The Grand Hotel, Brighton, 2004

Night View of the Grand Hotel, Brighton, 2006

The Brighton hotel bombing was the attack by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) on the Grand Hotel in the English resort city of Brighton in the early morning of October 12, 1984. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 493 pixelsFull resolution (1640 × 1011 pixel, file size: 611 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Photo of the Grand Hotel in Brighton following the IRA bomb attack. ... Brighton is located on the south coast of England, and together with its immediate neighbour Hove forms the city of Brighton and Hove. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ... Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ... is the 285th day of the year (286th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Patrick Magee (born 1950) was a member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, best known for planting a bomb in the Brightons Grand Hotel, targeting Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet. ... The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Irish: Óglaigh na hÉireann) (IRA; also referred to as the PIRA, the Provos, or by some of its supporters as the Army or the RA.[2]) is an Irish Republican, left wing[3] paramilitary organisation that, until the Belfast Agreement, sought to end Northern... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (800x632, 126 KB)Grand Hotel - Brighton - Sussex - 2nd August 2004 by & copyright Tagishsimon - Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (800x632, 126 KB)Grand Hotel - Brighton - Sussex - 2nd August 2004 by & copyright Tagishsimon - Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 533 pixelsFull resolution (922 × 614 pixel, file size: 603 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Grand Hotel in Brighton. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 533 pixelsFull resolution (922 × 614 pixel, file size: 603 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Grand Hotel in Brighton. ... The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Irish: Óglaigh na hÉireann) (IRA; also referred to as the PIRA, the Provos, or by some of its supporters as the Army or the RA.[2]) is an Irish Republican, left wing[3] paramilitary organisation that, until the Belfast Agreement, sought to end Northern... The Grand Hotel is a 5-star hotel in Brighton on the south coast of England. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... Brighton is located on the south coast of England, and together with its immediate neighbour Hove forms the city of Brighton and Hove. ... is the 285th day of the year (286th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ...

The organisation detonated a bomb in the hotel where many politicians, including Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, were staying for the British Conservative Party conference. For other uses, see Bomb (disambiguation). ... The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      A politician is an individual who is a formally recognized and active member of a government, or a person who influences the way a society is governed through an understanding of political power and group dynamics. ... The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is, in practice, the political leader of the United Kingdom. ... Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS (née Roberts; born 13 October 1925) served as British Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990 and leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 until 1990, being the first and to date only woman to hold either post. ... The Conservative Party (officially the Conservative and Unionist Party) is the second largest political party in the United Kingdom in terms of sitting Members of Parliament (MPs), the largest in terms of public membership, and the oldest political party in the United Kingdom. ...

The bombing

The bomb went off at 2.54 am. Thatcher was still awake at the time, said to be working on her conference speech. It shredded through her bathroom barely two minutes after she had left it; but she and her husband Denis escaped injury. Thatcher changed her clothes, and then was escorted by the security guards to Brighton police station. She and Denis were then taken to Lewes Police College, where they stayed for the rest of the night. Major Sir Denis Thatcher, 1st Baronet MBE TD (May 10, 1915 – June 26, 2003) was a businessman, and the husband of the former British Prime Minister, Baroness Thatcher. ...

As she left the hotel she gave an impromptu interview to the BBC's John Cole. Alistair McAlpine persuaded Marks and Spencer to open early so those who had lost their clothes in the bombing could get new ones. Mrs Thatcher went from the conference to visit the injured at the Royal Sussex County Hospital. John Cole may refer to the following people: John Cole (bobsleigh), who competed for the United States. ... Robert Alistair McAlpine, Baron McAlpine (14 May 1942–), is often known as Alistair McAlpine. ... Marks and Spencer plc (known also as M&S and sometimes colloquially as Marks and Sparks) is the largest retailer in the United Kingdom by sales. ... The Royal Sussex County Hospital is a hospital in Brighton, England. ...

