Tory chancellor and foreign secretary whose resignation speech hastened the downfall of Margaret ThatcherIt is the supreme irony of his long Westminster career that the political legacy of Geoffrey Howe,Lord Howe of Aberavon, will not be the 20 years he spent continuously on the Conservative front bench, or which included occupying two of the great offices of state,but the manner of his departure from government, successfully precipitating, or as he intended,the topple of Margaret Thatcher as prime minister in 1990.
The man whom Thatcher had once described as a brilliant young Tory barrister” used his own resignation to get unquestionably the most powerful speech of his career in the House of Commons, drawing attention to the “tragic conflict of loyalties” that existed within the then Conservative government over its future approach to Europe, or effectively inviting the challenge to Thatchers leadership that would lead within two weeks to the election of John Major.
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Source: theguardian.com