title: Michael Heseltine

text: Before Heseltine's arrival at the Ministry of Defence, Tam Dalyell had exposed inconsistencies in ministerial accounts of the sinking of the Argentinian warship "ARA General Belgrano" during the Falklands War of 1982, and alleged that the ship had been sunk to sabotage Foreign Office attempts to negotiate peace via Washington and Peru. Heseltine, apparently worried that there might be a scandal comparable to Watergate, asked Clive Ponting, a civil servant who had played an important role in Derek Rayner's efficiency reforms, to draw up a detailed report into the sinking of the "Belgrano". At the end of March 1984 Ponting attended a series of meetings with Heseltine. He and the Permanent Under-Secretary Clive Whitmore wanted to disclose further information to reveal that the "Belgrano" had been spotted a day earlier than had previously been admitted. John Stanley, thought to be Thatcher's eyes and ears in the Ministry of Defence, initially opposed it, but Thatcher was persuaded that a letter should be sent to the Opposition Defence Spokesman Denzil Davies. However, both Heseltine and Thatcher rejected Ponting's draft which would have admitted for the first time that the Belgrano had been sighted a day earlier and stated that she was sailing away from the British taskforce when sunk. Ponting later stated that Stanley had asked Thatcher to overrule Heseltine on the matter; he withheld information not just from Dalyell but from the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, which was conducting its own inquiry, citing national security considerations.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Six days after Heseltine's letter to Denzil Davies, Ponting sent Davies an anonymous note stating that the letter had been written according to the advice of John Stanley, but contrary to the advice of civil servants, and suggesting other potential lines of inquiry. Three months later he sent two documents exposing the alleged cover up. Heseltine strongly supported, and by some accounts pushed for, the prosecution of Ponting (Ministry of Defence police had advised against, but the Solicitor-General Sir Patrick Mayhew urged that he should be). Heseltine later said that Thatcher had not been involved in the decision to prosecute. Neither Heseltine nor Stanley were called as witnesses at Ponting's trial in January 1985 (Richard Mottram, Heseltine's Private Secretary, gave evidence on behalf of the Ministry of Defence). To general surprise Ponting was acquitted. A week later Heseltine launched a stinging seventy-minute attack on Ponting in the House of Commons, and a year later he walked out of a Channel 4 News studio on being told that a recorded interview with Ponting was also to be shown. Stanley was seen as the villain of the piece, whereas Heseltine had merely declined to correct false statements made by others.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: The Foreign Secretary, Geoffrey Howe, spoke highly of Heseltine's contribution to NATO and WEU conferences. Heseltine was as angry as Thatcher at the US invasion of Grenada, a Commonwealth country. He wanted warmer relations with the Soviets and was sceptical about the US Strategic Defense Initiative ("Star Wars"), putting in a brief and grudging appearance at Caspar Weinberger's Ditchley Park Conference about the topic in 1985.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Heseltine came close to misleading the House of Commons over the meeting of NATO defence ministers at Montebello, Quebec, in October 1983. He stated that no "specific" proposals had been made to update NATO short range and tactical nuclear weapons. In fact a decision had been made "in principle" to do so. Crick describes Heseltine's answers as "highly disingenuous and deceitful". At the time NATO was claiming to be cutting back on such weapons, and the peace movement was still powerful in Germany where such weapons might be used.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: The Defence budget was protected by a NATO commitment to increase defence spending by 3% per annum until 1986, but was still subjected to cuts in the proposed budget during Heseltine's tenure. Some senior military figures felt that Heseltine was obsessed with the minutiae of running the department rather than thinking strategically about defence priorities and procurement. Dwin Bramall recalled that Heseltine never showed an interest in the strategy papers he sent him. Thatcher was highly critical of him for failing to take a decision on the development of the Nimrod early-warning plane, on which £660m was spent over a ten-year period, only for the project to be cancelled by his successor. Some accusations were raised (the Commons Select Committee on Defence thought him "vague and evasive" on the issue in 1985) that the accounts were being massaged to push costs into the period after 1986, when cuts would become inevitable. The journalist Hugo Young later recalled Heseltine briefing journalists confidentially that spending and funding could be reconciled until 1986, by which time he expected "to be gone".


title: Michael Heseltine

text: In Cabinet, Heseltine resented being kept out of economic debates and suspected he might be reshuffled to the job of Secretary of State for Northern Ireland as Jim Prior had been. He had tried to pursue a one-man industrial policy, as defence spent £17bn per annum, 5% of UK GDP, half of it on procurement, and 90% of that in the UK, with 700,000 British jobs dependent on it. Heseltine was unhappy at the way defence contracts were often awarded on a cost-plus basis (i.e. agreeing to pay the supplier a certain amount over and above his costs, leaving no incentive to keep costs to a minimum). In 1985 he promoted his special adviser Peter Levene to be Chief of Defence Procurement; special arrangements had to be made to ensure that Levene did not make decisions affecting his own defence company United Scientific Holdings, of which the former Permanent Secretary Sir Frank Cooper was now chairman, and he was paid £95,000 per annum plus £12,000 in pension contributions, more than the Prime Minister or senior civil servants. Thatcher agreed to Levene's appointment over civil service objections. He abolished cost-plus pricing of contracts and stated that he had trimmed 10% off the defence equipment budget by 1989 through greater competitive tendering; enough, as Heseltine put it, to pay for the Trident nuclear missile programme.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: It had been agreed to spend £280m for two Type 22 frigates. Norman Tebbit (Trade and Industry Secretary), with the backing of the Cabinet, wanted them built at Swan Hunter in the North East, but Heseltine threatened resignation in January 1985 unless at least one was built at Cammell Laird on Merseyside, at a cost of an extra £7m, where Type 22s had been built before. Thatcher let him have his way after he persuaded her that it would reward shipyard workers who had crossed picket lines during a recent strike, but was privately furious, and keen to keep defence costs down in future by buying American equipment.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Heseltine also favoured European cooperation in defence procurement, feeling that this allowed Europe to compete with US firms which receive huge orders from The Pentagon. Crick argues that his experience of Concorde in the early 1970s should have warned him that such multinational ventures are problematic and, because of the political capital invested, hard to cancel when things go wrong. Heseltine played an important role in persuading West German defence minister Manfred Wörner to back the joint Anglo-German-Spanish-Italian Eurofighter, and contrary to the wishes of Thatcher (and previous defence secretary John Nott) who preferred an American or British fighter. Cabinet refused to allow a loosening of the specifications to allow French company Dassault to become involved in the consortium. Agreement was reached at Turin in August 1985.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Heseltine also sold 132 Tornados for £4bn to Saudi Arabia later in 1985, accepting oil instead of cash (to the displeasure of Peter Walker, Energy Secretary) so that they would buy British rather than US aircraft. This later formed part of the controversial Al-Yamamah arms deal, the main part of which was signed in 1988.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: In spring 1985 Heseltine displayed little interest in Westland helicopters when approached by Tebbit (then Secretary of State for Trade and Industry) at the time of Alan Bristow's bid for the company, as plenty of American helicopters were available to meet Britain's defence requirements. He attended two meetings about the company's future in June 1985, chaired by Thatcher. Heseltine, who had a poor opinion of Westland's management, was willing to inject £30m, provided the Treasury contributed half. The idea was not approved.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Heseltine took against the new chairman Sir John Cuckney's plan that Westland merge with United Technologies Corporation, of which the US company Sikorsky was a subsidiary, after realising that Westland would probably become responsible for assembling the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, which the Ministry of Defence would then be under great pressure to buy, whereas he preferred Westland to go into receivership so that GEC and British Aerospace could buy the viable parts of the business.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: In mid-October Heseltine suggested a European consortium (which would include French Aerospatiale, German MBB and Italian Agusta). The new Trade and Industry Secretary Leon Brittan at first urged Thatcher to consider a European option (Heseltine later said Brittan "preferred" this option, although Brittan denied this). The Government was officially neutral (i.e. arguing that it was a matter for Westland directors and shareholders) but by November Heseltine was pushing the European option hard. In late November Peter Levene, Chief of Procurement, had a meeting at the Ministry of Defence with his French, German and Italian counterparts (the National Armaments Directors) and the representatives of the consortium, and agreed to "buy European" for certain classes of helicopters, although Heseltine was not actually present. The meeting was later praised by the House of Commons Defence Select Committee. Thatcher, who only learned of the meeting through Cuckney, was displeased, as were Brittan and the Treasury, who thought the US option might be cheaper.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: In early December Thatcher had two "ad hoc" meetings with Heseltine, Brittan, Tebbit, William Whitelaw (Deputy Prime Minister), Geoffrey Howe (Foreign Secretary) and Nigel Lawson (Chancellor of the Exchequer). Howe and Tebbit were not unsympathetic to Heseltine's proposed consortium, and the decision was deferred to the Cabinet Economic Affairs Committee (E(A)) on Monday 9 December 1985. After that meeting Thatcher, who complained that three hours had been spent discussing a company with a market capitalisation of only £30m (a tiny amount in government terms), allowed Heseltine until 4pm on Friday 13 December to submit a viable proposal for a European deal. He did (with British Aerospace and GEC now part of his consortium), but Westland's directors rejected it. Heseltine had expected that there would be a second meeting of E(A) to discuss his consortium, but no such meeting was called; Thatcher later stated that the Monday meeting had agreed to leave the decision to Westland to take, but it later emerged that Ridley and Lord Young "had" placed such a meeting in their diaries and had been told by Number Ten that it had been cancelled. Heseltine threatened resignation for the first time.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Heseltine raised his concerns with Tebbit, Whitelaw and John Wakeham (Chief Whip). At Cabinet on Thursday 12 December he had an angry exchange with Thatcher about the cancelled meeting, but Westland was not on the agenda for the meeting and Thatcher refused to permit a discussion on the matter, arguing that Cabinet could not do so without the necessary papers. Heseltine asked for his dissent to be minuted, and this was not done, although Cabinet Secretary Robert Armstrong stated that this had been an error and added it himself. On Monday 16 December Heseltine sat on the front bench with obvious disapproval when Brittan told the House that it was up to Westland to decide; on Wednesday 18 December he won the backing of the Commons Defence Committee for the European Consortium. On Thursday 19 December the matter was discussed at Cabinet for ten minutes: Cabinet approved leaving the decision to Westland and Heseltine was ordered to cease campaigning for the European option. Heseltine had failed to drum up enough support among possible allies like Tebbit, Howe, Walker, Norman Fowler and Tom King. A ministerial colleague at the time described him as "absolutely looney, completely hyped up with the thing" and of having a "persecution mania".