Casualties

Whilst the bombs failed to kill Thatcher or any of her government ministers; they did, however, kill five people, including Conservative MP Sir Anthony Berry, and John Wakeham's first wife Roberta. Sir Donald Maclean and his wife, Muriel, were in the room in which the bomb exploded. She was killed in the explosion and Sir Donald seriously injured. The other victims killed by the blast were Eric Taylor and Jeanne Shattock. Several others, including Margaret Tebbit — the wife of Norman Tebbit, who was then President of the Board of Trade — were left permanently disabled. Thirty-four people were hospitalised but recovered from their injuries. A minister or a secretary is a politician who heads a government ministry or department (e. ... Sir Anthony George Berry MP (12th February 1925 - 12th October 1984) was a UK politician, Conservative MP for the constituency of Enfield Southgate, and a junior minister in Margaret Thatchers government. ... John Wakeham, Baron Wakeham, PC (born 1932), is a businessman and British Conservative politician. ... Norman Beresford Tebbit, Baron Tebbit, CH, PC (born 29 March 1931) is a British Conservative politician and former Member of Parliament (MP) for Chingford, who was born in Southgate in Enfield. ... The President of the Board of Trade the title of a cabinet position in the United Kingdom government. ...

IRA responsibility

The IRA claimed responsibility the next day, and said that they would try again. Their statement read:

Mrs Thatcher will now realize that Britain cannot occupy our country and torture our prisoners and shoot our people in their own streets and get away with it. Today we were unlucky, but remember we only have to be lucky once. You will have to be lucky always. Give Ireland peace and there will be no more war.^[1]

Reactions

Thatcher began the next session of the conference at 9.30 am the following morning as scheduled, despite the number of dead and wounded still being unknown at that time. She omitted most of the planned attacks on the Labour Party from her speech and claimed the bombing was 'an attempt to cripple Her Majesty's democratically elected Government': The Labour Party is a political party in the United Kingdom. ...

That is the scale of the outrage in which we have all shared, and the fact that we are gathered here now — shocked, but composed and determined — is a sign not only that this attack has failed, but that all attempts to destroy democracy by terrorism will fail. [1]

Magee

In September 1986, Patrick Magee, then aged 35, was found guilty of planting the bomb, exploding it, and of five counts of murder. Magee had stayed in the hotel under the false name of Roy Walsh three weeks prior to the conference and planted the bomb, with a long-delay timer, in his room, number 629. Patrick Joseph Magee (born 1951[1]) is a former member (volunteer) of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), best known for planting a bomb in the Brightons Grand Hotel, targeting Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet, which killed 2 men and 3 women. ...

Magee received eight life sentences: seven for offences relating to the Brighton bombing, and the eighth for a separate bombing conspiracy. The judge recommended he serve a minimum term of 35 years. Later Home Secretary Michael Howard increased this minimum to "whole life". However, he was released from prison in 1999, having served only 14 years in prison (including the time before his sentencing), under the terms of the Good Friday agreement. A Downing Street spokesperson said that his release "was hard to stomach" and an appeal by then Home Secretary Jack Straw to prevent it was turned down by the Northern Ireland High Court. Life imprisonment is a term used for a particular kind of sentence of imprisonment. ... The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the United Kingdom Home Office and is responsible for internal affairs in England and Wales, and for immigration and citizenship for the whole United Kingdom (including Scotland and Northern Ireland). ... The Rt Hon. ... The Belfast Agreement (also known as the Good Friday Agreement and, more rarely, as the Stormont Agreement) was signed in Belfast on April 10, 1998 by the British and Irish Governments and endorsed by most Northern Ireland political parties. ... John Whitaker Straw (born August 3, 1946) is a British Labour Party politician. ... Northern Ireland (Irish: ) is a part of the United Kingdom lying in the northeast of the island of Ireland, covering 5,459 square miles (14,139 km², about a sixth of the islands total area). ...

Following his release Magee was reported to have said "I stand by what I did," inflaming the anger of survivors and the bereaved towards him. Whilst he admitted partial responsibility for planning the attack, he maintains that the fingerprint evidence found on a registration card recovered from the hotel was faked — "If that was my fingerprint I did not put it there," he said in a newspaper interview after his release.

Notes

1. ^ Taylor, Peter (2001). Brits. Bloomsbury Publishing, p. 265. ISBN 0-7475-5806-X. 

Peter Taylor is a British journalist and documentary maker who has covered the Troubles in Northern Ireland for many years. ... Bloomsbury Publishing Plc is an independent, London-based publishing house known for literary novels. ...

Sources

• Reprint of BBC television news report on the morning of the attack
• BBC News photo journal of the attack
• BBC News report on Straw's attempt to prevent the early release of Magee
• Guardian story on the release of Magee in 1999
• An Phoblacht: Interview with Pat Magee regarding the Brighton bombing
• BBC report on Magee being convicted of the bombing