and trenchant no surrender unionism -- UNIX powered by then was it a
:09:39. > :09:47.step unionist. We concede the background influence of the
:09:47. > :09:56.conservative right wing. Ian Gow kept her in touch with these rather
:09:56. > :10:06.anti-Irish views and refusal of cooperation with the Republic of
:10:06. > :10:06.
:10:06. > :10:13.Ireland. Time and time again they tried to put their view to Margaret
:10:13. > :10:21.Thatcher by saying it is what Airey Neave would have done. He is
:10:21. > :10:25.informing the debate. On the day of her funeral, a small celebration was
:10:25. > :10:35.organised in Belfast by local Republicans. Here the former pro
:10:35. > :10:35.
:10:35. > :10:43.minister is reviled. May she roast in hell for what she has done.
:10:43. > :10:48.the gathering is Jared Hodgkins, he was a hunger striker. It is a
:10:48. > :10:53.significant day it marks the final passing of our number one opponent
:10:53. > :11:02.during the hunger strike. It is important to mark the passing of a
:11:02. > :11:09.tyrant. In 1981, Bobby Sands made five demands including the right to
:11:09. > :11:17.wear non-prison uniform. And essentially, to be treated as a
:11:17. > :11:22.political prisoner. Margaret Thatcher refused to negotiate and
:11:22. > :11:28.Bobby Sands and nine others died. Republicans aim -- blame her for the
:11:28. > :11:36.deaths. We will not compromise on this. There will be no political
:11:36. > :11:42.status. But in recent years this image of the unwavering Thatcher has
:11:42. > :11:46.been called into question by the emergence of startling information,
:11:46. > :11:52.proof of a secret back channel between the IRA and the highest
:11:52. > :11:58.levels of government. A means by which the two sides could pass
:11:58. > :12:01.messages, effectively talking to each other. Here is the proof.
:12:01. > :12:06.Documents detailing this secret channel and one government paper
:12:06. > :12:12.apparently willing to consent to three of the hunger striker --
:12:13. > :12:19.hunger strikers demands. But what is most astonishing about it is that it
:12:19. > :12:23.was amended in Margaret Thatcher 's own hand. She had provisos to the
:12:23. > :12:29.British offer. It is evident that she was sitting at the British end
:12:29. > :12:39.of the back channel. In effect secretly in getting with Republicans
:12:39. > :12:49.
:12:49. > :12:55.represented by Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness. This man says the
:12:55. > :13:00.handwritten amendments have real significance. She had built up an
:13:00. > :13:09.international reputation by sticking to her arguments, none more so than
:13:09. > :13:15.not talking to terrorists. Margaret Thatcher has significantly edited
:13:15. > :13:25.some of these documents and Gerry Adams is at the other end up these
:13:25. > :13:29.
:13:29. > :13:33.lines. They refer to private exchanges with the Prime Minister.
:13:33. > :13:37.Some claim that confidential papers show that Mrs Thatcher was more
:13:37. > :13:47.flexible than she portrayed herself. Others believe that there
:13:47. > :13:49.
:13:49. > :13:59.was in intransigence on both sides. I don't think you can say it was
:13:59. > :14:01.
:14:01. > :14:11.either side. I think Mrs Thatcher could have refrained from making it
:14:11. > :14:12.
:14:12. > :14:16.a head-on issue and leaving herself now room to move and I think the
:14:16. > :14:22.Republicans take advantage of that. But I don't think you can blame one
:14:22. > :14:29.side over the other. The political aftermath of the hunger strikes was
:14:29. > :14:35.the rise and rise of Sinn Fein as an electoral force. The man who had to
:14:35. > :14:40.deal with this on behalf of Margaret Thatcher was Jim Prior. Sent to
:14:40. > :14:44.Northern Ireland shortly before the end of the hunger strikes. It had
:14:44. > :14:51.been seven years since there had been any significant attempt at a
:14:51. > :14:57.political resolution. The failed to show work back -- the field
:14:57. > :15:07.power-sharing agreement. That brought them into conflict with
:15:07. > :15:07.
:15:07. > :15:12.Thatcher's hardliners. Enoch Powell said to me, whatever you do do not
:15:12. > :15:16.use the word reconciliation. I said to him, surely reconciliation is
:15:16. > :15:20.what one has to try to aim to achieve in Northern Ireland
:15:20. > :15:26.otherwise there will never be peace. I knew perfectly well what he meant.
:15:26. > :15:33.He meant that reconciliation, in the eyes of the Unionists, meant a
:15:33. > :15:43.greater agree opportunity between the north and the South. West Ham
:15:43. > :15:48.
:15:48. > :15:58.and Ian Gow -- with him and Ian Gow constantly speaking in Margaret
:15:58. > :16:08.