title: Michael Heseltine

text: By now the political row was being discussed in the media, partly because of the lack of other news in December. Cuckney wrote to Thatcher, at her behest, asking for reassurance that the Sikorsky deal would not damage Westland's business prospects in Europe. Heseltine was not satisfied with Thatcher's draft reply when he saw it and consulted Sir Patrick Mayhew (Solicitor-General and acting Attorney-General as Sir Michael Havers was ill) on the grounds that the government might be legally liable for any incorrect advice. Heseltine supplied extra material about the risk of losing European business, which Thatcher did not include in her reply to Cuckney. Heseltine then wrote to David Horne of Lloyds Merchant Bank, who was advising the European consortium (in reply to planted questions from Horne which had been dictated to him over the phone by one of Heseltine's staff), giving him the advice which Thatcher had declined to include in her letter to Cuckney (that the Sikorsky deal would be "incompatible with participation" in European helicopter projects). Heseltine's letter was also leaked to the press. This was a blatant challenge to Thatcher's authority as Heseltine had not consulted Downing Street, the Department of Trade and Industry or Mayhew before writing to Horne.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Thatcher discussed sacking Heseltine with close colleagues over Christmas; but, as she later admitted in her memoir, refrained from doing so as he was too popular and important as a political figure. She also decided against sending him a letter threatening him with the sack, which had been drafted. Instead she asked Mayhew to write to Heseltine complaining of what he thought were "material inaccuracies" in his letter to Horne, and asking Heseltine to write to Horne again, correcting them. Mayhew's letter of rebuke to Heseltine – marked "Confidential" – reached Heseltine at lunchtime on Monday 6 January and was immediately leaked to the press by Colette Bowe, an information officer at the Department of Trade and Industry, at Brittan's request (some years later he admitted that he acted on the "express" instructions of Charles Powell and Bernard Ingham, Thatcher's two senior advisers). Heseltine was able to produce extra documents which Mayhew accepted as backing up his letter to Horne, but not before "The Sun" had called Heseltine "You Liar!" on its front page (the newspaper was later required to make a donation to charity in lieu of libel damages).


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Cabinet met on the morning of Thursday 9 January, with Thatcher already having agreed her position with close colleagues at Chequers that weekend, and arranged that Scottish Secretary George Younger should take over as Defence Secretary if Heseltine resigned. Westland was first on the agenda, and Heseltine and Brittan were permitted to put their cases. Heseltine had won the moral high ground over the leaking saga, but Lawson recorded that he seemed obsessive at Cabinet and attracted little sympathy. Thatcher then reiterated her position, which had already been endorsed by the Cabinet, that Westland's future was a matter for Westland to decide, and announced that on grounds of Collective responsibility all answers to questions about Westland must in be cleared through the Cabinet Office. In response to a question by Nicholas Ridley (a friend of Heseltine) she confirmed that this also applied to statements which had "already" been made. After further questions from Heseltine, and another summing up by Thatcher, Heseltine protested that there had been no collective responsibility, gathered up his papers and left the Cabinet Room. Eyewitness accounts differ as to his exact words, or even whether he explicitly resigned. By one account he declared, "I can no longer be a member of this Cabinet". Having allegedly paid a quick visit to the lavatory to straighten his hair and his Guards tie, Heseltine announced his resignation to the waiting press outside Number Ten, the first Cabinet minister to resign from a Cabinet meeting since Joseph Chamberlain in 1886. Some ministers (for example Peter Walker) and civil servants believed Heseltine could have been persuaded to return had it not been for the public announcement.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: At 4pm that day Heseltine delivered a 3,000 word, 22 minute resignation statement at the Ministry of Defence (rather than waiting to make a statement to the House of Commons when it resumed four days later). He may well have prepared this earlier, although his private secretary Richard Mottram says not. To Thatcher's fury Defence officials had helped him throughout the crisis and in preparing this document. His statement denounced Thatcher's managerial style and suggested she was a liar who lacked integrity. Thatcher later said during a television interview that she had not sacked him or called him to order before the incident because, “Had I done that, I know exactly what the press would have said: there you are, old bossyboots at it again.”


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Unlike when Peter Thorneycroft (Chancellor of the Exchequer) resigned in 1958 or Lord Carrington (Foreign Secretary) in 1982, Heseltine's junior ministers Norman Lamont and John Lee did not resign with him. Heseltine was portrayed by "Spitting Image" as a swivel-eyed lunatic holding a toy helicopter.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Brittan had to resign, partly as a result of fallout from the leak of the Mayhew letter, and partly because of his failure to give an entirely truthful answer to the House of Commons about Heseltine's accusation that he had pressured British Aerospace to withdraw from the European Consortium. Thatcher survived the Westland debate on 27 January, aided by a poor and long-winded speech by Opposition Leader Neil Kinnock. Sikorsky bought Westland.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Up until Westland, Thatcher had approved of most of what Heseltine had done, even though their politics were rather different. Heseltine and Thatcher had quarrelled openly over a question of relations between Britain and the European Community (as it then was). Apart from the clash of personalities, and the escalation of small issues into bigger issues, it has been suggested that Heseltine, concerned at impending Defence cuts in 1986, and worried that Thatcher was unlikely to promote him further, was looking for an excuse for a resignation, which would put him in good stead to be elected party leader after, as seemed likely at the time, the Conservatives lost the next election due by summer 1988.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Heseltine was not one to befriend and gossip with colleagues or backbenchers. He did not regard this as an insurmountable problem, as neither Heath nor Thatcher had been particularly "clubbable" either. From about the mid-1970s, he began a campaign of addressing local associations, sometimes using a helicopter to speak to several in one day. Heseltine had often had a reputation for being very cold and aloof with backbench MPs and party activists (Steven Norris said that after a visit to his constituency in 1983, local activists used a poster of Heseltine as a dartboard). However, in 1986–1990 he was a frequent visitor to local constituency dinners, although he usually attacked Labour rather than the Conservative government, and he used his wealth to afford a chauffeur and a helicopter.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Heseltine campaigned in 100 constituencies in the 1987 election, attracting more publicity than many Cabinet ministers, although seldom mentioning Thatcher by name.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: During this period Heseltine enjoyed excellent relations with the media: among TV journalists he was in regular touch with Elinor Goodman of "Channel 4 News" (herself a former Haymarket employee), James Mates of ITN (son of his lieutenant Michael Mates) and John Cole, whilst among print journalists he was close to his old friend Anthony Howard (Deputy Editor of the Observer), Peter Jenkins, and especially close to Anthony Bevins of "The Independent" and the young Alastair Campbell of the "Daily Mirror".


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Heseltine's book "Where There's A Will" was written by a team of ghostwriters directed by Keith Hampson and Julian Haviland (former political editor of ITN and "The Times"). Academics, businessmen and economists contributed, and he often had them thresh out ideas in front of him. "He acquires by social intercourse the knowledge that other people acquire by reading", one adviser commented. The collated drafts were then rewritten by Haviland to "give it one voice". Hugo Young called it "the most impressive [book of its kind] I've read by a modern Conservative".


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Heseltine's second book, "The Challenge of Europe: Can Britain Win?", appeared in 1989. Heseltine was in close touch with President of the European Commission Jacques Delors, who paid a 3-hour visit to his Victoria office, diplomats Nicholas Henderson and Antony Acland and economist Christopher Johnson, who is thought to have persuaded him of the merits of European monetary union. The book won a £10,000 Adolphe Bentincke prize for advancing European unity. Heseltine was a qualified supporter of the social charter (a stronger precursor to the Social Chapter from which John Major would later opt out in the Maastricht Treaty). He was seen as devoted to Europe as a matter of what he perceived as Britain's self-interest, not on an emotional level like Edward Heath, Roy Jenkins or Ken Clarke.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Out of office Heseltine called for money, including the receipts from council house sales, to be spent on infrastructure investment instead of tax cuts. He also called for reductions in tax relief on mortgage interest payments and pension contributions, in the hope of encouraging investment into industry rather than into property and finance, echoing views being promoted by Will Hutton at the time.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Heseltine also took an interest in the reduction of long-term unemployment, advocating Swedish-style Workfare. A pamphlet by Richard Layard on the topic would have been published under Heseltine's name had it not been for his return to government at the end of 1990. Several of Heseltine's advisers at this time were SDP supporters, and in some cases later defected to Labour; Crick commented (in 1997) that Heseltine's views at this time were very similar to those later advocated by Tony Blair's New Labour.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Heseltine's resignation in January 1986 had been just before the only occasion on which the Poll Tax was discussed in Cabinet. He spoke against the tax when it was enacted into law in 1987–1988, but abstained rather than voting against as Edward Heath did, although he voted for Michael Mates' amendment which tried to introduce an element of banding according to ability to pay. Heseltine remained aloof from factional plotting in the Commons, and voted with the left-wing Lollard faction in backbench committee elections. Heseltine later said that he regretted resigning from the Cabinet in 1986, as he subsequently often wondered if he and Nigel Lawson might have been able to persuade Thatcher to abandon the tax.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Heseltine clashed bitterly at this time with his former friend Nicholas Ridley. Ridley was a Eurosceptic, a free marketer, a champion of the poll tax and a key ally of Thatcher. Heseltine argued that there was too much green belt building (although in fact only slightly more so than he had himself authorised as Environment Secretary) and stated that as a property developer he had never built on a "green" site, forgetting that he had done so in Tenterden in the early 1960s.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Although (or perhaps because) many of Heseltine's policy positions were not far removed from those of Labour, which was shifting to the right under Kinnock, he kept up his Conservative credentials at this time. In alliance with Norman Tebbit he persuaded ministers to abolish the Inner London Education Authority. He also supported the government's planned market-led reforms to the NHS and water privatisation in 1989. He also spoke out frequently on defence matters, supported the government's ban on "Spycatcher", the new Official Secrets Act 1989 and called for an independent Bank of England, although perhaps as a stepping stone to the setting up of a European Central Bank.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: One of the reasons which Thatcher gave to close confidants for not retiring on her tenth anniversary as Prime Minister (May 1989) was worry that Heseltine would defeat Geoffrey Howe in any subsequent leadership election. Opinion polls showed that Heseltine would boost Conservative support by 13 percentage points – enough to overtake Labour. Sir Anthony Meyer wanted to see Heseltine as leader and only went ahead with his December 1989 leadership challenge to Thatcher on being assured by Keith Hampson that it would not damage Heseltine's chances; in the event Heseltine apparently walked up and down the corridor outside the voting booth making clear that he was abstaining. While Thatcher won the contest, winning the votes of 85% of Conservative MPs, the next day's "Glasgow Herald" reported that Heseltine's supporters predicted that unless she changed "her style of leadership", she would "be on her way out next year".


