Bernard Ingham
Sir Bernard Ingham (21 June 1932 – 24 February 2023) was a British journalist and civil servant. He was Margaret Thatcher's chief press secretary throughout her time as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990.
SirBernard Ingham
Henry James
21 June 1932
Halifax, England
24 February 2023 (aged 90)
Caterham, England
1
- Civil servant
- journalist
Knight Bachelor (1990)
Background[edit]
Ingham was born in Halifax and was raised in Hebden Bridge, in the West Riding of Yorkshire.[1] He left school at the age of 16 to join the Hebden Bridge Times newspaper,[2][3] for whom he continued to write until 2013.[4] He attended Bradford Technical College on day release as part of the studies required to qualify for the Certificate of Training for Junior Journalists, which he described as being "taken rather seriously in early post-war Britain".[5]
Ingham worked for the Yorkshire Evening Post, the Yorkshire Post, latterly as Northern industrial correspondent (1952–1961), and The Guardian (1962–1967). While a reporter at the Yorkshire Post, Ingham was an active member of the National Union of Journalists and vice-chairman of its Leeds branch.[6] He is also likely to have been the anonymous and aggressively anti-Conservative columnist "Albion" for the Leeds Weekly Citizen, a Labour Party publication, from 1964 to 1967.[7]
In 1967, Ingham joined the Civil Service, working as a press and public relations officer and director of Information in various Government departments, including the National Board For Prices and Incomes (1967) and the Department of Energy, 1974–77, where he also served as Under-Secretary in the Energy Conservation Division, 1978–79.[8]
Ingham's father was a Labour Party councillor for Hebden Royd Town Council, and he was himself a member of the Labour Party until he joined the Civil Service.[6] Ingham contested the then safe Conservative Moortown ward of Leeds City Council in the 1965 council elections for the Labour Party, having been nominated by the Fabian Society.[6]
Thatcher's papers[edit]
In March 2011, it was reported by The Independent that Policy chief Sir Keith Joseph stated in public the view that Margaret Thatcher's first year in Downing Street had been "wasted". Joseph's press secretary reported this to Ingham. In his reply, contained in a letter dated 1 December 1980, he said Thatcher was "quite relaxed about it", adding: "I believe she agrees with Sir Keith but for the sake of the government and confidence in it does not say so."[38]
Personal life[edit]
Ingham was knighted in Thatcher's 1990 resignation honours list.
Ingham was married to Nancy (née Hoyle) for 60 years until she died in 2017.[39][40] They had a son.[41]
Ingham lived in a care home in Caterham, Surrey, in his last years. He died on 24 February 2023, at the age of 90.[25]