:16:08. > :16:13.notes to the Prime Minister opposing prior's devolution plans. Anyone, he
:16:13. > :16:23.invoked the ghost of Airey Neave in desperation, he wrote, I cannot
:16:23. > :16:29.forget Airey Neave. She did listen to Ian Gow. This was one of the
:16:29. > :16:36.problems. I didn't think he would bring Airey Neave into it as much as
:16:36. > :16:46.he did. I do not think that was very eyes but in other respects one has
:16:46. > :16:46.
:16:46. > :16:55.to respect that he was a very powerful advocate. But this man
:16:55. > :17:05.believes it reflects a major change in policy. I think we can see in
:17:05. > :17:07.
:17:07. > :17:13.something like the cri de coeur of Ian Gow, that is recognising that
:17:13. > :17:22.Northern Ireland is different. She doesn't have any great initiative
:17:22. > :17:32.that Prior's initiative will succeed. Opposed by many Unionists,
:17:32. > :17:38.directed by nationalists, Prior's plan for devolution fizzled out. But
:17:38. > :17:45.Margaret Thatcher's next major step took almost everyone by surprise. In
:17:45. > :17:50.November 1985, Britain and Ireland signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement.
:17:50. > :17:57.The Irish state agreed new cross-border security arrangements
:17:57. > :18:05.to defend against the IRA. And the British gave the Irish a role in
:18:05. > :18:13.some of Northern Ireland 's internal affairs. Ladies and gentlemen, Dr
:18:13. > :18:23.Fitzgerald and I have today signed a solemn agreement. It was the end of
:18:23. > :18:24.
:18:24. > :18:27.three years of intense negotiation and shocked unionism. Some of my
:18:27. > :18:32.children were sitting on the carpet looking at gas and horrified at the
:18:32. > :18:36.television screen and I knew something was wrong. They told me,
:18:37. > :18:42.we have got to get out of Northern Ireland. I ask them what they meant
:18:42. > :18:49.and they said that Mrs Thatcher had been to Hillsborough and she had
:18:49. > :18:59.sold us down the river to Garret FitzGerald in Dublin. Both sides
:18:59. > :19:00.
:19:00. > :19:05.felt what they had agreed, albeit nervously, was historic. Margaret
:19:05. > :19:14.Thatcher made an opening speech and then Garret made an opening speech
:19:14. > :19:19.and he started off in daylight. That sent a slight chill round the room
:19:19. > :19:23.because we didn't know what was actually being said. But the moment
:19:23. > :19:33.of tension in the room was to prove the least of the government's
:19:33. > :19:40.
:19:40. > :19:50.worries. We say never, never, never, never! Such was the sense of
:19:50. > :19:53.
:19:53. > :20:01.rage that unionism rejected Margaret Thatcher. Tom King had to run the
:20:01. > :20:07.gauntlet. That was my concern when I arrived. That it had been negotiated
:20:07. > :20:12.in secret. The Unionist politicians weren't involved in the British
:20:13. > :20:20.side. Seemingly out of the blue, Margaret Thatcher had switched from
:20:20. > :20:30.the position of no Irish involvement in Northern Ireland is to
:20:30. > :20:33.
:20:33. > :20:38.Anglo-Irish Agreement. The lady was for turning but why? He was really
:20:38. > :20:44.crestfallen, Enoch Powell, he was feeling very down about what had
:20:44. > :20:49.happened. He had put a lot of store by Margaret Thatcher's determination
:20:49. > :20:59.not to give in. He had talked before about the fact that Airey Neave's
:20:59. > :21:04.
:21:04. > :21:11.tragic death, and that there were other tragic influences being
:21:11. > :21:16.brought to bear. Civil servants in Whitehall simply wanted to be read
:21:16. > :21:20.of the Northern Ireland problem at any cost to the union. But those
:21:20. > :21:30.close to talks say that Cabinet members slowly convinced that a
:21:30. > :21:31.
:21:31. > :21:36.political solution with Southern Irish involvement was the way to go.
:21:36. > :21:44.There were a lot of people around Mrs Thatcher who knew Garret well
:21:44. > :21:51.and had known him for a long time. People like Geoffrey Howe. People
:21:51. > :21:55.like Jim Prior. Six years previously, Garret FitzGerald had
:21:55. > :22:00.written that personal letter to Margaret Thatcher, telling her that
:22:00. > :22:05.it fell to their generation to resolve the Irish problem. The
:22:05. > :22:15.agreement marked the final political breach with her political friend and
:22:15. > :22:19.
:22:19. > :22:24.ally, Ian Gow. She disappeared up to her private room to speak to Ian Gow
:22:24. > :22:28.and he announced he would retire from government. She hadn't
:22:28. > :22:33.anticipated he would feel so strongly about it. That was the
:22:33. > :22:43.first sign of strong reactions to come. Despite the intensity of the
:22:43. > :22:51.
