1979

UK Confidential

With unique access to Secret government papers, Martha Kearney presents a look at the political events of 1979 as told through the Cabinet minutes, Prime Ministerial papers and Foreign and Commonwealth Office Documents that are being released to the public at the end of the year.

Domestic stories include the growing crisis of confidence in the Labour government, the handling of backbench rebellions, the winter of discontent and the handover of power to Margaret Thatcher following the Conservative victory in the 1979 General election. We discover the government's first response to the Ayatollah's return to Iran and the diplomatic standoff about finding a permanent home for the exiled Shah. Why arms sales to the RUC were chipping away at Anglo-American diplomatic relations and how cabinet ministers fell out over the question of what to do with refuges from Vietnam.

UK CONFIDENTIAL weaves together dramatised extracts from the papers, news footage material, discussion with studio guests (including former cabinet ministers and top level civil servants), and special reports compiled by correspondents. Studio Guests: Lord Michael Heseltine, Lord Roy Hattersley, Elinor Goodman, Michael Dobbs

Producer: Emily Williams

A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4, in association with Takeaway Media.