John Major.
Impressionist Rory Bremner “saved John Major’s bacon” with a series of hoax calls to backbench Tories in the nineties, an MP claimed.
TV funnyman Bremner sparked panic in Downing Street in 1993 when he called a number of Conservative MPs purporting to be Mr Major.
The then-prime minister, who was leading a party fractured over the Maastricht crisis, ordered Whitehall’s top civil servant to investigate the calls and find out what his MPs had divulged.
The details of that inquiry have now been released by the National Archives.
It has emerged that Sir Robin Butler, then Cabinet Secretary, had difficulty convincing one MP that the call had been a hoax.
BBC News
By Sanchia Berg
image captionJohn Major was prime minister between 1990 and 1997
Impressionist Rory Bremner saved John Major s bacon when he inadvertently thwarted a Tory revolt against him, newly released files show.
Documents from the National Archives tell how Bremner impersonated the then-PM when he phoned Eurosceptic Tory MPs in 1993, asking for their support.
They had planned to challenge Sir John s leadership at the time of the Conservative conference in Blackpool.
But the lead rebel thought it was the PM phoning and abandoned the revolt.
Bremner, who made the calls in September 1993 for his new Channel 4 show, has since said he had no idea he had helped to thwart a rebellion 27 years ago.
Impressionist Rory Bremner has revealed how a telephone offer to dance with key Tory rebel Sir Richard Body, while pretending to be John Major, was crucial in keeping the prime minister in number 10.
The comedian granted the PM a stay of execution after inadvertently persuading Eurosceptic backbenchers to fall in line at the height of the Maastricht crisis in 1993, it emerged in official papers released last night.
Files declassified at the National Archives at Kew in London explain how Sir Richard, who died in 2018, was so taken in by the ruse that he pronounced it had saved [Major s] bacon .
Detailing the prank this morning on BBC Radio Four s Today programme, Bremner said: I don t know if you can imagine a time when a group of backbenchers would try to unseat the Prime Minister to take us out of Europe, almost unimaginable isn t it?
Impressionist Rory Bremner may have inadvertently helped to defuse a Tory revolt against John Major, according to newly released official files.
Papers released by the National Archives show Bremner telephoned rebel MPs as an “experiment” to see if his impersonation of the prime minister could convince people who knew him.
But his appeal for support sounded so genuine the rebels agreed to “lay off” and help to carry the government through.
Bremner made the calls in October 1993 ahead of the launch of his new show on Channel 4 – just as Mr Major was preparing for a rough ride from Eurosceptics at the party conference in Blackpool.
Impressionist Rory Bremner may have inadvertently helped to defuse a Tory revolt against John Major, according to newly released official files.
Papers released by the National Archives show Bremner telephoned rebel MPs as an “experiment” to see if his impersonation of the prime minister could convince people who knew him.
But his appeal for support sounded so genuine the rebels agreed to “lay off” and help to carry the government through.
Bremner made the calls in October 1993 ahead of the launch of his new show on Channel 4 – just as Mr Major was preparing for a rough ride from Eurosceptics at the party conference in Blackpool.