How One Speech Toppled Thatcher and Directly Led to Brexit 26 Years Later

Jan 3, 2025 | “It created a fault line in the Tory Party and British politics which led directly to Brexit.”

Ed Vaizey is joined by playwright Jonathan Maitland to dissect how Geoffrey Howe's resignation speech in 1990 changed the course of British politics.


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Former Chancellor Geoffrey Howe Attacks Gordon Brown
THE TELEGRAPH: Former Conservative Chancellor Lord Geoffrey Howe has said Britain could be headed for depression as a result of Gordon Brown's economic mismanagement


Lord Howe, who was Chancellor between 1979 and 1983, said the economy was "very badly managed" under Mr Brown's Chancellorship and a lack of fiscal prudence stripped Britain of readiness to face the "crisis" sweeping world economies.

"I think the recession is going to be deeper than it is now, almost every day we get news that underlines that. It's probably moving towards a depression, and the British economy has been so mismanaged that it is very ill prepared for it," he told Telegraph TV.

Lord Howe said Mr Brown is personally responsible for the fate of the economy. "Gordon Brown believes he has been working economic miracles during his ten years as Chancellor, we've all heard him saying it is the end of boom and bust... and we are at the threshold of a golden age, but that is miles from the truth." >>> By Robert Miller and Rupert Neate | November 28, 2008

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