‘What saved Thatcher was the path it took’ [Video]

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the Brighton bombing. The IRA detonated a bomb at the Grand Hotel in the seaside resort during the Conservative Party conference in 1984. It was the group’s most daring attempt at wiping out the British Government during the Troubles with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as the main target.

She and her husband escaped unharmed but five people were killed and dozens injured. Here, an excerpt from journalist Rory Carroll’s book, “Killing Thatcher” describes the terrible moment of the explosion and the events that unfolded shortly after…

FIFTY SECONDS FROM detonation, the only sound on the Brighton promenade came from the English Channel. The tide was high, waves thudding ashore, a few fishermen standing in the surf like moonlit sentinels.

Forty seconds. Barely a breeze to ruffle the night. The biting wind and rain that had seemed to presage winter earlier in the week had …