Downing Street mortar attack
Encyclopedia
The Downing Street mortar attack was carried out by the Provisional Irish Republican Army
(IRA) on 10 Downing Street
, London
, the British Prime Minister
John Major
's official residence. The 7 February 1991 attack, an assassination attempt on Major and his War Cabinet
who were meeting to discuss the Gulf War
, was originally planned to target Major's predecessor Margaret Thatcher
. Two shells overshot Downing Street and failed to explode, and one shell exploded in the rear garden of 10 Downing Street. No members of the cabinet were injured, though four other people received minor injuries, including two police officers. Major condemned the assassination attempt, stating "democracies cannot be intimidated by terrorism".
as part of its armed campaign
against British rule in Northern Ireland
, the IRA had repeatedly used homemade mortars
against targets in Northern Ireland. The most notable attack was the 1985 Newry mortar attack
which killed nine members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary
. The IRA had never used mortars in England, but in December 1988 items used in their construction and technical details regarding the weapon's trajectory were found during a raid in Battersea
, South London
conducted by members of the Metropolitan Police Anti-Terrorist Branch
. In the late 1980s British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was top of the IRA's list for assassination, following the failed attempt on her life in the Brighton hotel bombing
. Security around Downing Street
had been increased at a cost of £800,000 following increased IRA activity in England in 1988, including the addition of a police guard post and security gates at the end of Downing Street. Plans to leave a car bomb
on a street near Downing Street and detonate it by remote control
as Thatcher's official car
was driving by had been ruled out by the IRA's Army Council
owing to the likelihood of civilian casualties, which some Army Council members argued would have been politically counter-productive.
, was familiar with their manufacture. An active service unit
purchased a Ford Transit
van and rented a garage
, and an IRA co-ordinator procured the explosives and materials needed to manufacture the mortars. The IRA unit began constructing the mortars and cutting a hole in the roof of the van for the mortars to be fired through, and reconnoitred locations in Whitehall
to find a suitable place from which the mortars could be fired at the rear of 10 Downing Street, the Prime Minister's official residence and office. Once preparations were complete the two IRA members returned to Ireland, as the IRA leadership considered them to be valuable personnel and did not wish to risk them being arrested in any follow-up operation by the security services. In November 1990 Margaret Thatcher unexpectedly resigned from office, but the Army Council decided the planned attack should still go ahead, targeting her successor John Major. The IRA planned to attack when Major and his ministers were likely to be meeting at Downing Street, and waited until the date of a planned cabinet meeting was publicly known.
, Douglas Hurd
, Tom King
, Norman Lamont, Peter Lilley
, John Wakeham
, Robin Butler, David Craig
, Patrick Mayhew
, Percy Cradock
, Charles Powell
and Gus O'Donnell
. As the meeting began an IRA member was driving the transit van to the launch site, at the junction of Horse Guards Avenue
and Whitehall close to the headquarters of the Ministry of Defence
, approximately 200 yards (182.9 m) from Downing Street.
On arrival, the driver parked the van and left the scene on a waiting motorcycle. Several minutes later at 10:08 a.m., as a policeman was walking towards the van to investigate it, three mortar shells were launched, followed by the explosion of a pre-set incendiary device
. This device was designed to destroy any forensic evidence and set the van on fire. Each shell was four and a half feet long, weighed 140 pounds (63.5 kg), and carried a 40 pounds (18.1 kg) payload
of the plastic explosive
Semtex
. The type of device used by the attackers was a Mark 10 homemade mortar
, according to the British designation. Two shells landed on a grassed area near the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
and failed to explode. The third shell exploded in the rear garden of 10 Downing Street, 30 yards (27.4 m) from the office where the cabinet were meeting. Had the shell impacted on 10 Downing Street itself, it is probable the entire cabinet would have been killed. On hearing the explosion the cabinet ducked under the table for cover. Bomb-proof netting on the windows of the cabinet office muffled the force of the explosion, which also scorched the rear wall of the building and made a crater several feet deep in the garden.
