Abstract
September 8, 1983, was a momentous day at Chequers, the country residence of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. She had just received a massive majority in her second election, and she summoned a group of eight academics specializing in Soviet studies, challenging them to advise her on new ways to confront the power of the Kremlin. One adviser, Oxford Professor Archie Brown, suggested that the government keep a close watch on a younger man in the circles of Soviet power, Mikhail Gorbachev. Soon the Foreign and Commonwealth Office proposed that Gorbachev be included in a parliamentary delegation due to visit the United Kingdom. Prime Minister Thatcher invited him to Chequers, and after lengthy discussions a significant political relationship was born. In March 1985, Thatcher went to Moscow for the funeral of Konstantin Chernenko, a surprising mark of respect to a political nonentity. Almost immediately after the ceremonies, Gorbachev was elected general secretary of the Communist Party of the USSR. Still in Moscow, Thatcher became the only leader of a Western democracy present when Gorbachev came to power. They continued their conversation, now in a very different vein.
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