title: Michael Heseltine

text: In spring 1990 Thatcher's political fortunes were looking weaker, as the Conservatives were badly defeated at the Mid Staffordshire by-election and the Poll tax riots took place. But despite Conservative losses at the local elections, Party Chairman Kenneth Baker spun the result as a success by pointing to the Conservative hold of Westminster and Wandsworth Councils, where the poll tax was low. In May 1990, after the elections, Heseltine wrote an article in "The Times" proposing reform of the poll tax – he called for the tax to be banded according to income, for councils which spent more than a certain level to face mandatory elections, for elected local mayors and for the restoration of the unitary county boroughs (i.e. making smaller cities into counties in their own right, so ending the confusion as to whether county or district council were responsible for high spending) which he himself had abolished. However, the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, which made war seem likely, boosted Thatcher's popularity.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Heseltine was being quietly urged to challenge Thatcher for the party leadership by David Mellor, the Arts Minister, but in a carefully worded formula Heseltine had repeatedly insisted that he could "not foresee ... circumstances" in which he would do so. Then came the Conservative defeat at the Eastbourne by-election (18 October) and the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister Geoffrey Howe (1 November).


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Heseltine wrote a six-page public letter to his local Association chairman, calling for more regard for the wide range of opinions in the party. Heseltine then left for the Middle East to visit King Hussein of Jordan and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir. Association officers sent him a 97-word reply (5 November) saying that they supported Thatcher's leadership. The party's regional agent had been present at their meeting, but they insisted he had not interfered with their reply. Round about the same time Thatcher's press secretary Bernard Ingham briefed journalists that Heseltine had "lit the blue touch paper then retired", although he denied having demanded that Heseltine "put up or shut up"; the "Daily Mail" front page asked "does he have the courage?" and "The Times" commented that if he did not throw his hat into the ring he would deserve to have it "stuffed down his throat". Thatcher brought the annual leadership election forward by a fortnight, causing Alastair Campbell to write in the "Daily Mirror" that "Tarzan the Tory Ape Man had made a right monkey of himself". A week later, after meeting Heseltine, the constituency officers issued another letter saying that they regretted how their reply had been construed as criticism.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Then came Howe's resignation speech in the Commons on 13 November, in which he launched a strong attack on Thatcher; next morning Heseltine announced his candidacy for the leadership, saying that over 100 MPs had asked him to stand and that he was better placed than Thatcher to lead the Tories to a fourth election victory.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: During the subsequent leadership election on 20 November, he polled 152 votes (40.9%) in the first round of voting by Conservative MPs, enough to prevent an outright Thatcher victory. (The rules required an incumbent leader to obtain a majority of at least 15% on a first ballot; Thatcher polled 204 votes, equal to 54.8%). Heseltine was thought by many pundits to be on course to beat her in the second ballot as many Conservative MPs were now rumoured to be ready to switch support from Thatcher and only 27 would had to have done so to give Heseltine the overall majority he would need in the second ballot.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: With lukewarm support from her Cabinet, most of whom had told her that she could not win and faced with the bitter prospect of a Heseltine premiership, Thatcher withdrew from the contest and announced her resignation on the morning of 22 November, although she continued to serve as Prime Minister until a new party leader had been chosen.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Heseltine was disappointed not to receive the support of old allies on the second ballot; these included Secretary of State for Defence Tom King (whom he asked in vain to second his nomination, but who was angry at a leadership contest when British troops were soon to go to war in Kuwait and supported Douglas Hurd), Cecil Parkinson and Norman Lamont (who managed John Major's campaign). Over the weekend on 24–25 November, many Conservative MPs were faced with the anger of their local party members who overwhelmingly supported Thatcher but did not at that time have a vote in leadership elections, and opinion polls showed that chancellor John Major would also boost Conservative support if leader (previously Heseltine's unique selling-point). Heseltine had never done much to court support among younger MPs the way Major had, and was seen as aloof even by his own supporters. In the second ballot, a week after the first, Heseltine's vote actually fell to 131 (just over 35%) as some MPs had voted for him in the first ballot as a protest against or to try to oust Thatcher but preferred to vote for other candidates now that they had a wider choice. John Major, with 185 votes, was only two votes short of an overall majority. Heseltine immediately and publicly conceded defeat, announcing that he would vote for Major if the third ballot went ahead (it did not, as Hurd, who had finished a distant third, also conceded).


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Although for the rest of his career Heseltine's role in Thatcher's downfall earned him enmity from Thatcher's supporters in the Conservative party, this opprobrium was not universal. In a reference to the reluctance of the Cabinet to support Thatcher on the second ballot, Edward Leigh said of Heseltine: "At least he stabbed her in the front".


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Heseltine believed that he would have defeated Thatcher if she had contested the second ballot. It has been suggested that "he" should have withdrawn after weakening her on the first ballot, and that he would have been restored to the Cabinet whether or not she continued as Prime Minister; he writes that this was never seriously suggested at the time.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Heseltine disappointed many of his supporters by not pushing for them to get jobs in Major's new administration. Ian Grist was sacked from the Welsh Office and Michael Mates was eventually given a Minister of State position after the 1992 election. There were suggestions that Heseltine might be appointed Home Secretary, but Heseltine advertised his lack of interest in the position, and Major insisted that he had not offered it to him. By contrast, his enthusiasm for industrial policy made it impossible for him to be appointed Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, the job he most coveted.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: After a handshake of reconciliation on the steps of 10 Downing Street, Major appointed Heseltine to the Environment, the same job he had held a decade earlier. Civil servants found him a more secure and mature character the second time round, and keener to conciliate local councils, but at the same time a grander and more detached individual, aware that he had already earned a place in history and had the aura of a political heavyweight.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: In a May 1990 article Heseltine had proposed that the Poll Tax be reformed rather than abolished. He now had a remit to reform it, and invited the opposition parties to take part in his review of options (Labour did not; the Liberal Democrats did, and proposed a local income tax). Heseltine insisted that Michael Portillo, who had been a major cheerleader for the tax, be retained as Minister of State for Local Government. Portillo and Robert Key handled the detail and presented Heseltine with a list of options. Various options were leaked to the press to test public reaction, and at one point Heseltine appeared to have settled on a tax graded both according to the size of the property and the number of adults living in it. Major was exasperated by the lack of progress and intervened, and – at Major's insistence – Chancellor Norman Lamont increased VAT by 2.5 percentage points to 17.5% in his April 1991 budget so as to provide a £4.5bn subsidy to bring poll tax bills down. Eventually, as expected, the poll tax was abolished and the new Council Tax was graded according to the size of a property, with the only concession to headcount being a single-person discount. In Crick's view, the outcome was much more Sarah Hogg's and Portillo's and Major's doing than Heseltine's.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Heseltine was permitted by his colleagues to explore the option of elected city mayors, although it did not meet with Cabinet approval; other ministers were concerned at the likelihood that cities would elect Labour mayors or that there might be deadlock between mayors and local councils. Heseltine also explored the option of unitary authorities (i.e. merging district and county councils), setting up what came to be known as the Banham Commission. Crick regards the commission as a mistake for which Heseltine has received too little blame. The proposals rumbled on for several years, causing annoyance to many Conservative councillors and to their backers in Parliament. The commission was reconstituted and scaled down by the then Environment Secretary John Gummer in 1995.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: In the summer of 1991 Heseltine also launched a City Challenge process, whereby cities competed for government grants for capital projects, and played a key role in Major's decision to back Manchester's (unsuccessful as it turned out) bid to host the 1996 Olympic Games. He also proposed plans for developing an East Thames corridor (christened "Hezzaville" or "Heseltown" by the media).


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Heseltine received a standing ovation at the October 1991 Party Conference, seen as a sign of his rehabilitation with party activists, and was included on the A-Team to prepare for the 1992 election. He mocked Shadow Chancellor John Smith's "prawn cocktail offensive" to try to butter up City opinion ("Never have so many crustaceans died in vain"). He was a leading performer in the election and it was felt that had the Conservatives lost he might well have won the party leadership and been Leader of the Opposition, while if they won he would probably be given Trade and Industry, the job he had always wanted.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Following the 1992 general election he was appointed Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, choosing to be known by the title, dormant since 1974, of "President of the Board of Trade". He insisted on being addressed as "President" ("not" "Mr President") and being referred to as "the President". The Board had not met since 1850, but it did not need to as it had a quorum of one.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: On the backbenches Heseltine had praised the Japanese MITI, and had been planning a book on the subject. He promised to intervene "before breakfast, dinner and tea" to help British companies, but had little opportunity for intervention as the DTI budget had dropped from over £3bn in the early 1980s to £1bn in 1992–1993, a fifth the budget of the Welsh Office. NEDO, which had been set up to coordinate industrial policy in the early 1960s, was abolished by Chancellor Norman Lamont in June 1992, although Heseltine was able to absorb some of the staff into the DTI to set up working parties to shadow specific industries. His junior ministers were Neil Hamilton and Edward Leigh, both Thatcherites. Gordon Brown mocked him (6 July 1992) as having "absolute power over a department which has become absolutely powerless" and "the tiger that was once the king of the jungle is now just the fireside rug – decorative and ostentatious, but essentially there to be walked all over".