Once the sound of the explosion and aftershock had died down, John Major
said, "I think we had better start again, somewhere else." The room was evacuated and the meeting reconvened less than ten minutes later in the underground bunker known as the Cobra Room
. No members of the cabinet were injured, but four people received minor injuries, including two police officers injured by flying debris.
also condemned the attack, stating "The attack in Whitehall today was both vicious and futile". The head of the Metropolitan Police Anti-Terrorist Branch, Commander George Churchill-Coleman, described the attack as "daring, well planned, but badly executed". Peter Gurney, the head of the Explosives Section of the Anti-Terrorist Branch who defused one of the unexploded shells, gave his reaction to the attack:
A further statement from the IRA appeared in An Phoblacht
, with a spokesperson stating "Like any colonialists, the members of the British establishment do not want the result of their occupation landing at their front or back doorstep ... Are the members of the British cabinet prepared to give their lives to hold on to a colony? They should understand the cost will be great while Britain remains in Ireland." The attack was celebrated in Irish rebel popular culture
when The Irish Brigade released a song titled "Downing Street", to the tune of "On the Street Where You Live
", which included the lyrics "while you hold Ireland, it's not safe down the street where you live".
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
(IRA) on 10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street, colloquially known in the United Kingdom as "Number 10", is the headquarters of Her Majesty's Government and the official residence and office of the First Lord of the Treasury, who is now always the Prime Minister....
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, the British Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
John Major
John Major
Sir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...
's official residence. The 7 February 1991 attack, an assassination attempt on Major and his War Cabinet
War Cabinet
A War Cabinet is a committee formed by a government in a time of war. It is usually a subset of the full executive cabinet of ministers. It is also quite common for a War Cabinet to have senior military officers and opposition politicians as members....
who were meeting to discuss the Gulf War
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
, was originally planned to target Major's predecessor Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
. Two shells overshot Downing Street and failed to explode, and one shell exploded in the rear garden of 10 Downing Street. No members of the cabinet were injured, though four other people received minor injuries, including two police officers. Major condemned the assassination attempt, stating "democracies cannot be intimidated by terrorism".
Background
During The TroublesThe Troubles
The Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast...
as part of its armed campaign
Provisional IRA campaign 1969–1997
From 1969 until 1997, the Provisional Irish Republican Army conducted an armed paramilitary campaign in Northern Ireland and England, aimed at ending British rule in Northern Ireland in order to create a united Ireland....
against British rule in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, the IRA had repeatedly used homemade mortars
Barrack buster
Barrack buster is the colloquial name given to several improvised mortars, developed in the 1990s by the engineering group of the Provisional Irish Republican Army ....
against targets in Northern Ireland. The most notable attack was the 1985 Newry mortar attack
1985 Newry mortar attack
The 1985 Newry mortar attack was an attack carried out by the Provisional Irish Republican Army on a Royal Ulster Constabulary station in Corry Square, Newry, Northern Ireland. The attack killed nine RUC officers.-Background:...
which killed nine members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary
Royal Ulster Constabulary
The Royal Ulster Constabulary was the name of the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2000. Following the awarding of the George Cross in 2000, it was subsequently known as the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC. It was founded on 1 June 1922 out of the Royal Irish Constabulary...
. The IRA had never used mortars in England, but in December 1988 items used in their construction and technical details regarding the weapon's trajectory were found during a raid in Battersea
Battersea
Battersea is an area of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is an inner-city district of South London, situated on the south side of the River Thames, 2.9 miles south-west of Charing Cross. Battersea spans from Fairfield in the west to Queenstown in the east...
, South London
South London
South London is the southern part of London, England, United Kingdom.According to the 2011 official Boundary Commission for England definition, South London includes the London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Kingston, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Southwark, Sutton and...
conducted by members of the Metropolitan Police Anti-Terrorist Branch
Metropolitan Police Anti-Terrorist Branch
The Anti-Terrorist Branch was a Specialist Operations branch of London's Metropolitan Police Service, formed to respond to terrorist activities within the capital....
. In the late 1980s British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was top of the IRA's list for assassination, following the failed attempt on her life in the Brighton hotel bombing
Brighton hotel bombing
The Brighton hotel bombing happened on 12 October 1984 at the Grand Hotel in Brighton, England. The bomb was planted by Provisional Irish Republican Army member Patrick Magee, with the intention of assassinating Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet who were staying at the hotel for the...
