Bernard Ingham
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Sir Bernard Ingham (21 June 1932 – 24 February 2023) was a British journalist and
civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...
. He was
Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...
's chief
press secretary A press secretary or press officer is a senior advisor who provides advice on how to deal with the news media and, using news management techniques, helps their employer to maintain a positive public image and avoid negative media coverage. Dutie ...
throughout her time as
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister Advice (constitutional law), advises the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, sovereign on the exercise of much of the Royal prerogative ...
from 1979 to 1990.


Background

Ingham was born in Halifax and was raised in
Hebden Bridge Hebden Bridge is a market town in the Calderdale district of West Yorkshire, England. It is in the Upper Calder Valley, west of Halifax and 14 miles (21 km) north-east of Rochdale, at the confluence of the River Calder and the Hebden W ...
, in the
West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...
. He left school at the age of 16 to join the ''Hebden Bridge Times'' newspaper, for which he continued to write until 2013. He attended Bradford Technical College on day release as part of the studies required to qualify for the Certificate of Training for Junior Journalists, which he described as being "taken rather seriously in early post-war Britain". Ingham worked for the ''
Yorkshire Evening Post The ''Yorkshire Evening Post'' (''YEP'') is a regional daily newspaper covering the City of Leeds. Founded in 1890 it is published by Yorkshire Post Newspapers, National World. Despite being having coverage and being sold across West Yorkshire ...
'', the ''
Yorkshire Post ''The Yorkshire Post'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper, published in Leeds, Yorkshire, England. It primarily covers stories from Yorkshire, although its masthead carries the slogan "Yorkshire's National Newspaper". It was previously owned by ...
'', latterly as Northern industrial correspondent (1952–1961), and ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' (1962–1967). While a reporter at the ''Yorkshire Post'', Ingham was an active member of the
National Union of Journalists The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) is a trade union supporting journalists in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The NUJ was founded in 1907 and has 20,693 members. It is a member of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Trades ...
and vice-chairman of its Leeds branch. He is also likely to have been the anonymous and aggressively anti-Conservative columnist "Albion" for the ''Leeds Weekly Citizen'', a Labour Party publication, from 1964 to 1967. In 1967, Ingham joined the
Civil Service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...
, working as a press and public relations officer and director of Information in various Government departments, including the National Board For Prices and Incomes (1967) and the Department of Energy, 1974–77, where he also served as Under-Secretary in the Energy Conservation Division, 1978–79. Ingham's father was a Labour Party councillor for Hebden Royd Town Council, and he was himself a member of the Labour Party until he joined the Civil Service. Ingham contested the then safe Conservative Moortown ward of
Leeds City Council Leeds City Council is the local authority of the City of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. Leeds has had a council since 1626, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. Since 1974 it has been a metropolitan borough council. It provides the ...
in the 1965 council elections for the Labour Party, having been nominated by the
Fabian Society The Fabian Society () is a History of the socialist movement in the United Kingdom, British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in ...
.