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Heseltine was seen as more interested in large than in small and medium-sized companies, and in 1992 was only with difficulty persuaded to refer Lloyds Bank's takeover bid for Midland Bank to the Office of Fair Trading.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Electricity companies now decided on their own contracts, rather than being obligated by the government to choose British coal. With plans being made for the privatisation of British Coal, on 13 October 1992 Heseltine and British Coal both separately announced that 31 of British Coal's 50 pits were to close, with the loss of 30,000 jobs. Most of the detailed work had been done by the Minister of State Tim Eggar. Many of the mines in Nottinghamshire that had continued working during the 1984–1985 strike were to close. Although this policy was seen by the Nottinghamshire miners as a betrayal, there was hardly any organised resistance to the programme. The government stated that since the pits were losing money they could be sustained only through unjustifiable government subsidies. Mine supporters pointed to the mines' high productivity rates and to the fact that their monetary losses were due to the large subsidies that other European nations were giving to their coal industries.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: An early leak had seen little reaction but Heseltine was taken aback by the public anger. Over 100 pits had closed since the 1984–1985 strike. The closures were to be rushed because the Treasury, under pressure from Major, had agreed to make money for generous redundancy settlements available only in the 1992–1993 fiscal year. It looked terrible coming at the fag end of the recession, when the government had a tiny majority, and just after the fiasco of Black Wednesday and the scandal of David Mellor's resignation. Heseltine was attacked by Marcus Fox, James Pawsey, Nicholas Winterton, Bill Cash, Rhodes Boyson and his former supporter David Evans who called openly for him to be sacked.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: The High Court found that Heseltine and British Coal had acted "unlawfully and irrationally". Faced with likely defeat in the House of Commons, Heseltine was forced to agree to a moratorium, during which time he attempted, largely unsuccessfully, to seek new markets for British coal and to obtain government subsidies for pits.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: The band Chumbawamba released the critical song "Mr Heseltine meets the public" that portrayed Heseltine as an out-of-touch figure; the same group had once dedicated a song to the village of Fitzwilliam, West Yorkshire, which was reduced to a ghost village by the closure of the local coal pits.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: In February 1993, Heseltine announced that unlike the Dutch and Belgian governments, Britain would not be contributing to any bailout of Anglo-Dutch DAF Trucks (which in the event went bankrupt in June). By early 1993 Heseltine's fortunes were at a low ebb, with his future as a minister being called into question.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: A review into the pit closures appeared in March 1993. By this time, public anger had cooled. By the start of 1997, British Coal had been reduced to 28 pits.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: On 21 June 1993, Heseltine suffered a serious heart attack in Venice (especially worrying as Heseltine was sixty, and his father had died of a heart attack aged fifty-five). The pains had already stopped by the time he reached hospital. Heseltine was shown looking unwell and using a wheelchair – in fact the result of gout in his foot from the medication which he was taking. He took four months off from work, and did not make a speech at the party conference in October 1993, instead amusing the audience by appearing on the platform and performing mock exercises with his arms.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: There were concerns about his ability to remain in government. In 1994 Chris Morris jokingly implied on BBC Radio 1 that Heseltine had died, and persuaded MP Jerry Hayes to broadcast an on-air tribute. Morris was subsequently suspended.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Heseltine, who had been seen as an "arriviste" in his younger days, was now something of a grandee and elder statesman. In 1994 he re-emerged as a serious political player, beginning with his testimony for the Scott Report during the Arms-to-Iraq Inquiry (whose report eventually appeared in 1996). It was revealed that he had refused to sign the Public Interest Immunity Certificates (attempting to withhold evidence from the trial in 1992, on grounds of national security) as demanded by the Attorney-General Sir Nicholas Lyell, who advised him that ministers were "obligated" to sign such a certificate. In fact after half a dozen meetings over the course of a week, and Heseltine insisting on reading Bingham LJ's judgement in the Makanjuola case, Heseltine had agreed to sign a slightly different version of the PII which made clear his reservations. However, this was not picked up on at the trial, nor were Heseltine's concerns – contrary to assurances given to him by Lyell – that some of the documents might be useful to the defence passed on to the trial judge.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Nonetheless, his evidence in February 1994 was seen as an attack on Lyell and on the ministers (Ken Clarke, his potential rival for the leadership, Rifkind and Tristan Garel-Jones) who had signed the certificates without demur. The cover of "Private Eye" announced "A Legend Lives" and one major newspaper ended an editorial by proclaiming that the "balance of probability" was that Heseltine would be Prime Minister before the end of the year – this being at a time when John Major's leadership had lost much credibility after the scandals following the "Back to Basics" campaign the previous autumn.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Heseltine also acted to enforce a squeaky clean image at this time, by announcing an inquiry in July 1994, into allegations of insider dealing by Jeffrey Archer (there was insufficient evidence to prosecute), and by personally (rather than in writing) announcing an inquiry into whether a weapons manufacturing company called BMARC had broken government guidelines on trading with Iraq in the late 1980s.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Heseltine launched a White Paper on Competitiveness in 1994. He was active in leading British trade delegations to South Africa, South America, India and Russia, but despite his enthusiasm for European Unity was seen to display little interest in the nuts and bolts of trade negotiations with the continent.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: In 1994 Heseltine planned to privatise 40% of the Post Office, a move which the Conservatives had previously shied away from. He was seen as imperious and intolerant by backbench opponents concerned at the threat to local postal services ("he seemed to have lost touch" one commented after a meeting), and the plan was abandoned by the Cabinet as unlikely to pass the House of Commons, as the Major government's majority had dropped to 14 by then. However, Heseltine was gaining some popularity with the Tory Right at this time, helped by his opposition to lowering the gay age of consent from 21 to 18, and his attack on the European Community as overregulated and sclerotic. (The popularity of his rival Kenneth Clarke, by contrast, was suffering among Tory MPs after his unpopular autumn 1994 budget and his overt enthusiasm for the mooted Single European Currency). However, there was to be no leadership election that autumn.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Eurosceptics had been floating the idea of a referendum on membership of the Single Currency or even of membership of the European Community, since at least 1994. In November 1994 Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd, with Major's approval and supported by Malcolm Rifkind, had advocated a referendum on joining the euro or on the upcoming 1996 Intergovernmental Conference, but Heseltine and Clarke were opposed (only these five senior ministers appear to have been involved) and the proposal was shelved for the time being.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: John Major was consistently opposed by Eurosceptics in his party (known as the Maastricht Rebels – a small minority of MPs before 1997, but enjoying much wider support among party activists). Heseltine always stated categorically that he would "never" stand for party leader against Major.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: In mid-1995 Major challenged his critics to "put up or shut up" by resubmitting himself to a leadership election in which he was unsuccessfully opposed by John Redwood the Secretary of State for Wales. There was speculation that Heseltine's supporters would engineer Major's downfall in the hope that their man would take over, but they stayed loyal to Major. Heseltine had been listening to regular reports about his potential support from his lieutenants Keith Hampson, Richard Ottaway, Michael Mates and Peter Temple-Morris, and in the event of a second ballot hoped to receive Major's endorsement. Peter Tapsell refused to support him because of the European issue. Hampson believed that Heseltine might have won, as did Philip Stephens of the "Financial Times". Michael Crick does not agree, pointing out that many of Heseltine's supporters from 1990 had retired from the Commons and the 1992 intake was more right-wing and eurosceptic.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Heseltine, who showed his ballot paper to the returning officers to prove that he had voted for Major, commented that "John Major deserves a great deal better than that from his colleagues". Major was re-elected leader.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Heseltine had a two-hour meeting with Major on the morning of the leadership vote. He was promoted to Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of State. He was given a swipe card to enter 10 Downing Street whenever he liked and the right to attend any committee he wished. He chaired four Cabinet Committees, including Environment and Local Government, and two new committees: Competitiveness Committee (effectively, industrial strategy) and the Coordination and Presentation of Government Policy (EDCP) which met every weekday at 8.30am.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: The matter of a referendum on joining the euro, after much press speculation, was raised again at Cabinet by Douglas Hogg in the spring of 1996, very likely (in Clarke's view) with Major's approval; Clarke records that Heseltine spoke "with passionate intensity" at Cabinet against a referendum, believing both that referendums were pernicious and that no concession would be enough to please the Eurosceptics. Clarke, who had already threatened resignation over the issue, also opposed the measure and, although Clarke and Heseltine were in a small minority, Major once again deferred a decision. Major, Heseltine and Clarke eventually reached agreement in April 1996, in what Clarke describes as "a tense meeting … rather like a treaty session", that there would be a commitment to a referendum before joining the euro, but that the pledge would be valid for one Parliament only (i.e. until the general election after next), with the Government's long-term options remaining completely open; Clarke threatened to resign if this formula were departed from. Heseltine had opposed a referendum on euro membership when Thatcher proposed it in 1990. Clarke, writing in 2016 after the Brexit Referendum, comments that he and Heseltine later agreed that they had separately decided to give way because of the pressure Major was under, and that the referendum pledge "was the biggest single mistake" of their careers, giving "legitimacy" to such a device.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Heseltine made several visits to Manchester in the aftermath of the IRA bomb on 15 June 1996 – he won the praise of opposition politicians for cutting red tape to arrange remedial measures. However, Crick recounts complaints about his aloofness from small shopkeepers, and Crick comments that he seemed to have lost the common touch which he had displayed in Liverpool in the early 1980s.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: In 1996 Heseltine was also one of the more hawkish ministers in urging non-cooperation with the European Community over the beef ban. However, after press speculation in December 1996 that he might abandon the government's "wait and see" policy on the euro in the hope of winning Eurosceptic votes, he took to the airwaves – in apparent unison with Clarke – to insist that the government retained a free choice as to whether or not to join, angering Eurosceptics.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Heseltine played an important role in taking charge of the Millennium Exhibition in Greenwich and ensuring that it happened, even having a meeting with Tony Blair, Leader of the Opposition, in January 1997 to agree that a Labour Government would back it.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: The day after the government was defeated at the 1997 general election, Heseltine suffered an attack of angina and had a tube inserted into an artery; he declined to stand for the Conservative Party leadership again. However, he was less unpopular with eurosceptics than Clarke, and on the third ballot of the subsequent leadership election Clarke, facing imminent defeat by William Hague, offered to stand aside in Heseltine's favour, but he declined on medical advice. He became active in promoting the benefits for Britain of joining the Single European Currency, appearing on the same stage as Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Robin Cook as part of an all-party campaign to promote Euro membership. He was also made a Companion of Honour in the 1997 resignation Honours List. In November 1999 Heseltine was invited by Hague to be the Conservative candidate for the new position of Mayor of London (in place of Jeffrey Archer who had had to stand down because of scandal), but he declined.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: In the interim Shadow Cabinet of John Major he served as Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Heseltine stood down from his Henley constituency at the 2001 election, being succeeded by "Spectator" editor Boris Johnson, future Prime Minister, but he remained outspoken on British politics. He was created a life peer on 12 July 2001 taking the title Baron Heseltine, "of Thenford in the County of Northamptonshire".


