Margaret Thatcher's Son Tried to Spark a Coup in Africa

Margaret Thatcher’s son was the ultimate nepo baby. Despite his mother being one of the most powerful politicians to ever live, Mark was a bit of a screwup. On the outside he was cocky, aloof, arrogant, and underneath was a staggering confidence that had no right to be there.

But this is more than the story of just some spoilt son of a world leader. Because Mark seemed to consistently find himself in scandals that would bring shame upon the entire British commonwealth and beyond.

He ran dodgy companies, lived off his name in luxury, and got himself into some serious scrapes as a racing driver.

But Mark would soon find himself in a very different kind of scrape. A very serious one.

So, what exactly did he get mixed up in? How is what he did still considered so secret that the British government refuse to release the documents? And what incredible lengths will a mother’s love have to reach to in order to protect her child?

This is the bizarre story of Mark Thatcher.

Early Beginnings

You all likely know of Margaret Thatcher – British Prime Minister during the 80s, the longest reigning PM in British history, political superheavyweight, and figure of much controversy across Modern Britain.

Well, she has a son. His name’s Mark.

And where Lady Thatcher would prove to be cunning, dedicated, and intelligent – her son? Mark didn’t really get the memo on that one.

Of course, Maggie was not the only Thatcher in the picture to make Mark in the first place, there was also Dennis, his father. Mark was a complicated lad from the start. Even during birth, he and his twin sister Carol ended up being born around six weeks premature, but they both survived. Father of the year Dennis was taking up the great British pastime of watching the cricket instead of the birth of his children.

Upon seeing his newborn children for the first time, he was said to have said: “My God, they look like rabbits. Put them back.”

Ever the romantic, you can see what kind of father and role model he would turn out to be for young Mark. Master Thatcher left Harrow School in 1971 with only three “O-levels” – that’s basically the same as barely finishing high school. To be fair especially at the time people would do this quite a lot in the UK, nothing especially out of the ordinary, although it does seem that Mark was lacking in the brains department – if his nickname of “Thickie Mork” was anything to go by at least.

It seems that his twin sister Carol got the greater share of the brain cells, she was described as a dutiful daughter whereas Mark was mostly a disappointment. He was forced to vacate a training position at accounting firm Touche Ross after failing his accountancy exams a total of three separate times. His entire career would be defined by multiple catastrophic business failures, controversy, opaque deals, scams, and a reliance on his mother’s political power and wealth to get him out of his scrapes.

Indeed, Mark’s relationship with money was much like any young nepo baby – that is to say, non-existent. Denis frequently referred to Mark as a “financial alcoholic” whilst Conservative politician Derek Howe described Margaret Thatcher as: “the ultimate chequebook mum.”

And believe me, Mark needed bailing out on several occasions. Let’s start with his illustrious racing career, shall we?

Mark is quoted to have said about his motor racing endeavours that: “Mummy had a sense of humour loss when I announced I was going motor racing.” Which we have to grant him is very funny. But in fairness, so was Mark’s short and chaotic racing career.

You see Mark had a few short-term jobs – including a stint in Hong Kong of all places – but when your mother is a famous politician, you don’t need a job as such, just a hobby that can also be a business. In 1977, he founded Mark Thatcher Racing and he pretty much immediately ran into financial difficulties because Mark wasn’t exactly the “think ahead” type. But he stuck with it, and on the 10th of June 1979 he made his racing debut in a 1.6 litre Sunbeam modified to run on methanol. Now I’m not a motor racing fanatic, but during the research for this video, this move by Mark was compared in one article to sticking a turbocharger on a mobility scooter, so I’m guessing it didn’t go overly well.

That year he also competed in the Bathurst 1000, which is a 1,000-kilometre (or 621-mile) endurance race that takes place in Australia. The whole thing is around 161 laps long. The fastest drivers manage it in about six hours and that’s when driving at extremely high speeds. Mark naturally thought that this would be the perfect step in his quest to racing stardom.

Not quite. He finished 29th, which was the best result of his racing career, 33 laps behind the eventual winners. Not terrible for a joke, but pretty bad for someone who wanted to be taken seriously in this world.

