Revolt Within 17 Votes of Toppling Thatcher

A major revolt within Britain’s ruling Conservative Party today brought the government within 17 votes of parliamentary defeat over plans to give top officials large pay increases.

In the worst rebellion Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has faced since a landslide election victory in 1983 gave her a 140-seat majority in the House of Commons, 48 Conservative parliamentarians voted with the opposition and 50 abstained.

The rebels were swayed by complaints from their constituents about the government’s plan to increase the salaries of 2,000 armed forces officers, judges and top civil servants by between 12% and 46% over the next year.

Critics accused Thatcher of insensitivity in awarding raises worth as much as $28,000 in a single year at a time when she is urging low-paid workers to accept single-digit percentage raises and has offered teachers only 6%.

Today’s vote was specifically on an increase of $15,400 in the salary of the lord chancellor, the only raise Parliament had to approve.

The government scraped through with a majority of 249 to 232 in the 650-seat chamber. But dozens of opposition Labor parliamentarians were absent from the final vote in the early morning hours. Their presence could have assured a government defeat followed by a confidence vote, and possibly the calling of early elections.