title: Michael Heseltine

text: In December 2002, Heseltine controversially called for Iain Duncan Smith to be replaced as leader of the Conservatives by the "dream-ticket" of Clarke as leader and Michael Portillo as deputy. He suggested the party's MPs vote on the matter rather than party members as currently required by party rules. Without the replacement of Duncan Smith, the party "has not a ghost of a chance of winning the next election" he said. Duncan Smith was removed the following year. In the 2005 party leadership election, Heseltine backed young moderniser David Cameron.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Following Cameron's election to the leadership he set up a wide-ranging policy review. Chairmen of the various policy groups included ex-Chancellor Kenneth Clarke and other former Cabinet ministers John Redwood, John Gummer, Stephen Dorrell and Michael Forsyth as well as ex-leader Iain Duncan Smith. Heseltine was appointed to head the cities task force having been responsible for urban policy twice as Environment Secretary under Thatcher and Major.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: In 2008 Heseltine took part in the BBC Wales programme "Coming Home" about his Welsh family history. He said in this programme that he regarded Wales as his home and identified strongly with his Welsh ancestry.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: In March 2012, he was asked to head an audit of the UK's industrial performance for Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne and HM Treasury, upon which—after 11 years as a member of the House of Lords—he made his maiden speech in the chamber.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Following the arrival of the Coalition into power in 2010, he was commissioned to draw up "Plan H" or "No Stone Left Unturned" to stimulate growth in local areas. Since then, 81 out of his 89 recommendations have been adopted. At the 2013 Budget, the Coalition pledged to pool billions of pounds of regional spending into a single fund in a bid to de-centralise public spending and boost economic growth outside London.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Heseltine criticised the Coalition's policy on Europe, but he did support the tightening of immigration laws. He also supported George Osborne's Budget measures in 2013 and Iain Duncan Smith's welfare reforms, but showed concerns over the legalisation of same-sex marriage. In June 2013, he voted against Lord Dear's wrecking amendment, thus ratifying the same-sex marriage act.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: He described the 2016 Brexit referendum result to leave the European Union as "the greatest constitutional crisis of modern times" and condemned Leave campaigner Boris Johnson as a coward for pulling out of the Conservative leadership election after winning the referendum, likening him to "a general who has led his troops to the sound of guns, and, at first sight of battle, has left the field." Lord Heseltine queried the way Theresa May as home secretary campaigned to remain in the EU though "within a few weeks" of becoming PM, she insisted "Brexit means Brexit". Heseltine mentioned a speech by Theresa May before the EU referendum, where she urged Britain to "stand tall and lead in Europe". Heseltine said: "I don't know how someone who made that speech can, within a few weeks, say Brexit is Brexit and ask the nation to unite behind it...[unlike Margaret Thatcher] this lady was for turning."


title: Michael Heseltine

text: In March 2017 he was sacked from a number of advisory roles within government after rebelling over the article 50 legislation in the House of Lords, but said he would continue working to avert the "disaster" of Brexit. He later said that it was "quite unacceptable" for Germany to be in dominant position in Europe, having lost the Second World War. Heseltine feels the 48% of British voters who voted 'remain' are being ignored. He sees Brexit as a historic loss of power for Britain and feels Britain's interests are in Europe.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: In March 2018 Heseltine expressed concern over Theresa May's Brexit negotiations, commenting: "Why is it that after 18 months since the referendum we have not got any closer with these issues? The answer is simple: because no one has got any answer about how to do it." He also said the gulf between what May wanted and what the EU was willing to give was not narrowing and may be widening, adding "While that gap remains industry will continue to make assumptions that will involve moving investment from here to the continent. (...) The downsides are becoming more evident as time passes. We have had a serious devaluation of the currency. We have turned ourselves from the fastest growing to the slowest growing economy in Europe and we have made a complete Horlicks of the Irish border. I am totally with the view of Tony Blair and John Major that this matter has got to go back to parliament and possibly to a referendum or a general election."


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Heseltine was one of the signatories of a statement by senior Conservatives calling for a second referendum over Brexit. This stated, "If we are to remain a party of government, it is absolutely critical that we increase our support among younger generations. To do this, we must listen to and engage with their concerns on Brexit. They voted overwhelmingly to Remain in the European Union in 2016 – and since then have become even stronger in their views. Since the referendum, nearly 2 million young people are now of voting age. Of those in this group who are certain to vote, an astounding 87% support the United Kingdom staying in the European Union. If we do not hear their voices, who could blame them for feeling excluded and powerless on this most vital issue. The truth is that if Brexit fails this generation, we risk losing young people for good. Our party's electoral future will be irrevocably blighted."


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Heseltine participated in various events organised by the People's Vote organisation, including a rally in December 2018 which called for a vote on the Brexit withdrawal agreement. In July 2019, he addressed a rally for a People's Vote in Birmingham and expressed himself critically of the government of Boris Johnson which he accused of being "sworn to an extreme interpretation of the 2016 referendum, bound to articulation based on unfounded and reckless optimism, unrealistic assertions defended by evasion and bombast, blind to the world in which we live".


title: Michael Heseltine

text: In May 2019, he had the Conservative Party whip suspended after saying he would vote for the Liberal Democrats, rather than the Conservatives, at the 2019 European Parliament election.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: On 26 November 2019, in preparation for the 2019 general election, Heseltine said he could not support Boris Johnson because the Prime Minister was pursuing an "utterly disastrous" policy that would make Britain poorer and less influential, and he called on voters to back the Liberal Democrats to deny Johnson a majority in Parliament.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Heseltine married Anne Harding Williams in 1962. They have three children: Annabel (born in 1963), Alexandra (born in 1966), and Rupert (born in 1967), as well as nine grandchildren. During the period Heseltine was the MP for Tavistock in Devon (from 1966 to 1974), Heseltine became part of a local 'fishing gang' with poet Ted Hughes. His wife was delighted, as an admirer of the poet, but Heseltine himself did not initially know who he was.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: At the beginning of November 2016, drawing on an interview with "Tatler" magazine, it was reported that Heseltine had confessed to strangling his mother's Alsatian in 1964, after the animal had drawn blood, which was falsely interpreted as him having killed the dog. A rumour about such an incident had been in circulation since a 1990 article in "The Observer" and an unauthorised biography. Heseltine later stated that he had, in fact, subdued the animal using its choke collar after it had attacked him. In an interview with the Press Association, Heseltine said the dog was put down the next day at the vet's insistence, because it had become dangerous and a threat to his pregnant wife and elderly mother.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: In January 2017, Heseltine was convicted of careless driving and fined £5,000, following an incident on 19 June 2016 in which he pulled out into the path of a cyclist, causing serious injuries, including a broken arm and shattered knees, which required plates and pins.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: The Heseltines purchased Thenford House and its grounds in 1976. The house was bought privately with the aid of a large loan, and they are thought to have paid around £750,000 (approximately £4.5m at 2016 prices), and to have spent a similar sum on renovating the property. They also own a number of farms in the area.


title: Michael Heseltine

text: Over the next 25 years they restored of woodland together with the walled garden, medieval fish-ponds, and a lake. There is also a sculpture garden, which includes a large bronze bust of Lenin, from Latvia. At the turn of the century they decided to create various ornamental features in the garden and increase the range of trees and shrubs in the arboretum. Covering over the arboretum is stocked with over 3,000 different species. Their arboretum was featured in a one-off documentary on BBC Two in December 2005. In October 2016 the Heseltines were featured on BBC's "Gardeners' World", discussing their garden at Thenford House, parts of which were modelled after the gardens at Château de Villandry. The garden is open to the public by appointment only.


title: Kabali

text: Kabali is a 2016 Indian Tamil-language action film written and directed by Pa. Ranjith and produced by Kalaipuli S. Thanu. The film stars Rajinikanth in the titular role, with Radhika Apte, Sai Dhanshika, Winston Chao, Kishore, Dinesh, Kalaiyarasan and John Vijay in supporting roles. The film follows Kabali, an aged gangster who, once freed from prison, goes on to exact revenge upon his rivals while also looking for his wife Kumudhavalli and daughter Yogitha.