:22:51. > :22:57.Unionist's backlash... The remainder of Premiership was played out
:22:57. > :23:02.against Langston from all sides. That is the anger that injuries.
:23:02. > :23:12.best way to describe it was that Margaret Thatcher was a military
:23:12. > :23:22.leader. She may have been the Prime Minister of Britain but she had a
:23:22. > :23:23.
:23:23. > :23:31.military approach. She was not up for negotiation, resolution, she was
:23:31. > :23:38.trying to crush republicanism rather than deal with the conflict.
:23:38. > :23:47.Thatcher was the IRA's number one target. The IRA bombed the Grand
:23:47. > :23:51.Hotel in Brighton where a number of conservatives were staying. You feel
:23:51. > :23:58.about these atrocities but you do not expect them to happen to you.
:23:58. > :24:08.But life must go on as usual. Life will go on. The conference will go
:24:08. > :24:32.
:24:32. > :24:40.with her. It was fantastic. He would have thought that nothing had
:24:40. > :24:43.happened the night before. In later years, she would have admitted to
:24:43. > :24:51.being terrified every time she was in public and yet her rip
:24:51. > :25:01.determination to face down the IRA didn't waver.
:25:01. > :25:08.She agreed to attend a memorial service when asked by Tom King.
:25:08. > :25:12.There was an almost audible gasp when we drove into the square and
:25:13. > :25:20.people realised that Margaret Thatcher had come. It was a very
:25:20. > :25:29.moving moment. Were you disappointed at the time that the IRA weren't
:25:29. > :25:36.able to kill her? You've got to watch what questions you are asking.
:25:36. > :25:41.She was killing her own citizens. Would you ask a British soldier or
:25:41. > :25:51.Margaret Thatcher when she was alive if she was disappointed when an IRA
:25:51. > :25:51.
:25:51. > :25:54.volunteer did? I don't think so. It was a war. She was a protagonist in
:25:54. > :26:01.the war and she became a target. Margaret Thatcher fought back with
:26:01. > :26:06.equal determination. Reacting to a series of IRA attacks, she
:26:07. > :26:16.considered selective internment but decided to roll back from this and
:26:17. > :26:18.
:26:18. > :26:23.instead, in 1988, banned Sinn Fein voices from broadcast. If everybody
:26:23. > :26:33.tomorrow voted for Sinn Fein, it wouldn't make a blind bit of
:26:33. > :26:42.difference to the Irish government. She thought she could cut off the
:26:42. > :26:51.oxygen. She was wrong. The violence continued. In July 1990, Ian Gow,
:26:51. > :26:58.thatcher's one-time close confident was killed by an IRA car bomb. Just
:26:59. > :27:05.four months after Ian Gow's murder, she left Downing Street for the last
:27:05. > :27:11.time. I don't think she had the type of understanding of the nuances of
:27:11. > :27:16.the feelings of people, of the attitudes that existed in Northern
:27:16. > :27:20.Ireland. I don't think she ever understood those. I don't think she
:27:20. > :27:28.understood Ireland. I think at times she still thought that there are
:27:28. > :27:36.public of Ireland was a colony and was tempted to treat it as such. --
:27:36. > :27:43.the Republic of Ireland. Luckily, there were people within her party
:27:43. > :27:48.and the government who don't understand. I think the harsher
:27:48. > :27:52.critics will say that she didn't really have much influence in terms
:27:52. > :27:55.of a legacy for peace in Northern Ireland. I'm not sure that is the
:27:55. > :28:04.case. As much as I despise the Anglo-Irish Agreement and Dublin
:28:04. > :28:14.being given a say in our internal affairs, it was a shock to the union
:28:14. > :28:15.
:28:16. > :28:21.system. We were going to have to find a new way forward that gave us
:28:21. > :28:24.the control over our own destiny. will be largely left to political
:28:24. > :28:34.historians to make the final assessment of thatcher's legacy and
:28:34. > :28:39.
:28:39. > :28:49.Ireland. What ever her qualms about the Anglo-Irish Agreement, as a
:28:49. > :28:50.
:28:50. > :28:54.essential prerequisite to the good fight -- Good Friday Agreement, it
:28:54. > :29:04.was of major importance. Others would build on her foundations and
:29:04. > :29:15.
:29:15. > :29:20.the Unionists reviled horror -- her in 1985. The two governments would
:29:20. > :29:25.become the honest brokers of an evolving peace process which would
:29:25. > :29:31.give us the institutions people in Northern Ireland enjoyed today.
:29:31. > :29:40.Republicans and many nationalists, Margaret Thatcher was a modern
:29:40. > :29:47.witch. A person they regarded as a criminal, their most detested enemy.
:29:47. > :29:51.And yet the irony of her legacy as the most read, white and blue of