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The Iron Lady and the IRA: What effect did the 1984 Brighton Bombing have on Margaret Thatcher?

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Author:  Gregor McIntyre

Publication Date:  11th January 2024

Abstract: On October 12 1984, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), also referred to as the ‘Provisionals’, staged ‘the most audacious attack on a British government since the Gunpowder Plot’, attempting to kill the British Prime Minister (PM), Margaret Thatcher, and all of her cabinet ministers (Hughes, D. 2009; Carroll, R. 2023). The attack, known as the Brighton Bombing, occurred at the Grand Hotel in Brighton during the Conservative Party Conference and was part of the IRA’s ‘key war’ in England against ‘high-prestige’ targets; a campaign which sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland by weakening the British’ resolve to remain.