Sir Bernard Ingham, Margaret Thatcher's press secretary, dies aged 90

24 February 2023 , 15:45

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Sir Bernard Ingham, Margaret Thatcher's press secretary, dies aged 90

Margaret Thatcher's long-serving press secretary Sir Bernard Ingham has died aged 90.

The renowned former civil servant, who was also press secretary to respected Labour MP Tony Benn, passed away after a short illness, his family said.

Sir Bernard served under Mrs Thatcher between 1979 and 1990, and was knighted in her resignation honours.

He was a Fleet Street journalist with The Guardian before becoming a Government press officer.

After leaving Downing Street, he wrote his memoirs, Kill The Messenger, and worked as a political pundit, an after-dinner speaker, a cruise lecturer and a newspaper columnist.

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His family said "he was a journalist to his bones", starting out aged 16 on his local paper in West Yorkshire, The Hebden Bridge Times, and he was still filing weekly columns to Express Online and The Yorkshire Post until a few days before he died.

Sir Bernard was Margaret Thatcher's press secretary from 1979 to 1990

His son John said: "To the wider world he is known as Margaret Thatcher's chief press secretary, a formidable operator in the political and Whitehall jungles.

"But to me he was my dad - and a great dad at that. He was a fellow football fan and an adoring grandfather and great grandfather. My family will miss him greatly."

Bournemouth West MP Conor Burns posted: "He was the great communicator in an age when politicians had great and big things to communicate.

"He also knew that he was not the story but the vessel to carry it. A servant of a lost age. And a lovely man. RIP."

Despite being employed as a politically-neutral civil servant, Sir Bernard was an often controversial figure.

Margaret Thatcher's former press advisor Sir Bernard Ingham (Getty Images)

He sparked outrage by labelling Liverpool fans “tanked up yobs” following the Hillsborough disaster, a comment he refused to apologise for.

In a 1996 letter replying to Liverpool fan Graham Skinner - whose friend had died in the disaster - Sir Bernard said Liverpool should “shut up about Hillsborough”.

And in 2013 he was scathing about Northern voters who didn't vote Tory, stating: “They’re thick as two planks, aren’t they?”

He also angered Scottish nationalists by branding them "greedy as sin", stating: "The only thing that fuelled nationalism was the smell of oil and money in oil."

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