Thatcher gets it: Brighton Bombing succeeds

[mullauna]

I think if say 150 or 200 senior Tories and their wives/husbands had perished including people like Thatcher, Tebbit, Lawson etc the political and public response would have been massive.



Whoever emerged as PM would have had to deal with the tidal wave of anger that would have been directed at the IRA and at groups like NORAID. Short-term, we'd have seen the reintroduction of internment without trial and possibly some attacks against Irish prople in London.



Longer-term, it probably forces the British and Irish Governments to seek (and impose) a settlement on Ulster. We get a form of Good Friday agreement several years earlier than in OTL but with a deal of residual bitterness.



It would be the British equivalent of September 11th in many respects.

[stevep]

Nov 2, 2018 16:46:08 GMT mullauna said:

I think if say 150 or 200 senior Tories and their wives/husbands had perished including people like Thatcher, Tebbit, Lawson etc the political and public response would have been massive.



Whoever emerged as PM would have had to deal with the tidal wave of anger that would have been directed at the IRA and at groups like NORAID. Short-term, we'd have seen the reintroduction of internment without trial and possibly some attacks against Irish prople in London.



Longer-term, it probably forces the British and Irish Governments to seek (and impose) a settlement on Ulster. We get a form of Good Friday agreement several years earlier than in OTL but with a deal of residual bitterness.



It would be the British equivalent of September 11th in many respects.

  Given how unpopular the Tories were at the time and the deep division in the opposition it might introduce a period of instability in Britain.  Although it could make things better in the medium/longer term.  Would depend on what happens in the Tory party as if it largely cleared out most of the Thatcherites you could actually see a responsible Conservative party re-appear. 

  Definitely a reaction against the IRA and other extremist groups, especially on the 'Nationalist' side.  Probably wouldn't lead to an equivalent of the OTL agreement as the sides were further apart and with the IRA having more influence in parts of the south at the time.  However it might start the process.  The Irish government would have been involved if a settlement was imposed because they would have been too mistrusted by the bulk of the population of Ulster and possibly by too many people in Britain at that point.

  Think its by some way the largest murder strike by the IRA [or any similar group] against Britain but doubt that its that similar to the twin towers because Britain had been enduring attacks for ~15 years already whereas the US hadn't really had a successful substantial attack by a foreign agency before 11-9-01.  As such it wouldn't be quite as traumatic as the US went through.

[James G]

Nov 2, 2018 19:37:56 GMT stevep said:

Nov 2, 2018 16:46:08 GMT mullauna said:

  Think its by some way the largest murder strike by the IRA [or any similar group] against Britain but doubt that its that similar to the twin towers because Britain had been enduring attacks for ~15 years already whereas the US hadn't really had a successful substantial attack by a foreign agency before 11-9-01.  As such it wouldn't be quite as traumatic as the US went through.

I agree. It would have to be a really big bomb to get so many targets and that would mean the hotel would be fully down. That leaves nothing for the tv pictures or photographs of substance to see apart from an empty gap. The thing with 9/11 was that that was on tv - Brighton was at night and no cameras - and the whole thing played out live like it did with images in daylight. that helped ingrain it into the public mind.