title: Kabali

text: Principal photography for the film commenced on 21 August 2015 in Chennai. While filming mostly occurred in Malaysia, some scenes were shot in Bangkok and Hong Kong, with shoot being completed in February 2016. The music for the film is composed by Santhosh Narayanan, with cinematography handled by Murali G, and editing done by Praveen K. L. The film was released worldwide on 22 July 2016, in Tamil, and dubbed versions in Telugu and Hindi, with a premiere held in Malaysia on 21 July 2016, a day before its actual release. The film was released in Malay language on 29 July 2016, a week later.


title: Kabali

text: At the Ananda Vikatan Cinema Awards, the film was nominated at five categories winning all of them. The film received two awards out of eight nominations at the 64th Filmfare Awards South, with one for Best Supporting Actress (Dhansika). The film received eight nominations at the IIFA Utsavam 2017, winning one of them. The film won five awards, at the Edison Awards, and two nominations at the 6th South Indian International Movie Awards. The film was a financial success and became the 45th highest grossing Indian film of all time. It was the highest grossing Tamil film at that point of time before being surpassed by another Rajinikanth film, 2.0 (2018).


title: Kabali

text: A Kuala Lumpur–based gangster Kabaleeswaran alias Kabali is released after spending 25 years in prison on a false charge of starting a massacre at a local temple that killed many, including his wife Kumudhavalli. His opposite gang group '43' consists of 4 people: Tony Lee, a Malaysian gangster; Veerasekaran alias Veera, the second head of the gang; Loganathan alias Loga, the main drug supplier and Seeni, the main money launderer. He soon reunited with his old gang mate Ameer and soon confronts Seeni, injuring him badly. He also makes new gang member, Jeeva, the son of Kabali's old friend. Loga encounters Kabali and tells him that if his wife was alive, Veera would have sold her for prostitution, Kabali became enraged and drives his car on Loga, killing him. However, this incident makes Kabali think if Kumudha is still alive. Later, Kabali survives an assassination attempt by Tamizh Kumaran alias Kumaran, whose father Tamilmaaran was killed by Kabali when Kumaran was a young child, he also met Kabali on the day he released.


title: Kabali

text: The next day, at a function organised by the Free Life Foundation School, a school started by Kabali and his friend Ameer to reform youngsters involved in criminal activities, Tamizh Kumaran also works there as a teacher. There, Kabali talks about his past and mentions how the Tamil community in general have the "Crabs in the bucket mentality" which was the reason to his downfall. Kabali was the protege of Tamilmaaran's father Tamilnesan, a gangster who fought for the rights of Tamil Malaysians. Tamilnesan was killed by Veera who was a member of his gang who disliked his rules such as not involving in illegal activities. There were also his gang friends, Tony Lee, Velu and Loga. Following Tamilnesan's death, Kabali took charge of Tamilnesan's gang. Veera provoked Tamilmaaran by telling him that he, being Tamilnesan's son, should lead the gang and not Kabali. He immediately opposed, but relented where Tamilmaaran invited Kabali and a pregnant Kumudha for a temple function in Madurai as forgiveness.


title: Kabali

text: However, this was revealed to be a trap as Veera and his men confronted Kabali and Kumudha at the function. In the ensuing scuffle, Kabali was brutally attacked while Kumudha was shot and seemingly killed by Tony Lee. Kabali then killed Tamilmaaran for his betrayal in front of a young Kumaran and was soon arrested on a false charge of instigating the massacre. Kumaran, after hearing Kabali's speech, realises his mistake and apologises to him. He tells him that Velu, who was present at the temple massacre, is aware of what happened to Kumudha. Kabali then leaves for Thailand, where Velu is residing. On confronting Velu, he learns that his daughter is still alive. At this juncture, Kabali is confronted by Yogi, a contract killer hired by Veera and Tony Lee. Yogi instead kills Seeni and his men who had come with her to kill Kabali, and reveals herself as Kabali's daughter, who had been raised by Velu. On that night, Tony Lee's henchman shot Kabali and was taken to the hospital.


title: Kabali

text: When Kabali recovers, he calls Tony Lee giving him a heads up that he is coming back to hunt him. Yogi tells Kabali that Kumudha is still alive and is living with a French family in Puducherry. Kabali, Yogi and others leave for Puducherry, where, after several days of searching, they reunite with Kumudha. While in Puducherry, Kabali and his family are attacked by men sent by Tony. However, Kabali and Yogi fight them off and escape safely with Kumudha.


title: Kabali

text: Kabali and his family soon return to Kuala Lumpur, where he is told that Ameer has been severely injured in a car accident set up by Tony; his henchman Jeeva was brutally chopped to pieces after refusing to join Gang 43; they also had destroyed the Free Life Foundation School and started to control the Kuala Lumpur underworld, eliminating any gang who dared to oppose them. On hearing all this, Kabali decides to finish Veera and Tony. He and his family attend the 100th birthday party for a respected Malaysian don Ang Lee. At the party, Kabali destroys the Gang 43's activities by providing a tip to the police. After this, Kabali, Kumaran and Yogi massacres Tony and Veera's gang and eventually, Kabali corners Tony and guns him down.


title: Kabali

text: Some months later, Kabali, Kumudha, Kumaran, and Yogi attend a function organised by the Free Life Foundation. One of the Free Life alumni, a youngster named Tiger, who is known to be aggressive and reckless, walks up to Kabali, with scenes showing him speaking to the police prior to the function. The screen cuts to black, and the sound of a gun clicking and a gunshot afterwards is heard.


title: Kabali

text: In March 2015, Rajinikanth was reported to sign his next film with A. R. Murugadoss and backed by Venu Ravichandran of Aascar Films; the project was reported to be put on hold until Rajinikanth's issue with the distributors over the financial losses of his film "Lingaa" (2014), being sorted out. However, the project failed to materialize, citing Ravichandran's bankruptcy. Rajnikanth discussed the idea of remaking "Drishyam" (2013), in Tamil, with producer Kalaipuli S. Thanu. But the latter was not interested in the remake. In January 2016, Gautham Vasudev Menon narrated the script of "Dhruva Natchathiram" to producer Thanu, who set up a meeting for Menon to discuss the script with Rajinikanth. The actor liked the idea of the film, but later turned down the offer, citing his age. Rajinikanth had been impressed with Pa. Ranjith's work in "Madras" (2014) and subsequently Rajinikanth's daughter, Soundarya asked Ranjith to work on a script for her father.


title: Kabali

text: In June 2015, director Pa. Ranjith announced his third directorial venture, which would follow his previous two films "Attakathi" (2012) and "Madras" (2014), with Rajinikanth, via Twitter, and Thanu was announced to bankroll the project. "Kabali" would make Rajinikanth's first film with a novel director, for the first time, since his collaboration with S. Shankar in 2007, with "Sivaji". In an interview with "IndiaGlitz", producer S. Thanu revealed that Rajinikanth had personally asked him to produce the Ranjith-directed film. The producer's commercially successful "Bairavi" (1978) was Rajinikanth's first lead role film and the two had not collaborated since. It was speculated that Rajinikanth's role would be based on a real-life mob boss from Chennai. Santhosh Narayanan was confirmed as the film's music composer, continuing his partnership with Ranjith after the latter's previous two films. Ranjith also retained G. Murali, the cinematographer of "Madras".


title: Kabali

text: On 17 August 2015, Ranjith announced the title of the film to be "Kabali" and that Rajinikanth would play the role of Kabaliswaran. The makers of the film had earlier considered using title "Kaali", which was the title of Rajinikanth's 1980 film. As that film did not do well in the Tamil Nadu box office at the time, the makers passed on using it for the new film. Another title, "Kannabhiran", was also considered but it was later found that the title's rights were already held by director Ameer Sultan for a future film.


title: Kabali

text: In the film, Rajinikanth plays the role of an aged crime boss. According to the Telugu newspaper "Eenadu", Rajinikanth, after being impressed with "Nayakan" (1987), requested its director Mani Ratnam to write a similar script, but the project never materialised; its similarities with Ranjith's script for "Kabali" made him accept to star in the latter film. Dinesh Ravi, who played the lead in Ranjith's "Attakathi" (2012), and Kalaiyarasan, who played pivotal roles in both of the director's previous films, were also confirmed to be part of the film. An important role was offered to Prakash Raj initially, but later it was said that the role was declined due to scheduling issues and John Vijay was cast for the role instead. It was later confirmed that the role of the lead character's wife would be given to Radhika Apte, who was introduced to Tamil films through "Dhoni" (2012). Sai Dhanshika was signed to play a supporting character in the film. Soundarya Nandakumar, a television actress best known for her participation in Star Vijay's "Airtel Super Singer 3", was chosen for a cameo appearance.


title: Kabali

text: On 18 August 2015, director Pa Ranjith announced on his Twitter page that principal photography would begin the following week, which was confirmed on 22 August when "Behindwoods" covered a photo shoot which took place on 21 August at AVM Studios in Chennai. First schedule of the filming started on Vinayagar Chaturthi on 17 September 2015 at the Russian Centre of Science and Cultural in Chennai. Rajinikanth had allotted 106 days for the film.


title: Kabali

text: Originally planned for a longer schedule for 50 days in Malaysia, the makers planned to reduce the number of days of shoot in the country, and planned to shoot for 20 days at the specially erected construction sets at the EVP Film City and Adityaram Studios in Chennai. Adityaram Studios located in the East Coast Road owned by Aditya Ram. A month long schedule in Malaysia, took place from 19 October. The crew members had obtained permission from the Malaysian Tourism Department, to shoot in the state of Melaka in Malaysia. and also obtained permission for shooting in the Hindu cemetery belonging to the management of Sri Subramaniar Temple located in Sepang on 4 November. Rajinikanth joined the sets two days before the schedule on 2 November, where major portions of the film being shot at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, Batu Caves and Bandar Sunway. After wrapping the Malaysia shooting schedule on 21 November, Rajinikanth joined the second leg of the shoot took place at Bangkok on 24 November. Later the film's lead actress Radhika Apte, started shooting for few important sequences at Goa in December 2015.