. Security around Downing Street
Downing Street
Downing Street in London, England has for over two hundred years housed the official residences of two of the most senior British cabinet ministers: the First Lord of the Treasury, an office now synonymous with that of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and the Second Lord of the Treasury, an...
had been increased at a cost of £800,000 following increased IRA activity in England in 1988, including the addition of a police guard post and security gates at the end of Downing Street. Plans to leave a car bomb
Car bomb
A car bomb, or truck bomb also known as a Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device , is an improvised explosive device placed in a car or other vehicle and then detonated. It is commonly used as a weapon of assassination, terrorism, or guerrilla warfare, to kill the occupants of the vehicle,...
on a street near Downing Street and detonate it by remote control
Remote control
A remote control is a component of an electronics device, most commonly a television set, used for operating the television device wirelessly from a short line-of-sight distance.The remote control is usually contracted to remote...
as Thatcher's official car
Official state car
An official state car is a car used by a government to transport its head of state in an official capacity, which may also be used occasionally to transport other members of the government or visiting dignitaries from other countries. On a state visit, the official state car might be transported...
was driving by had been ruled out by the IRA's Army Council
IRA Army Council
The IRA Army Council was the decision-making body of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, more commonly known as the IRA, a paramilitary group dedicated to bringing about the end of the Union between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom. The council had seven members, said by the...
owing to the likelihood of civilian casualties, which some Army Council members argued would have been politically counter-productive.
Preparation
The Army Council instead sanctioned a mortar attack on Downing Street, and in mid-1980 two IRA members travelled to London to plan the attack. One of the IRA members was knowledgeable about the trajectory of mortars and the other, from the IRA's Belfast BrigadeProvisional IRA Belfast Brigade
The Belfast Brigade of the Provisional IRA was the largest of the organisation's command areas, based in the city of Belfast. Founded in 1969, along with the formation of the Provisional IRA, it was historically organised into three battalions; the First Battalion based in the...
, was familiar with their manufacture. An active service unit
Active Service Unit
An active service unit was a Provisional Irish Republican Army cell of five to eight members, tasked with carrying out armed attacks. In 2002 the IRA had about 1,000 active members of which about 300 were in active service units....
purchased a Ford Transit
Ford Transit
The Ford Transit is a range of panel vans, minibuses, and pickup trucks, produced by the Ford Motor Company in Europe.The Transit has been the best-selling light commercial vehicle in Europe for 40 years, and in some countries the term "Transit" has passed into common usage as a generic term...
van and rented a garage
Garage (house)
A residential garage is part of a home, or an associated building, designed or used for storing a vehicle or vehicles. In some places the term is used synonymously with "carport", though that term normally describes a structure that is not completely enclosed.- British residential garages:Those...
, and an IRA co-ordinator procured the explosives and materials needed to manufacture the mortars. The IRA unit began constructing the mortars and cutting a hole in the roof of the van for the mortars to be fired through, and reconnoitred locations in Whitehall
Whitehall
Whitehall is a road in Westminster, in London, England. It is the main artery running north from Parliament Square, towards Charing Cross at the southern end of Trafalgar Square...
to find a suitable place from which the mortars could be fired at the rear of 10 Downing Street, the Prime Minister's official residence and office. Once preparations were complete the two IRA members returned to Ireland, as the IRA leadership considered them to be valuable personnel and did not wish to risk them being arrested in any follow-up operation by the security services. In November 1990 Margaret Thatcher unexpectedly resigned from office, but the Army Council decided the planned attack should still go ahead, targeting her successor John Major. The IRA planned to attack when Major and his ministers were likely to be meeting at Downing Street, and waited until the date of a planned cabinet meeting was publicly known.
The attack
On the morning of 7 February 1991, the War Cabinet and senior government and military officials were meeting at Downing Street to discuss the ongoing Gulf War. Those present at the meeting included John Major, David MellorDavid Mellor
David John Mellor, QC is a British politician, non-practising barrister, broadcaster, journalist and football pundit. A member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet of Prime Minister John Major as Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Secretary of State for National Heritage , before...
