‘I left the Grand Hotel in the early hours of 12th October 1984 to return to my B&B. I could not have imagined the horror and devastation I would wake up to’-Andrew Rosindell MP.

Yesterday October 13, would have been Margaret Thatcher’s 99 birthday. The Member of Parliament for Romford Andrew Rosindell, recalls the first time he met the Iron Lady and the horrors of the Brighton bombings.

This is a night that will live with me forever. I was an 18 year old Young Conservative from Romford, attending the Conservative Party Conference in Brighton. I had met Mrs Thatcher and was excited to be there to cheer her on! After a night of fringe meetings, receptions and meeting friends, with a heavy cold and feeling unwell, I left the Grand Hotel in the early hours of 12th October 1984 to return to my B&B some distance away.I could not have imagined the horror and devastation I would wake up to.

Around 7am, someone was knocking furiously on my door to see if I was ok, as my mother was on the phone at hotel reception in a panic, having heard news of a bomb. I immediately switched on BBC Breakfast and saw the devastating scenes and carnage that had taken place only a few hours before.

Watching a brave Norman Tebbit being dragged from the rubble of the Grand Hotel, was deeply shocking and upsetting, but the news that Mrs Thatcher had survived unscathed was an enormous relief. She said it would be “business as usual” and that the “conference would go on”. So it did. We gathered in the hall as the Prime Minister arrived to a rapturous welcome from us all.

In what was a powerful and emotional speech, she declared that “all attempts to destroy democracy by terrorism will fail”. She was right.

The bravery of the firemen, police and emergency services that night who rescued and helped so many people must never be forgotten. The next day, 13th October, Margaret Thatcher celebrated her 59th birthday. It was a day that some had plotted she would never see. Thank goodness she did and today, on what is the 99th anniversary of her birth, we remember Margaret Thatcher, our finest Prime Minister who provided such courageous leadership and patriotic service to our great British nation. 🇬🇧

Andrew Rosindell M.P.

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