title: Kabali

text: Rajinikanth who is simultaneously shooting for "2.0", also kickstarted on the penultimate schedule of the film at EVP Film City in Chennai, where action sequences featuring the lead antagonist Winston Chao and Rosyam Nor were filmed. The final schedule of Kabali was shot in Malaysia on 2 February 2016, with Radhika Apte joining the sets on 7 February. Few scenes of the film were shot at the Carey Island, located at the south of Port Klang in Malaysia. The actor completed the shoot and returned from Malaysia on 16 February.


title: Kabali

text: Santhosh Narayanan composed the film's soundtrack album and background score, collaborating with Rajinikanth for the first time. The album features five songs with lyrics written by Kabilan, Vivek, Umadevi and Arunraja Kamaraj and one song was released as a bonus track after the film's release, which was not included in the film. Think Music acquired the film's audio rights. After multiple postponements, the film's soundtrack album was released on 12 June 2016. The soundtrack was also released in Telugu, Hindi and Malay, where the Hindi version was released along with the Tamil version, the Telugu version was released on 26 June, whereas the Malay version was released on 1 July. The soundtrack received predominantly positive responses from all corners, with many celebrities praising Santhosh for his work. A bonus track was released on 24 August 2016, post-release.


title: Kabali

text: Rajinikanth revealed the release plans of "Kabali", that the film will begin post-production activities in April and will release in June 2016. However the film's release was postponed to 1 July, then to 15 July, which causes confusion from the makers. Later, it was clarified that the film will release on 22 July 2016. "Kabali", became the first Tamil film to be dubbed and released in Malay. Malik Streams Productions and Distribution, a Malaysian media company, will simultaneously release the film in Malay for exclusive screening in Malaysia alongside the original Tamil version.


title: Kabali

text: "Kabali" is the first Indian film to be released in Le Grand Rex in Paris, France, the world's largest movie hall which has a seating capacity of 2,000. Mohanlal bought the Kerala distribution rights of the film, under his Max Lab Cinemas, for 9 crores, and planned to release the film in 150 theatres in Kerala. Popular theatres in Bengaluru bought advance bookings, in which tickets were sold up to 500. The film was planned to screen at star hotels in Bengaluru, cashing up to per ticket, which did not happen as the permission for release on star hotels were rejected. There were no special previews in Chennai, which was clarified by the producer.


title: Kabali

text: "Kabali" was released in Tamil worldwide, along with dubbed versions in Hindi and Telugu, on 22 July 2016. The film's Malaysian premiere took place on 21 July 2016. However, the Tamil version of the film was screened at the premiere. The Malay version was released on 29 July 2016. The film was scheduled to be released simultaneously in Singapore and Indonesia. The film was also dubbed in Mandarin and Thai languages, and was released in Hong Kong, China and Thailand.


title: Kabali

text: The first look posters of "Kabali" was released on 16 September 2015, a day before the commencent of the film's shoot. It was also known that the poster was released along with the trailer of Kamal Haasan's "Thoongaavanam" (2015). The teaser of the film was released on 1 May 2016. The teaser broke records with maximum views of 10 million in 3 days, becoming the highest viewed Indian film teaser.


title: Kabali

text: After the airline AirAsia India became an official partner for "Kabali", an Airbus A320 owned by the airline was wrapped with the film's title and an image of Rajinikanth depicted as Kabaleeshwaran. It was the first time a passenger jet had been wrapped for advertising an Indian film. The Indian financial company Muthoot FinCorp who is also an official partner of the film produced silver coins embossed with the image of actor as cast in the film.


title: Kabali

text: The satellite rights of "Kabali" and "Theri" (another film produced by S. Thanu), were remained unsold as of March 2017, despite the digital rights being sold to Amazon Prime Video. It was rumoured that Jaya TV, bought the film's satellite rights in June 2016. On 27 September 2017, Sun TV announced that they have bought the rights of "Theri" and "Kabali." The film's world television premiere took place on 15 January 2018, coinciding with Thai Pongal, one-and-half years after its release. While Star India bought the rights for the film's dubbed Hindi, Telugu and Malayalam versions.


title: Kabali

text: On 19 July 2016, three days prior to the film's worldwide release, it was reported that pirated copies of the film were leaked online in darknet. "The Indian Express" reported that although the leaked copies were available only in the darknet, many fake links were being circulated in the web. The makers of the film had approached Madras High Court in anticipation of piracy and had requested the authority to ensure that it does not happen. CBFC chief Pahlaj Nihalani commented on the issue by saying that the leak had nothing to do with his office in Mumbai and reiterated the fact that Kabali, a Tamil film, was certified by CBFC's Chennai office. He also added that the leak would not have much effect on the film's box office collection.


title: Kabali

text: Two days later, on 21 July 2016, a two-minute long sequence of the film was also leaked online, which subsequently went viral on an instant messaging app, WhatsApp. Commenting on the leak, producer Kalaippuli S Thanu said, "Watching Thalaivar entry on phone or computer won't give you goosebumps. Say thank you to pirates, let's watch it in theaters from Friday" through his Twitter account. "The News Minute" reported that the sequence leak, which carried English as well as Arabic subtitles, could have been released from Gulf countries.


title: Kabali

text: Following the film's release, a partial copy which had been filmed with a mobile phone in a cinema was posted to Vimeo, but was subsequently removed from the website.


title: Kabali

text: The Malaysian version of the film proceeds beyond the fade to black and offers a concrete ending, stating that Kabali surrendered to the police. This alternate ending was created at the behest of Film Censorship Board of Malaysia, which does not allow showcasing of policemen encouraging violence.


title: Kabali

text: Some reviewers attacked the movie for portraying Rajinikanth as a dalit leader. The film was targeted for depicting Dalit caste which the whole team refused to accept. However, some dalit outfits referred it as a Dalit movie.


title: Kabali

text: The film collected in first day, in three days, in first weekend, with a total domestic collection of ."Kabali" had the highest worldwide opening day for a South Indian film, surpassing the record set by "" by earning on the first day. The film also had the highest 3-day opening weekend for an Indian film surpassing the record set by "Sultan" two weeks earlier as it earned .


title: Kabali

text: Box office gross values of 6.75 billion were reported in the first 13 days by several organisations including "Financial Express" and "Indian Express", which were more than double the estimates made by other sources. "International Business Times" (IBT) criticised these estimates as inflated, explaining the discrepancy as due in part to the addition of "pre-release business" figures, such as music and satellite rights sales of 2 billion, being factored into the box office sales totals.


title: Kabali

text: Figures given in December 2016 by "Financial Express" reported that the film had an estimated domestic gross of 215 crore and an international gross of 262 crores, for a worldwide total of 500 crores. According to "International Business Times" in October 2017, "Kabali"s final worldwide gross was around . According to Box Office India, the film's final worldwide gross was . According to India Today, the film's final gross is around . Firstpost reported the box offie of the film to be around - . The final film's box office performance ranges between .


title: Kabali

text: "Kabali" had the highest opening day for a South Indian film in terms of gross revenue, grossing on the first day of its release in India from all the languages and was just behind the 2015 film "Prem Ratan Dhan Payo" for the highest first day gross in India in a single day. It also became the first Tamil film to gross in a single day from Tamil Nadu. "Kabali" went on to record the top-earning first weekend in India, grossing in three days from all its versions. "International Business Times" stated on 4 August 2016 that "Kabali" grossed domestically in ten days.


title: Kabali

text: "Kabali" grossed US$15.70 million (105 crore) till its tenth day. The film had earned US$11.20 million (75.27 crore) in its first four-day weekend overseas, breaking the record previously held by "Dhoom 3" (US$10.32 million) as the highest-grossing first weekend for an Indian film in overseas markets. According to "International Business Times" in May 2017, the film's final overseas gross was US$2000 million.


title: Kabali

text: "Kabali" was a highly anticipated film throughout the country, but the film received mixed reviews. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 64% based on 11 reviews, with an average rating of 5.83/10.


title: Kabali

text: Anupama Subramanian of Deccan Chronicle, rated 2.5 out of 5 stars stating "Kabali is an intelligent, noir-esque piece of cinema that is dark, broody, and measured." "IndiaGlitz" rated the film 3 out of 5, stating "'Kabali' is a film that you should not miss for Rajini's fantabulous acting, clap worthy dialogues, and sparkling emotional moments.  A more powerful story and a tighter screenplay would have made it much better.". Behindwoods rated the film 2.75 out of 5 and stated that "Rajinikanth in a different dimension, but Kabali might not work for everyone. Theatres which are known to reverberate for Rajinikanth, seem a lot more silent for Kabali." "The Indian Express" rated the movie 3.5 out of 5 and said that, "Take away the dramatic script and lagging screenplay and Kabali is an unusual Rajinikanth film, which manages to combine the actor's mass appeal with a nuanced character. And hey, we get to see Rajini play his age finally!" "Filmibeat" rated the movie 3 out of 5 stars and stated that "You might be disappointed if you go into the cinema hall keeping in mind the recent hype and hoopla around Kabali. However, this is definitely Rajinikanth's best in the recent times". "International Business Times" rated the film 3.5 out of 5, stating "Rajnikanth shines in politically charged movie". Baradwaj Rangan of "The Hindu" wrote "Ranjith's filmmaking is different too, and not in a good way. Kabali does have some of his trademarks, but the life that infused his earlier films is missing." Thinkal Menon from "The Times of India" rated 3 out of 5 stating "The story, perhaps, needed a tighter screenplay, but watch it for ‘Thalaivar athiradi’. Nothing more, nothing less!" India Today rated 3 out of 5 stars stating "Kabali falls short of performance as far as the supporting cast is concerned. Pa Ranjith could have easily roped in some well-known actors from the industry who could actually bring some flavour to their roles. Making a film with Rajinikanth is nearly close to jeopardising one's career with an ignominious defeat at one's own peril. Because there are certain elements expected of a Rajinikanth film to cater to his ardent fans, even if the actor is prepared to look old on screen." Hindustan Times rated 3 out of 5 stating "For Thalaivar fans, it'll be hard to tell. Though Rajinikanth shines, he has a long career in which Kabali doesn't quite fit." Sify rated 3 out of 5 stating ""Kabali" is neither a Rajinikanth film nor a Ranjith film — it's a mixed bag!"