, Douglas Hurd
Douglas Hurd
Douglas Richard Hurd, Baron Hurd of Westwell, CH, CBE, PC , is a British Conservative politician and novelist, who served in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major between 1979 and his retirement in 1995....
, Tom King
Tom King, Baron King of Bridgwater
Thomas Jeremy King, Baron King of Bridgwater, CH, PC , is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet from 1983–92, and was the Member of Parliament for the constituency of Bridgwater in Somerset from 1970-2001...
, Norman Lamont, Peter Lilley
Peter Lilley
Peter Bruce Lilley MP is a British Conservative Party politician who has been a Member of Parliament MP since 1983. He currently represents the constituency of Hitchin and Harpenden and, prior to boundary changes, represented St Albans...
, John Wakeham
John Wakeham
John Wakeham, Baron Wakeham, PC, DL is a businessman and British Conservative Party politician and the current Chancellor of Brunel University.He was a director of Enron from 1994 until its bankruptcy in 2001....
, Robin Butler, David Craig
David Craig, Baron Craig of Radley
Marshal of the Royal Air Force David Brownrigg Craig, Baron Craig of Radley, GCB, OBE , is a retired Royal Air Force officer and member of the House of Lords...
, Patrick Mayhew
Patrick Mayhew
Patrick Barnabas Burke Mayhew, Baron Mayhew of Twysden, PC is a British barrister, and Conservative Party politician.He was educated at Tonbridge School and Balliol College, Oxford...
, Percy Cradock
Percy Cradock
Sir Percy Cradock, GCMG was a British diplomat, civil servant and sinologist who served as British Ambassador to the People's Republic of China from 1978 to 1983, playing a significant role in the Sino-British negotiations which led up to the signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration in...
, Charles Powell
Charles Powell
Charles Edwin Powell is an American actor, known for his roles as himself on Popular Mechanics for Kids and as President Harold Bates on 15/Love.-Biography:...
and Gus O'Donnell
Gus O'Donnell
Sir Augustine Thomas "Gus" O'Donnell GCB is a British civil servant, who is the current Cabinet Secretary, the highest rank in the British Civil Service. He is consequently, under current practice, Head of the Civil Service, which means he has authority over all civil servants except those who are...
. As the meeting began an IRA member was driving the transit van to the launch site, at the junction of Horse Guards Avenue
Horse Guards Avenue
Horse Guards Avenue is a road in the City of Westminster, London, linking the major thoroughfares of Whitehall and Victoria Embankment, to the east of the Horse Guards building and parade area. It is not to be confused with Horse Guards Road, which is on the opposite side of the Horse Guards...
and Whitehall close to the headquarters of the Ministry of Defence
Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....
, approximately 200 yards (182.9 m) from Downing Street.
On arrival, the driver parked the van and left the scene on a waiting motorcycle. Several minutes later at 10:08 a.m., as a policeman was walking towards the van to investigate it, three mortar shells were launched, followed by the explosion of a pre-set incendiary device
Incendiary device
Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices or incendiary bombs are bombs designed to start fires or destroy sensitive equipment using materials such as napalm, thermite, chlorine trifluoride, or white phosphorus....
. This device was designed to destroy any forensic evidence and set the van on fire. Each shell was four and a half feet long, weighed 140 pounds (63.5 kg), and carried a 40 pounds (18.1 kg) payload
Warhead
The term warhead refers to the explosive material and detonator that is delivered by a missile, rocket, or torpedo.- Etymology :During the early development of naval torpedoes, they could be equipped with an inert payload that was intended for use during training, test firing and exercises. This...
of the plastic explosive
Plastic explosive
Plastic explosive is a specialised form of explosive material. It is a soft and hand moldable solid material. Plastic explosives are properly known as putty explosives within the field of explosives engineering....
Semtex
Semtex
Semtex is a general-purpose plastic explosive containing RDX and PETN. It is used in commercial blasting, demolition, and in certain military applications. Semtex became notoriously popular with terrorists because it was, until recently, extremely difficult to detect, as in the case of Pan Am...
