Westland affair

Margaret Thatcher

Michael Heseltine

This article is part of a series about Margaret Thatcher
Bibliography Electoral history Honours MP for Finchley Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act Secretary of State for Education and Science Circular 10/70 Withdrawal of school milk Leader of the Opposition Shadow Cabinet 1975 leadership election 1979 VoNC in Callaghan ministry Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Premiership Policies Thatcherism domestic economic other Appointments Ministers wets and dries Articles by ministry and term: 1979–1983 First ministry 1979 election "The lady's not for turning" "TINA" 1979 budget 1980 budget 1981 budget 1982 budget 1983 budget Falklands War Right to Buy 1983–1987 Second ministry 1983 re-election 1984 budget 1985 budget 1986 budget 1987 budget Anglo-Irish Agreement Big Bang Brighton bombing Joint Declaration Miners' strike UK rebate Westland affair 1987–1990 Third ministry 1987 re-election 1988 budget 1989 budget 1989 leadership election 1990 budget 1990 leadership election and resignation Bruges speech Poll tax Sermon on the Mound Post-premiership Ceremonial funeral Legacy Publications The Downing Street Years (1993) The Path to Power (1995) Statecraft (2003)
v t e

The Westland affair in 1985–86 was an episode in which Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and her Secretary of State for Defence, Michael Heseltine, went public over a cabinet dispute with questions raised about whether the conventions of cabinet government were being observed and about the integrity of senior politicians.

The argument was over the future of Westland Helicopters, Britain's last helicopter manufacturer, which was to be the subject of a rescue bid. The Defence Secretary, Heseltine, favoured a European solution, integrating Westland with a consortium including British Aerospace (BAe), Italian (Agusta) and French companies. Thatcher and Trade and Industry Secretary Leon Brittan, while ostensibly maintaining a neutral stance, wanted to see Westland merge with Sikorsky, an American company.

Heseltine refused to accept Thatcher's choice and claimed that Thatcher had refused to allow a free ministerial discussion of the matter, even suggesting that she had lied about cancelling a scheduled meeting. In January 1986, when he was ordered to cease campaigning for his European consortium, he resigned and walked out of a Cabinet meeting. Brittan was then forced to resign for having ordered the leaking to the press of a confidential legal letter critical of Heseltine, and for his lack of candour to the House of Commons about his efforts to persuade BAe to withdraw from Heseltine's consortium.

Thatcher's survival as Prime Minister briefly appeared in question, but she rode out the crisis. The episode nonetheless was an embarrassment to the Conservative Thatcher government and undermined her reputation.^[1]