Lost Thatcher leadership documents expected to fetch over £100,000 at auction

A box of documents that chart Margaret Thatcher’s rise to power in the 1970s has been discovered in a garage in Somerset.

The papers include the nomination signed by Thatcher that led to her becoming the leader of the Conservative Party in 1975.

The box belonged to Tory grandee Sir Edward du Cann, who was chairman of the party’s influential 1922 Committee during the leadership race in 1975.

The former Tory party chairman had been encouraged to stand himself, but his stepping aside led to the election of Thatcher and ultimately to Britain’s first woman prime minister. She went on to serve three terms from 1979 to 1990. 

Also included in the cache is the historic document that confirmed Thatcher as party leader.

It is headed “Election of a leader of the Conservative Party” and is dated Feb 11 1975.

It carries the signatures of the scrutineers and that of Thatcher, who won emphatically with 146 votes. William Whitelaw came second with just 79 votes.

The nomination of Thatcher was proposed by Keith Joseph – who had also stood aside – and his note confirming the nomination was seconded by Airey Neave, who was later murdered by the IRA.

Thatcher wrote underneath “I consent to be nominated” and signed the form, which was dated Jan 27 1975, “Margaret H  Thatcher”. 

Also included in the cache is a letter to du Cann the month before Thatcher was nominated, imploring him to stand, as well as correspondence relating to the leadership election with people including Edward Heath, the former Conservative prime minister, and Harold Wilson, the sitting Labour prime minister at the time.

The documents, which were only found recently, are to be offered for sale at Duke’s of Dorchester on Jan 29 2026.

Guy Schwinge, of art consultants Hanover Forbes, said: “This cache of papers is of great historical importance. Margaret Thatcher was a trailblazer in every sense.

“Her philosophy – Thatcherism – changed the United Kingdom forever, and the great personal ‘chemistry’ she enjoyed with Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev contributed to the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War. 

“Interest in the papers is expected from collectors and institutions in the UK and globally.

“It is 100 years since her birth and 50 since she became leader of the Conservative party.

“The cache contains the signed nominations of all candidates in both ballots for the party leadership.

“Leading American institutions, such as the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, are expected to keep a close eye on the sale but will need an export licence to take the archive out of the country.

“The files and documents were discovered in a garage in Somerset.”

Auction watchers expect the archive could significantly outstrip the pre-sale auction estimate of £100,000.