THEY enjoy a front seat as history unfolds but are legendary for their discretion.  Now four retired former drivers of ministerial cars in the Government Car And Despatch Agency have revealed fascinating insights into the world of British politics.  Formed in World War Two, “Government Cars” drove the PM and senior Cabinet members.  By 2009 they were running 171 vehicles chauffeuring every minor government flunkey. David Cameron vowed to cut the agency by a third.  Denis Oliver drove the future Baroness Thatcher for most of the 11 years she was Prime Minister… and they only disagreed once — over the poll tax.  He says: “We had a little discussion in the car. I remember saying Lord Bath paid the same sleeping rates as I did.  “She said it was fair. I said, ‘What about the poor old girl living on her own with no children?’.”  Denis, 78, was staying two floors above Mrs Thatcher’s room when the IRA bombed Brighton’s Grand Hotel in 1984.  He says: “I shot into her room and she was packing up all the papers in the box. I said, ‘Are you OK, Prime Minister?’ And she said, and I’ll never forget, ‘Yes — I’m amazed it hasn’t happened before.’  “Denis Thatcher came out in his pyjamas and said, ‘What’s happened?’ She was very calm.”  Peter Smithson was a driver for Sir Geoffrey Howe. The bomb meant the Foreign Secretary had to rush back to London.  Peter says: “The SAS… had a car in front and one behind, doing about 100mph. We even had police on bridges and motorway crossings.”  The IRA were never far from chauffeurs’ thoughts in the 1970s and 1980s. Margaret Narroway, 63, recalls: “The first thought when you got in and switched on was, ‘If I switch on and it goes bang, that’s it’. That was always in your mind.”  Drivers often learned first about changes at the top. Beryl Osborne told Radio 4 documentary The Wheels Of Power, now available on the BBC iPlayer — she knew that she would get a new car if her minister, Norman Tebbit was promoted.  When he emerged from No 10, Beryl, now 74, asked him: “Have I got my car?” He nodded.  When Mrs Thatcher resigned in 1990 Denis drove her from Downing Street — she had tears in her eyes.  He says: “That was the only time a word wasn’t spoken in that car.  “From the time we left Downing Street until she came out of Buckingham Palace, nobody spoke a word, not even DT (Denis Thatcher). It was quite an emotional drive.”
The day Maggie resigned I drove her away from No10… it was the only time she didn’t say a word