Sir Bernard Ingham, Margaret Thatcher's long-serving press secretary, dies aged 90 after 'short illness'
24 February 2023, 15:45 | Updated: 24 February 2023, 16:03
Sir Bernard Ingham, the long-serving press secretary for Margaret Thatcher, has died aged 90 after a short illness, his family said.
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Sir Bernard served as Ms Thatcher's chief press secretary from 1979 to 1990 and was knighted as part of her resignation honours.
He was a Fleet Street journalist before becoming a Government press officer.
After leaving Downing Street, he wrote his memoirs, Kill The Messenger, and worked as a political pundit, an after-dinner speaker, a cruise lecturer and a newspaper columnist.
His family said "he was a journalist to his bones", starting out aged 16 on his local paper and still filing weekly columns until a few days before he died.
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His son, John Ingham, said: "To the wider world he is known as Margaret Thatcher's chief press secretary, a formidable operator in the political and Whitehall jungles.
"But to me he was my dad - and a great dad at that. He was a fellow football fan and an adoring grandfather and great grandfather. My family will miss him greatly."
Sir Bernard was married for 60 years to Nancy Ingham, a former policewoman, who died in 2017.
He leaves a son, two grandchildren and a great grandchild.
