Margaret Thatcher attempted to block explicit, public health warnings about Aids because she feared the proposed descriptions of “risky sex” would do immense harm to young teenagers.
Objections raised by the prime minister and older cabinet colleagues in the 1980s may appear inappropriate now but reflect public reluctance at the time to acknowledge that the UK was facing a major epidemic.
Cabinet papers released on Wednesday show Thatcher fought repeatedly on the grounds of suppressing bad taste to limit wider distribution of precise explanations of which sexual practices were most likely to lead to HIV infection.
She opposed references to anal intercourse in public health material, as well as mass leafleting of homes and a ministerial broadcast, but she lost most of those battles, according to documents at the National Archives in Kew, south-west London.
In mid-1985, as the extent of the medical crisis was emerging, David Willetts, then in the No 10 policy unit, explained the dilemma to Thatcher. “We have to walk a difficult tightrope between being accused of bureaucratic inertia and being so active as to whip up public hysteria,” he said.
At that stage the first known UK case dated back to 1979 and there had been 196 victims – 110 of whom had died. Donald Acheson, the chief medical officer, warned: “The results of the infection are potentially fatal and there is no effective treatment for it. A vaccine is unlikely to be developed in the foreseeable future.”
Downing Street’s initial instinct was to shy away from the subject. Mark Addison, Thatcher’s private secretary, advised against her participating in the opening ceremony for a £30m blood screening laboratory in Elstree, Hertfordshire.
“My own feeling is that the prime minister should stay clear of Aids (!), even when it is a question of opening laboratories to help innocent victims,” he wrote. “I think this is all something for Norman Fowler [the health secretary]. If she is going to do a medical visit, I should prefer to suggest a hospital, or a home for children with incurable diseases etc.”
Fowler submitted a memorandum detailing plans to publish explicit health warnings in large advertisements in the Sunday papers. In her trademark blue felt pen annotations, Thatcher expressed alarm: “Do we have to do the section on risky sex? I should have thought it could do immense harm if young teenagers were to read it.”
Willie Whitelaw, then deputy prime minister, raised her disapproval at the privy council committee coordinating the government response to Aids but had to inform her that the argument was defeated.
“I made it clear that I viewed the proposed public advice ‘what is risky sex?’ with very considerable distaste,” he told Thatcher. “I was told by colleagues that material on Aids published by some other governments was far more explicit ... As there was no support at all for the doubts I had aired, the committee agreed that the publicity should go ahead.”
Thatcher did not give up. On another letter, she wrote: “With regard to the Aids advertisement – have we checked 1) that it is acceptable to the Advertising Standards Authority and 2) whether a check has been conducted to see that the advertisement does not fall foul of the Obscene Publications Act.”
On another note, she recorded: “I remain against certain parts of this advertisement. I think the anxiety on the part of parents and many teenagers, who would never be in danger from Aids would exceed the good which the advertisement might do.
“It would be better in my mind to follow the VD [venereal disease] precedent of putting notices in doctors’ surgeries, public lavatories etc. But to place advertisements in newspapers, which every young person could read and learn of practices they never knew about, will do harm.”
Following her objections, the adverts were subsequently placed with their text moderately amended.
In August, Fowler proposed leafleting every household in the country about Aids, prompting Thatcher to comment: “Why universal delivery of Aids leaflet but nothing about danger? First reaction is against ... but wait other comments.”
But Willetts warned: “There is certainly a feeling abroad that the government is doing too little and not treating the issue with sufficient urgency.
“I see merit in the prime minister being seen to [be] taking a close personal interest in the issue but there is much greater merit in being able to report action immediately.” In November, Thatcher approved the leaflet campaign.