Shadow Cabinet of Margaret Thatcher Cabinet ceased to exist upon her becoming Prime Minister following the 1979 general election. Thatcher announced her first Shadow Cabinet on 18 February 1975. On 15 January 1976, Thatcher reshuffled the Shadow Cabinet. Pym returned as Shadow Agriculture Minister, displacing Jopling. George Younger was dropped from the front bench, and he was replaced by Gilmour at Defence; Whitelaw, the Deputy Leader, added Gilmour's Home Affairs portfolio to his Devolution. John Biffen replaced Jenkin as Shadow Energy Secretary, and Jenkin took Health from Fowler, who was demoted to be a Shadow Transport Minister (which was not in Shadow Cabinet and was
Diana Gould – Margaret Thatcher exchange Gould said at one stage: "That is not good enough, Mrs. Thatcher," to which Thatcher replied: "Would you please let me answer?" Directly after the interview, Thatcher apparently talked about abolishing the BBC. Denis Thatcher was said to have had a row with BBC staff, telling Roger Bolton, the programme's editor, that the BBC was run by "pinkos" and "a nest of long-haired Trots and wooftahs". The couple's daughter, Carol Thatcher, called it "an example of the most crass nastiness and discourtesy shown to a Prime Minister in an election programme". A 1999 British poll about memorable television spots placed