Sir Geoffrey Howe, Deputy Prime Minister, resigned from Margaret Thatcher’s government on 1 November 1990 with a carefully worded letter.
On 13 November, he explained his reasons to the House of Commons. Of the way her public remarks on Europe undermined her own ministers, he said: “It is rather like sending your opening batsmen to the crease only for them to find, the moment the first balls are bowled, that their bats have been broken before the game by the team captain.”
Nine days later, on 22 November, Thatcher withdrew from the contest for the Conservative leadership.