Press secretary to Margaret Thatcher

Ingham spent 11 years as
Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...
's chief
press secretary A press secretary or press officer is a senior advisor who provides advice on how to deal with the news media and, using news management techniques, helps their employer to maintain a positive public image and avoid negative media coverage. Dutie ...
in No. 10 Downing Street when she was Prime Minister. In 1979–90 he was also head of the Government Information Office. In the course of his civil service career, he was also press secretary to
Barbara Castle Barbara Anne Castle, Baroness Castle of Blackburn, (''née'' Betts; 6 October 1910 – 3 May 2002) was a British Labour Party politician who was a Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament from 1945 United Kingdom general elec ...
,
Robert Carr Leonard Robert Carr, Baron Carr of Hadley, (11 November 1916 – 17 February 2012) was a British Conservative Party politician who served as Home Secretary from 1972 to 1974. He served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for 26 years, and later s ...
, Maurice Macmillan,
Lord Carrington Peter Alexander Rupert Carington, 6th Baron Carrington, Baron Carington of Upton (6 June 1919 – 9July 2018), was a British Conservative Party politician and hereditary peer who served as Defence Secretary from 1970 to 1974, Foreign Secreta ...
,
Eric Varley Eric Graham Varley, Baron Varley, (11 August 1932 – 29 July 2008) was a British Labour Party politician and cabinet minister on the right-wing of the party. He was the Member of Parliament for Chesterfield from 1964 to 1984. Early life Eri ...
and
Tony Benn Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn (3 April 1925 – 14 March 2014), known between 1960 and 1963 as Viscount Stansgate, was a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician and political activist who served as a Cabinet of the United Kingdom, Cabine ...
. Although a career civil servant, Ingham gained a reputation for being a highly effective propagandist for the
Thatcherite Thatcherism is a form of British conservative ideology named after Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher that relates to not just her political platform and particular policies but also her personal character a ...
cause. The phrase
spin doctor In public relations and politics, spin is a form of propaganda, achieved through knowingly providing a biased interpretation of an event. While traditional public relations and advertising may manage their presentation of facts, "spin" often i ...
did not enter common parlance until after his retirement, but he was nevertheless considered a gifted exponent in what came to be known as the "black arts" of spin. In those days, Downing Street briefings were " off the record", meaning that information given out by Ingham could be attributed only to "senior government sources". Occasionally he used this deniability to brief against the government's own ministers, such as when he described the
leader of the House of Commons The Leader of the House of Commons is a minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom whose main role is organising government business in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons. The Leader is always a memb ...
John Biffen William John Biffen, Baron Biffen, (3 November 1930 – 14 August 2007), was a British Conservative Party politician. He was a member of parliament from 1961 to 1997, and served in Margaret Thatcher's cabinet; he then served in the House of ...
as a "semi-detached" member of the government. Biffen was dropped at the next reshuffle. This blurring of the distinction between his nominally neutral role as a civil servant and a more partisan role as an apologist and promoter of Margaret Thatcher's policies led
Christopher Hitchens Christopher Eric Hitchens (13 April 1949 – 15 December 2011) was a British and American author and journalist. He was the author of Christopher Hitchens bibliography, 18 books on faith, religion, culture, politics, and literature. He was born ...
to characterise Ingham as "a nugatory individual" and to criticise what he saw as the negative consequences of Ingham's time as Thatcher's press secretary: "During his time in office,
Fleet Street Fleet Street is a street in Central London, England. It runs west to east from Temple Bar, London, Temple Bar at the boundary of the City of London, Cities of London and City of Westminster, Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the Lo ...
took several steps towards an American system of Presidentially-managed coverage and sound-bite deference, without acquiring any of the American constitutional protection in return." In 1987 Downing Street berated ''
The Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot Plasma (physics), plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as ...
'' newspaper in a row over honours. Thatcher was said to be furious, and Ingham sent correspondence to ''The Sun'' asking it to explain why the honours list, given in confidence, had been published. In 1989, three years after the Westland helicopter scandal led to the resignation of Defence Secretary
Michael Heseltine Michael Ray Dibdin Heseltine, Baron Heseltine, (; born 21 March 1933) is a British politician. Having begun his career as a property developer, he became one of the founders of the publishing house Haymarket Media Group in 1957. Heseltine se ...
, former cabinet minister Leon Brittan revealed in a
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
programme that Ingham was one of two senior Downing Street officials who had approved the leaking of a crucial letter from the
Solicitor General A solicitor general is a government official who serves as the chief representative of the government in courtroom proceedings. In systems based on the English common law that have an attorney general or equivalent position, the solicitor general ...
Patrick Mayhew Patrick Barnabas Burke Mayhew, Baron Mayhew of Twysden, (11 September 1929 – 25 June 2016) was a British barrister and politician. Early life Mayhew was born in Cookham, Berkshire, on 11 September 1929. His father, George Mayhew, was a dec ...
, in which he questioned some of the statements that Heseltine had made about the takeover contest of the Westland helicopter company. Brittan's claim that Ingham and Charles Powell had approved the leak of the letter led to calls from some Labour MPs for there to be a new inquiry into the Westland affair. Ingham was
knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...
on Thatcher's resignation – and retirement – in 1990. His successor as press secretary was
Gus O'Donnell Augustine Thomas O'Donnell, Baron O'Donnell, (born 1 October 1952) is a former British senior civil servant and economist, who between 2005 and 2011 (under three Prime Ministers) served as the Cabinet Secretary, the highest official in the Br ...
, who went on to become
Cabinet secretary A cabinet secretary is usually a senior official (typically a civil servant) who provides services and advice to a cabinet of ministers as part of the Cabinet Office. In many countries, the position can have considerably wider functions and powe ...
and head of the civil service in 2005. Ingham's
memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...
''Kill the Messenger'', concerning his time as press secretary, was criticised by Paul Foot, a
Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...
journalist, who commented that "... there is no information in this book. I picked it up eagerly, refusing to believe that someone so close to the top for so long could fail to reveal, even by mistake, a single interesting piece of information" and he was particularly scathing about Ingham's prose style, offering the following quotation from ''Kill the Messenger'' as representative of Ingham's use of English: "Like a mighty oak, it took more than one axe to bring Mrs Thatcher down. In November 1990 they were cutting into this solid timber from all angles. The frenzy was fearsome to behold. Heaven preserve us from political axe-men in a state of panic. They would cut off their grandmas in their prime if they thought it would serve their interests. And so they cut off a grandma in her international prime by the stocking tops, to borrow one of Denis's phrases, which Mrs Thatcher often used." In a commentary in the ''
Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first ...
'' in April 2009, Ingham referred to Thatcher as "reckless" and a battler for Britain. He said her greatest quality was that she did not want to be loved, and she came to office without a Press Secretary and had "the enormous will" to overcome "defeatist inertia", such as: "Oh you can't do that Prime Minister, they won't allow it". He attended her funeral at
St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...
in April 2013.


