On 12 October 1984, a bomb planted by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) exploded in the Grand Hotel, Brighton, the hotel hosting the Conservative Party annual conference. The attack, which detonated at 02:54 am, was an attempt to assassinate prime minister Margaret Thatcher.

The bombing was part of an IRA campaign on the British mainland intended to pressure the UK government into withdrawing from Northern Ireland. The Grand Hotel was targeted because it housed the entire cabinet and numerous senior party figures. The device had been planted weeks earlier by an IRA operative, Patrick Magee.

***

The assassination attempt is said to have been a response to Thatcher’s handling of the 1981 republican hunger strikes. The operation that followed involved two years of preparation between 1982 and 1984, including reconnaissance at the Conservative Party conferences in 1982 and 1983.

The explosion destroyed a section of the hotel’s facade. Five people were killed, including the Conservative MP Anthony Berry, and more than 30 others were injured. Among the seriously injured were the trade and industry secretary Norman Tebbit and his wife Margaret, who was left paralysed. John Wakeham, the chief whip, was also left injured; his wife Roberta was killed.

Both Tebbit and Wakeham were trapped in the rubble. It is said that Thatcher herself narrowly escaped death, as her bathroom was destroyed.

An IRA statement, claiming responsibility for the attack, read: “Today we were unlucky, but remember, we only have to be lucky once; you will have to be lucky always. Give Ireland peace and there will be no war.”

Thatcher arrived on the conference stage at 09.30 am and led a two-minute silence.

In the afternoon, she delivered a redrafted speech, describing the bomb attack as “first and foremost an inhuman, undiscriminating attempt to massacre innocent unsuspecting men and women staying in Brighton for our Conservative conference.”

She said the conference’s “first thoughts must at once be for those who died and for those who are now in hospital recovering from their injuries.”

She added: “But the bomb attack clearly signified more than this. It was an attempt not only to disrupt and terminate our conference; it was an attempt to cripple Her Majesty’s democratically-elected government.

“That is the scale of the outrage in which we have all shared, and the fact that we are gathered here now – shocked, but composed and determined – is a sign not only that this attack has failed, but that all attempts to destroy democracy by terrorism will fail.”

She insisted that “business as usual” would continue.

Thatcher told delegates: “We must go on to discuss the things we have talked about during this Conference; one or two matters of foreign affairs; and after that, two subjects I have selected for special consideration – unemployment and the miners’ strike.”

Neil Kinnock, the Labour leader, expressed his “horror and outrage”.

Speaking in the House of Commons on 22 October, Leon Brittan, the home secretary, said the attack’s purpose was “no less than to strike a blow at the heart of our democracy by killing the majority of the cabinet.”

He added: “The gravity of this outrage is reflected in the full-hearted condemnation expressed from all parts of the House and the country at large, as well as from overseas…

“I know that the whole House will wish to join me in expressing our deepest sympathy to the families of our late colleague Sir Anthony Berry, Mrs Jeanne Shattock, Mr Eric Taylor and Mrs Roberta Wakeham, who lost their lives. We wish a speedy recovery to the 32 people injured, of whom six are still in hospital.”

***

Thatcher’s government continued to pursue a political solution to the conflict in Northern Ireland, which produced the Anglo-Irish Agreement in November 1985.

In 1986, Magee was handed eight concurrent life sentences after being convicted for the Brighton bombing.

Magee was later released in 1999 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. The move was described by a Downing Street spokesperson as “very hard to stomach”.

In 2000, Magee met Joanna Berry, the daughter of Anthony Berry, after she requested a meeting in an effort to understand his actions and pursue reconciliation.

In an article for Jacobin, published March 2018, Magee wrote: “At the conclusion of the meeting, Joanna and I hugged. It was spontaneous. I told her that I was sorry that I killed her father; that ‘I want to help in any way I can.’

“Then Joanna – Jo – said: ‘I’m glad it was you.’ It was such an extraordinary thing to say. I didn’t know how to, or whether I should, respond. I was left floundering. Perhaps nothing of significance was meant — no more than a clumsy exiting remark.”

Magee and Berry went on to meet several times since their first encounter in 2000.

A 2014 BBC News article records that the two had met “about 140 times”.

In 2009, they spoke at an event in parliament organised by the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on conflict issues.

Clip.