ABSTRACT
Mrs cremained deeply unhappy about Britain’s entry into the ERM on 8 October, but as her close aide Charles Powell later admitted: ’The truth is that she was in a tiny minority in the government always in opposing joining the ERM and she fought off attempt after attempt to do it’. A European Council meeting in Rome rekindled the embers of division in the party over Europe, subdued since ERM entry, soon producing a roaring blaze. Mrs Thatcher remained Prime Minister for a further week. During that time, she worked tirelessly to advance Major’s interests, phoning newspaper editors and friends and telling them that they had to back him if her revolution was to be secure. At 9.45 am on 28 November 1990, a tearful Mrs Thatcher was driven to Buckingham Palace to tender her resignation as Prime Minister. Her eleven-and-a-half year spell, which began on 4 May 1979, had drawn to a close.
