ABSTRACT
A cautionary tale regarding the consequences of neglecting to cultivate a sense of collegiality is Mrs Thatcher’s premiership. Her ill-concealed impatience with the Cabinet, brusque treatment of colleagues, intolerance of dissent and unsubtle interventions in the work of departments dismayed and dispirited ministers. When she fell out with colleagues a whispering campaign was conducted against them: a string of ministers-Walker, Carrington, Biffen, Jenkin, Pym and Moore-found their reputations tarnished by this insidious operation. Inevitably, collectivity crumbled. Even loyalists like Nott and Parkinson complained in public of the loss of collegiality (BBC 1986b).