. The type of device used by the attackers was a Mark 10 homemade mortar
Barrack buster
Barrack buster is the colloquial name given to several improvised mortars, developed in the 1990s by the engineering group of the Provisional Irish Republican Army ....
, according to the British designation. Two shells landed on a grassed area near the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office or the FCO is a British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom overseas, created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.The head of the FCO is the...
and failed to explode. The third shell exploded in the rear garden of 10 Downing Street, 30 yards (27.4 m) from the office where the cabinet were meeting. Had the shell impacted on 10 Downing Street itself, it is probable the entire cabinet would have been killed. On hearing the explosion the cabinet ducked under the table for cover. Bomb-proof netting on the windows of the cabinet office muffled the force of the explosion, which also scorched the rear wall of the building and made a crater several feet deep in the garden.
Once the sound of the explosion and aftershock had died down, John Major
John Major
Sir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...
said, "I think we had better start again, somewhere else." The room was evacuated and the meeting reconvened less than ten minutes later in the underground bunker known as the Cobra Room
Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms
Cabinet Office Briefing Room is a term used to describe the formation of a crisis response committee, coordinating the actions of bodies within the government of the United Kingdom in response to instances of national or regional crisis, or during events abroad with major implications for the UK...
. No members of the cabinet were injured, but four people received minor injuries, including two police officers injured by flying debris.
Reaction
The IRA admitted responsibility for the attack with a statement issued in Dublin, saying "Let the British government understand that, while nationalist people in the six counties [Northern Ireland] are forced to live under British rule, then the British Cabinet will be forced to meet in bunkers". John Major told the House of Commons that "Our determination to beat terrorism cannot be beaten by terrorism. The IRA's record is one of failure in every respect, and that failure was demonstrated yet again today. It's about time they learned that democracies cannot be intimidated by terrorism, and we treat them with contempt". Leader of the Opposition Neil KinnockNeil Kinnock
Neil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock is a Welsh politician belonging to the Labour Party. He served as a Member of Parliament from 1970 until 1995 and as Labour Leader and Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition from 1983 until 1992 - his leadership of the party during nearly nine years making him...
also condemned the attack, stating "The attack in Whitehall today was both vicious and futile". The head of the Metropolitan Police Anti-Terrorist Branch, Commander George Churchill-Coleman, described the attack as "daring, well planned, but badly executed". Peter Gurney, the head of the Explosives Section of the Anti-Terrorist Branch who defused one of the unexploded shells, gave his reaction to the attack:
It was a remarkably good aim if you consider that the bomb was fired 250 yards [across Whitehall] with no direct line of sight. Technically, it was quite brilliant and I'm sure that many army crews, if given a similar task, would be very pleased to drop a bomb that close. You've got to park the launch vehicle in an area which is guarded by armed men and you've got less than a minute to do it. I was very, very surprised at how good it was. If the angle of fire had been moved about five or ten degrees, then those bombs would actually have impacted on Number Ten.
A further statement from the IRA appeared in An Phoblacht
An Phoblacht
An Phoblacht is the official newspaper of Sinn Féin in Ireland. It is published once a month, and according to its website sells an average of up to 15,000 copies every month and was the first Irish paper to provide an edition online and currently having in excess of 100,000 website hits per...
, with a spokesperson stating "Like any colonialists, the members of the British establishment do not want the result of their occupation landing at their front or back doorstep ... Are the members of the British cabinet prepared to give their lives to hold on to a colony? They should understand the cost will be great while Britain remains in Ireland." The attack was celebrated in Irish rebel popular culture
Irish rebel music
Irish rebel music is a subgenre of Irish folk music, with much the same instrumentation, but with lyrics predominantly concerned with Irish republicanism.-History:...
when The Irish Brigade released a song titled "Downing Street", to the tune of "On the Street Where You Live
On the Street Where You Live
"On the Street Where You Live" is a song with music by Frederick Loewe and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner from the 1956 Broadway musical My Fair Lady. It is sung in the musical by the character Freddy Eynsford-Hill, who was portrayed by John Michael King in the original production...
", which included the lyrics "while you hold Ireland, it's not safe down the street where you live".