Television script

Ingham helped Thatcher in the writing of the ''
Yes Minister ''Yes Minister'' is a British political satire sitcom written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn. Comprising three seven-episode series, it was first transmitted on BBC2 from 1980 to 1984. A sequel, ''Yes, Prime Minister'', ran for 16 episodes f ...
'' sketch, which she performed in public with
Paul Eddington Paul Clark Eddington (18 June 1927 – 4 November 1995) was an English actor who played Jerry Leadbetter in the television sitcom '' The Good Life'' (1975–1978) and politician Jim Hacker in the sitcom '' Yes Minister'' (1980–1984) and its ...
and
Nigel Hawthorne Sir Nigel Barnard Hawthorne (5 April 1929 – 26 December 2001) was an English actor. He is known for his stage acting and his portrayal of Sir Humphrey Appleby, the permanent secretary in the 1980s sitcom ''Yes Minister'' and the Cabinet Secre ...
. In December 2001, Ingham said, on the death of Hawthorne, "Margaret Thatcher's fascination was with the games between the elected politician and the unelected official".


After Thatcher

Ingham was vice-president of Country Guardian, an anti-
wind energy Wind power is the use of wind energy to generate useful work. Historically, wind power was used by sails, windmills and windpumps, but today it is mostly used to generate electricity. This article deals only with wind power for electricity ...
campaign group. Ingham was also a regular panellist on BBC current affairs programme ''
Dateline London ''Dateline London'' is a weekly BBC News discussion group, discussion programme. A panel discussion, panel of four leading journalists, lecturers, and foreign correspondents discussed top news stories from an international perspective. The last e ...
''. He had also been secretary to Supporters of Nuclear Energy (SONE, 1998–2007), a group of individuals who seek to promote
nuclear power in the United Kingdom Nuclear power in the United Kingdom generated 16.1% of the country's electricity in 2020. , the UK has five operational nuclear reactors at four locations (4 advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGR) and one pressurised water reactor (PWR)), producin ...
. Despite never having attended university himself, Ingham lectured in
public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...
at
Middlesex University Middlesex University London (legally Middlesex University and abbreviated to MDX) is a public research university based in Hendon, northwest London, England. The university also has campuses in Dubai and Mauritius. The name of the university is ...
. He returned to the ''Yorkshire Post'' as a columnist, writing until January 2023.


''Brass Eye''

Ingham appeared on the satirical television programme, ''
Brass Eye ''Brass Eye'' (stylised as brassEYE) is a British satirical television series parodying current affairs news programming. A series of six episodes aired on Channel 4 in 1997, and a further episode in 2001. The series was created and presented by ...
''. He was persuaded to appear in a short sequence, in which he issued a stern warning to young people about the dangers of a purported new drug, "cake", one of several celebrities who appeared not to recognise the satirical nature of the programme. Ingham said that "several people have actually been brained by saucepans used to make this kind of Cake", before asking viewers to "use their cheese-box" and "say no, never".


Court case

On 8 March 1999, Ingham was bound over to keep the peace at Croydon Magistrates' Court after he was accused of causing criminal damage to a Mercedes car owned by Linda Cripps, a neighbour, in Purley, south London. The charges were dropped when Ingham agreed to accept being bound over for 12 months in the sum of £1,000 to keep the peace and be of good behaviour. Ingham denied that he had caused any damage to the vehicle. The court was told that Cripps told Ingham: "You have damaged my car", to which he replied, "Good, I'm glad". Ingham said, "I did not cause the damage complained of and to resolve the issue I accepted advice that I should agree to be bound over. I have paid £792 to cover the cost of the alleged damage to the car." Cripps's husband said after the case "We are weary of the constant bombardment that we have suffered. We are no match for Sir Bernard Ingham. Let's hope that he will now allow us to get on with our lives peacefully".


