12th October 1984

1984: IRA Bomb Explodes at Brighton’s Grand Hotel

Entry Type

ERa

Topic

At approximately 2.54 a.m. on 12 October 1984, a Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb exploded at the Grand Hotel in Brighton. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and several Cabinet ministers were staying there during the Conservative Party conference.

The explosion destroyed part of the building and caused several floors to collapse. Five people died as a result of the bombing and more than 30 were injured.

IRA member Patrick Magee had planted the bomb several weeks earlier. In September, he stayed at the hotel under the false name Roy Walsh. He placed the device in room 629 and fitted it with a long-delay timer. The intended targets were Thatcher and senior members of the British government.

Thatcher escaped injury. She had been working on her conference speech when the bomb exploded. Rescue workers spent hours searching the damaged building and freeing people trapped beneath fallen masonry.

Those who died were Conservative MP Sir Anthony Berry, Eric Taylor, Jeanne Shattock, Roberta Wakeham and Muriel Maclean. Four died following the explosion. Maclean died from her injuries on 13 November.

Cabinet minister Norman Tebbit and his wife Margaret were among those seriously injured. Both were trapped in the wreckage. Margaret Tebbit sustained injuries that left her paralysed. The government Chief Whip, John Wakeham, was also injured. His wife Roberta was among those killed.

The Conservative Party conference continued later that day. Thatcher addressed delegates, condemned the attack and delivered her conference speech.

The bombing occurred during the Troubles, when the IRA was conducting a campaign of violence aimed at ending British rule in Northern Ireland. The Brighton attack was directed at the British government’s political leadership.

Police launched a major investigation. A fingerprint on a hotel registration card helped identify Magee, who was arrested in Glasgow in June 1985.

Magee was convicted in 1986 and received eight life sentences. He was released in June 1999 under the Good Friday Agreement’s early-release provisions.