title: Kabali

text: Shortly after the film's success, in an interview with Don Groves, S. Thanu said that the initial results exceeded his expectations and that the film's ending sets up a sequel. On 25 July 2016, he spoke, "We created an open climax for "Kabali". So, director Ranjith and I are interested in a sequel for this gangster flick. However, Rajinikanth will have to give us the nod to carry on. The film's collections indicate that it is a sensational hit, and has surpassed all records".


title: Kabali

text: The song "Neruppu Da" inspired a 2017 film of same name starring Vikram Prabhu. The title was kept as the film portrayed Vikram Prabhu as a firefighter and a fan of Rajinikanth.


title: Flow cytometry

text: Flow cytometry (FC) is a technique used to detect and measure physical and chemical characteristics of a population of cells or particles.


title: Flow cytometry

text: In this process, a sample containing cells or particles is suspended in a fluid and injected into the flow cytometer instrument. The sample is focused to ideally flow one cell at a time through a laser beam, where the light scattered is characteristic to the cells and their components. Cells are often labeled with fluorescent markers so light is absorbed and then emitted in a band of wavelengths. Tens of thousands of cells can be quickly examined and the data gathered are processed by a computer.


title: Flow cytometry

text: Flow cytometry is routinely used in basic research, clinical practice, and clinical trials. Uses for flow cytometry include:


title: Flow cytometry

text: A flow cytometry analyzer is an instrument that provides quantifiable data from a sample. Other instruments using flow cytometry include cell sorters which physically separate and thereby purify cells of interest based on their optical properties.


title: Flow cytometry

text: The first impedance-based flow cytometry device, using the Coulter principle, was disclosed in U.S. Patent 2,656,508, issued in 1953, to Wallace H. Coulter. Mack Fulwyler was the inventor of the forerunner to today's flow cytometers - particularly the cell sorter. Fulwyler developed this in 1965 with his publication in "Science". The first fluorescence-based flow cytometry device (ICP 11) was developed in 1968 by Wolfgang Göhde from the University of Münster, filed for patent on 18 December 1968 and first commercialized in 1968/69 by German developer and manufacturer Partec through Phywe AG in Göttingen. At that time, absorption methods were still widely favored by other scientists over fluorescence methods. Soon after, flow cytometry instruments were developed, including the Cytofluorograph (1971) from Bio/Physics Systems Inc. (later: Ortho Diagnostics), the PAS 8000 (1973) from Partec, the first FACS (fluorescence-activated cell sorting) instrument from Becton Dickinson (1974), the ICP 22 (1975) from Partec/Phywe and the Epics from Coulter (1977/78). The first label-free high-frequency impedance flow cytometer based on a patented microfluidic "lab-on-chip", Ampha Z30, was introduced by Amphasys (2012).


title: Flow cytometry

text: The original name of the fluorescence-based flow cytometry technology was "pulse cytophotometry" (German: "Impulszytophotometrie"), based on the first patent application on fluorescence-based flow cytometry. At the 5th American Engineering Foundation Conference on Automated Cytology in Pensacola (Florida) in 1976 - eight years after the introduction of the first fluorescence-based flow cytometer (1968) - it was agreed to commonly use the name "flow cytometry", a term that quickly became popular.


title: Flow cytometry

text: Modern flow cytometers are able to analyze many thousands of particles per second, in "real time" and, if configured as cell sorters, can actively separate and isolate particles with specified optical properties at similar rates. A flow cytometer is similar to a microscope, except that, instead of producing an image of the cell, flow cytometry offers high-throughput, automated quantification of specified optical parameters on a cell-by-cell basis. To analyze solid tissues, a single-cell suspension must first be prepared.


title: Flow cytometry

text: A flow cytometer has five main components: a flow cell, a measuring system, a detector, an amplification system, and a computer for analysis of the signals. The flow cell has a liquid stream (sheath fluid), which carries and aligns the cells so that they pass single file through the light beam for sensing. The measuring system commonly uses measurement of impedance (or conductivity) and optical systems - lamps (mercury, xenon); high-power water-cooled lasers (argon, krypton, dye laser); low-power air-cooled lasers (argon (488 nm), red-HeNe (633 nm), green-HeNe, HeCd (UV)); diode lasers (blue, green, red, violet) resulting in light signals. The detector and analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) system converts analog measurements of forward-scattered light (FSC) and side-scattered light (SSC) as well as dye-specific fluorescence signals into digital signals that can be processed by a computer. The amplification system can be linear or logarithmic.


title: Flow cytometry

text: The process of collecting data from samples using the flow cytometer is termed "acquisition". Acquisition is mediated by a computer physically connected to the flow cytometer, and the software which handles the digital interface with the cytometer. The software is capable of adjusting parameters (e.g., voltage, compensation) for the sample being tested, and also assists in displaying initial sample information while acquiring sample data to ensure that parameters are set correctly. Early flow cytometers were, in general, experimental devices, but technological advances have enabled widespread applications for use in a variety of both clinical and research purposes. Due to these developments, a considerable market for instrumentation, analysis software, as well as the reagents used in acquisition such as fluorescently labeled antibodies have been developed.


title: Flow cytometry

text: Modern instruments usually have multiple lasers and fluorescence detectors. The current record for a commercial instrument is ten lasers and 30 fluorescence detectors. Increasing the number of lasers and detectors allows for multiple antibody labeling, and can more precisely identify a target population by their phenotypic markers. Certain instruments can even take digital images of individual cells, allowing for the analysis of fluorescent signal location within or on the surface of cells.


title: Flow cytometry

text: Cells must pass uniformly through the center of focused laser beams to accurately measure optical properties of cells in any flow cytometer. The purpose of the fluidic system is to move the cells one by one through the lasers beam and throughout the instrument. Fluidics in a flow cytometer with cell sorting capabilities also use the stream to carry sorted cells into collection tubes or wells.


title: Flow cytometry

text: For precise positioning of cells in a liquid jet, hydrodynamic focusing is used in most cytometers. The cells in suspension enter into the instrument enclosed by an outer sheath fluid. The sample core is maintained in the center of the sheath fluid. The sample input rate or how fast the cells flow through to the laser interrogation can be controlled by the pressure of the sheath fluid on the sample core. Under optimal conditions, the central fluid stream and sheath fluid do not mix.


title: Flow cytometry

text: Acoustic focusing technology is used in some flow cytometers to support hydrodynamic focusing. Acoustic waves (>2 MHz) pre-focus the sample before introduction to sheath fluid. The pre-focused sample is then injected into the hydrodynamic core and flowed through the instrument. This may help with increasing data accuracy under high sample input rates.


title: Flow cytometry

text: Light emitted from fluorophores are in a spectrum of wavelengths, so combining multiple fluorophores may cause overlap. To add specificity, optical filters and dichroic mirrors are used to filter and move light to the detectors such as photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) or avalanche photodiodes (APD). Optical filters are designed as band pass (BP), long pass (LP), or short pass (SP) filters. Most flow cytometers uses dichroic mirrors and band pass filters to select specific bands of the optical spectrum.


title: Flow cytometry

text: Spectral flow cytometry uses prisms or diffraction gratings to disperse the emitted light of a marker across a detector array. This allows for the full spectra from each particle to be measured. The measured spectra from single cells are subsequently unmixed by using reference spectra of all used dyes and the autofluorescence spectrum. This may allow for a wider panel design and the application of new biological markers.


title: Flow cytometry

text: Imaging flow cytometry (IFC) captures multichannel images of cells. Detectors used in imaging platforms can be equipped with charge-coupled device (CCD) or complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) to capture images of individual cells.


title: Flow cytometry

text: Each fluorochrome has a broad fluorescence spectrum. When more than one fluorochrome is used, the overlap between fluorochromes can occur. This situation is called spectrum overlap. This situation needs to be overcome. For example, the emission spectrum for FITC and PE is that the light emitted by the fluorescein overlaps the same wavelength as it passes through the filter used for PE. This spectral overlap is corrected by removing a portion of the FITC signal from the PE signals or vice versa. This process is called color compensation, which calculates a fluorochrome as a percentage to measure itself.


title: Flow cytometry

text: Compensation is the mathematical process by which spectral overlap of multiparameter flow cytometric data is corrected. Since fluorochromes can have wide-ranging spectrum, they can overlap, causing the undesirable result of confusion during the analysis of data. This overlap, known as spillover and quantified in the spillover coefficient, is usually caused by detectors for a certain fluorochrome measuring a significant peak in wavelength from a different fluorochrome. Linear algebra is most often used to make this correction.


title: Flow cytometry

text: In general, when graphs of one or more parameters are displayed, it is to show that the other parameters do not contribute to the distribution shown. Especially when using the parameters which are more than double, this problem is more severe. Currently, no tools have been discovered to efficiently display multidimensional parameters. Compensation is very important to see the distinction between cells.


title: Flow cytometry

text: The data generated by flow-cytometers can be plotted in a single dimension, to produce a histogram, or in two-dimensional dot plots, or even in three dimensions. The regions on these plots can be sequentially separated, based on fluorescence intensity, by creating a series of subset extractions, termed "gates." Specific gating protocols exist for diagnostic and clinical purposes, especially in relation to hematology. Individual single cells are often distinguished from cell doublets or higher aggregates by their "time-of-flight" (denoted also as a "pulse-width") through the narrowly focused laser beam


title: Flow cytometry

text: The plots are often made on logarithmic scales. Because different fluorescent dyes' emission spectra overlap, signals at the detectors have to be compensated electronically as well as computationally. Data accumulated using the flow cytometer can be analyzed using software. Once the data is collected, there is no need to stay connected to the flow cytometer and analysis is most often performed on a separate computer. This is especially necessary in core facilities where usage of these machines is in high demand.