| Downing Street mortar attack | |
|---|---|
| Part ofThe Troubles | |
 Mountbatten Green, where two of the shells landed. In the background is the Foreign Office and to the left is the back of 12 Downing Street. | |
| Location | 51°30′13″N00°07′41″W / 51.50361°N 0.12806°W /51.50361; -0.12806 10 Downing Street,London, England |
| Date | 7 February 1991 10:08 am (GMT) |
| Target | John Major |
Attack type | Mortar attack Assassination attempt |
| Deaths | 0 |
| Injured | 4 |
| Perpetrator | Provisional IRA |
TheProvisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) launched three homemademortarshells at10 Downing Street,London, the headquarters of theBritish government, on 7 February 1991. The goal was to assassinatePrime MinisterJohn Major and hiswar cabinet, who were meeting to discuss theGulf War.
One of the 140 pound (64 kg) mortar shellsexploded in the back garden of Number 10, a few yards from theCabinet Office. Due to the presence of bomb-resistant windows, none of thecabinet were hurt, though four other people received minor injuries, including twoMetropolitan Police officers. The other two shells overshotDowning Street and landed on a green nearby.
Duringthe Troubles, as part of itsarmed campaign againstBritish rule in Northern Ireland, theProvisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) repeatedly usedhomemade mortars against targets in Northern Ireland.[1][2] The most notable occasion was the1985 Newry mortar attack which killed nine members of theRoyal Ulster Constabulary.[1][2] The IRA carried out many attacks in England, but none involved mortars. In December 1988, items used in mortar construction and technical details regarding the weapon's trajectory were found during a raid inBattersea,South London, by members of theMetropolitan Police Anti-Terrorist Branch.[3][4] In the late 1980s,Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcher was top of the IRA's list for assassination, following the failed attempt on her life in theBrighton hotel bombing.[3]
Security aroundDowning Street had been stepped up 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 the street.[5][6] Plans to leave acar bomb on a street near Downing Street and detonate it by remote control as Thatcher'sofficial car was driving by had been ruled out by the IRA'sArmy Council owing to the likelihood of civilian casualties, which some Army Council members argued would have been politically counter-productive.[3]
The Army Council instead sanctioned a mortar attack on Downing Street and, in mid-1990, two IRA members travelled toLondon to plan the attack.[3] One was knowledgeable about the trajectory of mortars and the other, from the IRA'sBelfast Brigade, was familiar with their manufacture.[3] Anactive service unit bought aFord Transit van and rented a garage. An IRA co-ordinator procured the explosives and materials needed to make the mortars.[3] The unit began making the mortars and cutting a hole in the roof of the van for the mortars to be fired through. They reconnoitred locations inWhitehall to find a suitable place from which the mortars could be fired at the back of10 Downing Street, the official residence and office of the British prime minister.[3][5]
Once preparations were complete, the two IRA members returned to Ireland, as the group's leadership considered them valuable personnel and did not wish to risk them being arrested in any follow-up operation by the security services.[3] In November 1990, Thatcher unexpectedly resigned from office, but the Army Council decided the planned attack should still go ahead, targeting her successorJohn Major.[5] 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 plannedcabinet meeting was publicly known.[7]
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On the morning of 7 February 1991, Major'swar cabinet, along with other senior government and military officials, were meeting at Downing Street to discuss the ongoingGulf War. As well as Major, those present included politiciansDouglas Hurd,Tom King,Norman Lamont,Peter Lilley,Patrick Mayhew,David Mellor andJohn Wakeham; civil servantsRobin Butler,Percy Cradock,Gus O'Donnell andCharles Powell; andChief of the Defence StaffDavid Craig.[5][8] As the meeting began, an IRA member was driving the van to the launch site at the junction ofHorse Guards Avenue and Whitehall, about 200 yards (180 m) from Downing Street.[2][7][9]
On arrival, the driver parked the van and left the scene on a waiting motorcycle.[7] Several minutes later at 10:08 am, as a policeman was walking towards the van to investigate it, three mortar shells were launched from aMark 10 homemade mortar, followed by the explosion of a pre-setincendiary device.[4][7] This device was designed to destroy anyforensic evidence and set the van on fire.[7] Each shell was four feet six inches (1.4 m) long, weighed 140 pounds (60 kg), and carried a 40-pound (20 kg)payload of theplastic explosiveSemtex.[10]
Two shells landed on Mountbatten Green, a grassed area near theForeign and Commonwealth Office.[2][7] One exploded and the other failed to detonate.[9] The third shell exploded in the back garden of 10 Downing Street, 30 yards (27 m) from theCabinet Office, where the meeting was being held.[7][10] Had the shell struck 10 Downing Street itself, it is likely the entire cabinet would have been killed.[10][11] 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 scorched the back wall of the building, smashed windows and made acrater several feet deep in the garden.[2][3][12]
Once the sound of the explosion andaftershock had died down, Major said, "I think we had better start again, somewhere else."[13] The room was evacuated and the meeting reconvened less than ten minutes later in theCabinet Office Briefing Room.[2][12] No members of the cabinet were hurt, but four people received minor injuries, including two police officers injured by flying debris.[3][9] Immediately after the attack, hundreds of police officers sealed off the government district, from theHouses of Parliament toTrafalgar Square. Until 6 pm, civilians were kept out of the area as forensic experts combed the streets and government employees were locked in behind security gates.[9]
The IRA claimed responsibility for the attack with a statement issued inDublin, 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".[12] Major told theHouse of Commons "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."[12]Leader of the OppositionNeil Kinnock called the attack "vicious and futile".[9] The head of the Metropolitan Police Anti-Terrorist Branch, Commander George Churchill-Coleman, described the attack as "daring, well planned, but badly executed".[12] Several years later, Peter Gurney, the head of the Explosives Section of the Anti-Terrorist Branch, who defused one of the unexploded shells, remarked on the accuracy of the mortars stating "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".[10]
A further statement from the IRA appeared inAn 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."[14] The attack was celebrated inIrish rebel culture when the bandThe 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".[15]
Major temporarily moved toAdmiralty House while repairs of the bomb damage (mostly to the garden and exterior walls) were being completed. The attack led to the addition of guardhouses at the street ends as well as other less visible measures[vague] to further improve security of Downing Street.[16]
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| Residence | ||
| Prime Minister's Office | ||
| Miscellaneous | ||
