Delayed Shock

By Jay D. Palmer

New clues, tighter security

Two days earlier, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had narrowly escaped death when an Irish Republican Army bomb exploded in her hotel at the seaside resort of Brighton, killing four people and injuring 32. On Sunday, the day after her 59th birthday, the Prime Minister attended morning services at the village church of St. Peter and St. Paul near her official country residence, Chequers. She left the services visibly moved. "It was a lovely morning -- we have not had many lovely days," she said later. "The sun was coming through the stained-glass windows and falling on some flowers across the church. It just occurred to me that this was the day I was meant not to see. And then, all of a sudden, I thought there are some of my dearest friends who are not seeing this day."

The display of emotion was rare for a Prime Minister who seems to glory in her reputation as Britain's "Iron Lady." Thatcher, however, was soon back in form. As further details of the attack emerged and new security measures were carried out, she refused to bow to I.R.A. threats and spoke out as firmly as ever in deploring the nation's 33-week-old coal miners' strike.

For much of the week, the Prime Minister's concerns focused on the coal dispute, which has turned into a political test of will for the government. After talks between the National Union of Mineworkers and the National Coal Board broke down, the National Association of Colliery Overmen, Deputies and Shot-firers (NACODS), a moderate union of mine supervisors, announced that it would join the strike this week. If a total walkout occurs, the absence of NACODS' safety experts will close the 55 mines still producing coal and raise the real prospect of coal shortages and power cuts this winter. The threat angered the government. "I find it difficult to understand, and I think many members of NACODS will find it difficult to understand, why the strike has been called," complained Thatcher. The NACODS action, together with the $1.35-per-bbl. drop in North Sea oil prices, caused near panic in British financial markets; the pound sank to $1.18, its lowest point in history against the dollar, and the London stock market recorded its sharpest one-day fall ever.

Despite the financial crisis, the aftermath of the bombing continued to preoccupy the British public. In Brighton, where the most seriously injured victims of the blast remained under police guard, detectives were following up clues, and bomb experts were sifting through the ruins of the Grand Hotel. Their efforts yielded what Commander Bill Hucklesby, head of Scotland Yard's antiterrorist branch, called "significant items." Police theorize that the bomb, possibly wrapped in plastic to hide its odor from police dogs, was planted behind a panel in a bathroom of the hotel by I.R.A. "sleeper agents" long resident in England. The device was apparently detonated by a sophisticated microchip timer that could have been preset weeks earlier.

Meanwhile, an I.R.A. spokesman refused to rule out the prospect of new attacks against "prestige targets" in Britain, and security was increased for the Queen, Cabinet members and other political leaders. In the future, no advance notice will be given for any of the Prime Minister's engagements outside the heavily guarded official residence on Downing Street. Government offices have been placed on black alert, the highest state of readiness. At the same time, tough new security plans are being devised for what could be the I.R.A.'s next big target: the State Opening of Parliament on Nov. 6, attended by the Queen, all government ministers and the judiciary.

Even as the security crackdown went into effect, newspapers and government ministers took aim at the Irish Northern Aid Committee (NORAID), the U.S.-based organization accused of funneling money and arms to the I.R.A. "The bomb," noted a Daily Mirror editorial, "may have been planted by an Irish terrorist, but the fingerprints upon it were American." Addressing the American Chamber of Commerce in London, Foreign Secretary Sir Geoffrey Howe warned the "misguided minority of Irish Americans [that] they are supporting and promoting terrorism." Subsequently, U.S. Ambassador to Britain Charles H. Price promised to ask American law-enforcement agencies to take every possible action against NORAID. He pointed out, though, that NORAID cannot be outlawed because it is protected by the U.S. Constitution.

The threat of further violence did not seem to unsettle the Prime Minister. "The fact is that we do live in a certain amount of danger," she said. "You simply cannot live in a cocoon." Thatcher predicted increased pressure for a restoration of the death penalty, a measure she has always personally supported. She also announced that talks with Irish Prime Minister Garret FitzGerald about Northern Ireland would take place in November as planned. "We are not," a senior aide vowed, "going to give in to the bomb and the bullet." --ByJayD. Palmer. Reported by Bonnie Angelo/London

With reporting by Bonnie Angelo/London