Sir Bernard Ingham dies at age 90: Long-serving press secretary for Margaret Thatcher passes away following short illness, his family reveal

• Sir Bernard Ingham has died with his son saying ‘he was a journalist to his bones’

Sir Bernard Ingham, the long-serving press secretary for Margaret Thatcher, has died aged 90 after a short illness, his family said. 

He was a Fleet Street journalist with The Guardian before becoming a Government press officer, and served as Mrs Thatcher’s press secretary for all but the first few months of her premiership.

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 in West Yorkshire, The Hebden Bridge Times, and he was still filing weekly columns to Express Online and The Yorkshire Post until a few days before he died.

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.

Sir Bernard Ingham, left, was Mrs Thatcher’s press secretary for all of her time as Prime Minister, from 1979 until 1990. Above: Sir Bernard with Mrs Thatcher and her husband Dennis in 1998

Sir Bernard (pictured at Mrs Thatcher’s funeral in 2013) was hailed as a ‘journalist to his bones’ by his son in a post on social media

‘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.’

Tributes have started to pour in for Sir Bernard, with former Conservative MP Harvey Proctor saying: ‘I am saddened to hear of the death of Sir Bernard Ingham. He was a formidable communicator & political operator.’

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.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.  

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