Hillsborough

In a letter addressed to a parent of a victim of the 1989
Hillsborough disaster The Hillsborough disaster was a fatal crowd crush at a football match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989. It occurred during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in the tw ...
, Ingham reiterated his belief that the disaster was caused by "tanked up yobs", a view later entirely refuted by the Hillsborough inquest. In a 1996 letter written to a
Liverpool FC Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has ...
supporter, Ingham remarked that people should "shut up about Hillsborough". In June 1996, on '' Question Time'', Ingham spoke in favour of compensating the police present at the time of the disaster, saying: "If thousands of ticketless fans had not turned up and pushed their way into the ground then the whole scenario would not have occurred." "You can't get away from what you were told," Ingham said. "We talked to a lot of people; I am not sure if it was the chief constable. That was the impression I gathered: there were a lot of tanked-up people outside." Speaking to ''The Guardian'', he confirmed that this was what he was told when he and Margaret Thatcher were shown around, although he could not recall if South Yorkshire police's chief constable, Peter Wright, had said it personally. Hebden Bridge residents launched a campaign against Ingham to remove him as a local newspaper columnist over his continued refusal to apologise for his words in the aftermath of the Hillsborough disaster. He continued to write articles until February 2013. On 26 April 2016, a jury gave the verdict that the 96 killed at Hillsborough were unlawfully killed and that the Liverpool fans' behaviour did not contribute to the dangerous situation at the turnstiles. Ingham declined to apologise or respond to the previous comments he made, which led to petitions being created on change.org and petitions.parliament.uk, the official website for government petitions.


Comments on Scottish nationalists

Ingham suggested Scottish nationalists were being "as greedy as sin", stating that "the only thing that fuelled nationalism was the smell of oil and money in oil", suggesting that any nationalist sentiments were merely a disguised form of greed.


Thatcher's papers

In March 2011, it was reported by ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' that Policy chief
Sir Keith Joseph Keith Sinjohn Joseph, Baron Joseph, (17 January 1918 – 10 December 1994), known as Sir Keith Joseph, 2nd Baronet, for most of his political life, was a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as a minister under f ...
stated in public the view that Margaret Thatcher's first year in Downing Street had been "wasted". Joseph's press secretary reported this to Ingham. In his reply, contained in a letter dated 1 December 1980, he said Thatcher was "quite relaxed about it", adding: "I believe she agrees with Sir Keith but for the sake of the government and confidence in it does not say so."


Personal life

Ingham was knighted in Thatcher's 1990 resignation honours list. Ingham was married to Nancy () for 60 years until she died in 2017. They had a son. Ingham lived in a care home in
Caterham Caterham () is a town in the Tandridge (district), Tandridge district of Surrey, England. The town is administratively divided into two: Caterham on the Hill, and Caterham Valley, which includes the main town centre in the middle of a dry valle ...
, Surrey, in his last years. He died on 24 February 2023, at the age of 90.


Cultural depictions

Ingham has been depicted multiple times in film and television, including being portrayed by
Glyn Houston Glyndwr Desmond Houston (23 October 1925 – 30 June 2019) was a Welsh actor best known for his television work. He was the younger brother of film actor Donald Houston. Early life Houston was born at 10 Thomas Street, Tonypandy, Glamorgan, W ...
in '' Thatcher: The Final Days'' (1991), Philip Jackson in ''
Margaret Margaret is a feminine given name, which means "pearl". It is of Latin origin, via Ancient Greek and ultimately from Iranian languages, Old Iranian. It has been an English language, English name since the 11th century, and remained popular thro ...
'' (2009), Kevin McNally in season four of ''
The Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...
'' (2020), and Paul Clayton in both '' The Queen'' (2009) and '' Brian and Maggie'' (2025).


Selected works

*''Yorkshire Greats: The County's Fifty Finest'' (Dalesman, 2005) *''Bernard Ingham's Yorkshire Villages'' (Dalesman, 2005) *''The Wages of Spin'' (John Murray, 2003) CPBF http://www.cpbf.org.uk/body.php?subject=misc&id=518 *''Kill the Messenger ... Again'' (Politico's Publishing Ltd, 2003) *''Bernard Ingham's Yorkshire Castles'' (Dalesman, 2001) *''Kill the Messenger'' (Fontana, 1991) *''The Slow Downfall of Margaret Thatcher: The Diaries of Bernard Ingham'' (Biteback, 2019)


References


External links


British Library Sound Archive
– Interview with Brendan Bruce (former Director of Communications of the Conservative Party) for his book ''Images of Power''
CPBF
– Sir Bernard Ingham on P.M. Margaret Thatcher on 14 April 2013 *Routledge, Paul, ''Bumper Book of British Lefties'', 2003, Politicos () – provides further information on Ingham's early involvement with the Labour Party {{DEFAULTSORT:Ingham, Bernard 1932 births 2023 deaths 20th-century English journalists 21st-century English journalists 20th-century English memoirists 21st-century English diarists Academics of Middlesex University British civil servants British male journalists English columnists English knights Knights Bachelor Labour Party (UK) people People from Halifax, West Yorkshire People from Hebden Bridge Press secretaries The Guardian journalists