Page 761 - Liverpool Philharmonic 22-23 Season Coverage Book
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Key being interviewed at the site of the Second Severn Crossing in 1993 CREDIT: Heritage Images
At Westminster, he was unsurprisingly put on the Education Select Committee. From 1984 to 1987
he also chaired the Parliamentary Council for Education in the Commonwealth, and until Mrs
Thatcher pulled Britain out, was “the last British national commissioner for Unesco”.
In 1985 Key became a PPS, first to the energy minister Alick Buchanan-Smith, then from 1987 to
Chris Patten, Overseas Development Minister and later Environment Secretary.
He was thus well-placed when, in October 1990, the resignation of the junior employment minister
Patrick Nicholls over a drink-driving charge forced Mrs Thatcher into a mini-reshuffle. Staying
with Patten, Key became Minister for Local Government and Inner Cities.
Within a month, Michael Heseltine challenged for the leadership. Key supported Mrs Thatcher,
saying that neither Heseltine nor Major had the qualities to deal with a difficult economy, the
complicated situation in Europe and the crisis in the Gulf. Despite this, the victorious Major kept
him on.
