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reflected the argument — with which I had much sympathy — that too great a squeeze was being exerted on those who had been prudent enough to put aside some savings. Malcolm Rifkind raised no objection when this was announced to Cabinet before the budget. Nor did he make any special demands for Scotland. But the announcement provoked an outcry in Scotland where the community charge had been introduced one year earlier and where the critics accordingly wanted the community charge benefit change backdated. Under fire, Malcolm did not stand by John Major’s decision. He now entered into heavily leaked discussions with me and John to have the change made retrospective for Scotland. Very reluctantly, I agreed that a special payment should be made to those concerned in Scotland from within the Scottish Office budget. Having damaged the reception of John’s skilfully conceived budget, Malcolm then went on to revel publicly in Scotland in his ‘victory’. It was suggested that he had only secured these changes by threatening resignation. He also told the press that I had fallen into line with his better judgement. This childish behaviour did the Conservative cause in Scotland great harm and prompted letters of protest from outraged Scottish Tories.

In May he entered into a public row with the British Steel Corporation over the future of the Ravenscraig steel plant, which should have been a matter for BSC to decide on commercial grounds, and even went so far — I was told — as to ask Scottish Conservative back-benchers to vote for a Labour Early Day Motion in the House of Commons on the subject. At the Scottish Party Conference the week before Malcolm also made some delphic remarks which were interpreted as suggesting that devolution was back on the agenda in Scotland. He was reverting to type.

The pressure on me to get rid of Michael Forsyth mounted during the summer of 1990. He himself was becoming depressed at the constant difficulties with Malcolm Rifkind and the unrelenting campaign pursued against him and his supporters. In August my office was flooded with letters from friends and opponents of Michael, obviously being geared up by their respective factions. By now it was clear that the opposition to him had enlisted the Scottish Tory Party establishment including Willie Whitelaw, George Younger and the senior members of the voluntary party. I had my own troubles. It had been a brave attempt to bring the Scottish Tory Party into the latter half of the twentieth century and offer leadership and vision to people who had become all too used to losing or — even worse — winning on their opponents’ terms. In October 1990 I promoted Michael Forsyth to be a Minister of State at the Scottish Office with extended duties and replaced him as Chairman with (Lord) Russell Sanderson who relinquished his ministerial job at the Scottish Office. His appointment was taken as a sign that the attempt to extend Thatcherism to Scotland had come to an end. This combination of the Left and the traditional establishment of the Party to rebuff Thatcherism in Scotland was a prelude to the formation of the same alliance to oust me as leader of the Conservative Party a few weeks later — although I did not know it at the time.

The balance sheet of Thatcherism in Scotland is a lopsided one: economically positive but politically negative. After a decade of Thatcherism, Scotland had been economically transformed for the better. People moved in large numbers from the older declining industries such as steel and shipbuilding to new industries with a future such as electronics and finance. Almost all the economic statistics — productivity, inward investment, self-employment — showed a marked improvement. As a result, Scottish living standards reached an all-time high, rising by 30 per cent from 1981 to 1989, outperforming most of the English regions.

A slower start was made on reducing dependency and encouraging ownership. As late as 1979 only a third of Scots owned their own home. By the time I had left office this had risen to over half — thanks in part to the