Evidently Mark leapt upwards again after the Bathurst, signing up for Le Mans – the 24-hour endurance race – in both 1980 and 1981, but both times he would unfortunately get a DNF.

Not to be deterred, what did Mark do? In 1982 he signed up to participate in the world’s hardest and longest race, the Paris Dakar rally.

This was a different animal completely. Bathurst was a mere 1,000 kilometres. Le Mans gets over 5,000 kilometres (or just over 3,100 miles). The Paris-Dakar Rally is 8,000 kilometres long, or around 5,000 miles. And the other races were on the same track on a loop, for this you had to cross the damn Sahara Desert to get from France to Senegal. It is no joke; 78 people have died on the Paris-Dakar rally since the event started in 1979, and 33 of them were competitors in the race itself.

Mark knew this was crazy dangerous, but he was never one to back away from a risk. Indeed, the public knew it too, when Journalist Adam Hay-Nicholls stated in The Spectator at the time that: “It was with extemporaneousness and a side order of hubris that he took on the very different and more dangerous challenge of the Paris-Dakar with little more than bravado and a rudimentary compass.”

The team was Mark as the navigator, Anne-Charlotte Verney as the driver, and Jacky Garnier as the on-board mechanic. They used a Peugeot 504 estate as their vehicle of choice and off they went. But on the 9th of January, disaster struck. The crew had to stop in order to repair the rear axle of their car, and they got separated from the wider convoy of vehicles.

They were in the centre of the Sahara – one of the most isolated and inhospitable landscapes on earth – all alone, hundreds of miles from the nearest settlement, with very little food and water. In fact, they had to survive on the water from the car’s radiator as Mark had arrived too late to refill the water container for that particular phase of the race.

It was quickly spiralling into the disaster everyone had seen coming the second that Mark had expressed his desire to go motor racing. After not knowing about their location for two full days, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had to act to save her son. She intervened by calling the Algerian Ambassador for help. All in all, five Algerian, three French, and one British plane were used in the search.

The trio were eventually found around 31 miles off route around the 15th of January. They were near the border with Mali at the time.

Believe it or not, this would not be Mark’s last scrape in Africa.

Anyway, when they were found, Mark was quite nonchalant about the whole sting, stating that all he needed was: ”… a beer, a sandwich, a bath and a shave.”

Verney (the driver) stated that the only thing that made her angry was Mark not knowing the location… which is sort of the navigator’s entire job. Apparently, he was trying to find a shortcut. Thank God he didn’t.

He reunited with his father in Tamanrasset (a city in the southwestern Algerian interior) where they had a celebration dinner at the Tahat hotel. But this pair of Thatchers dined and dashed, leaving without having paid which resulted in yet another scandal when the local police and British Embassy got involved. The Prime Minister herself had to settle the bill – worth £1,784 pounds – from her own personal account to make the problem go away. That amount of money is equal to almost £7,000 pounds today.

I didn’t even know it was possible to spend that much on a single meal.

If that wasn’t enough, Mark was flown back to the UK on the Algerian Presidential jet. The whole thing was an embarrassment on the international stage for the Thatcher family, and for the UK as a whole. If that didn’t take the biscuit enough, it would emerge that Mark’s only preparation for the race had been half a day of testing on the day before the race. The whole ordeal cost both money and valuable political favours from London, not exactly ideal.

Ultimately of course most people would forget about Mark’s racing altogether, as it was 1982, and the biggest story of the year for the Thatcher government would be the Falklands War.

But if Maggie Thatcher’s son was little more than an overambitious, rich, spoilt, adrenaline junkie he probably wouldn’t qualify for a video on this channel. No, the story from here gets much darker.

Scams

Back in the 1980s, Mark was working for Trafalgar House – a big engineering conglomerate – as a consultant. And during this time, Cementation International – a subsidiary of Trafalgar – secured a deal to build a new University in Oman. The deal was reportedly worth around $525 million dollars back then, or over $1.5 billion dollars today.

The whole thing looked a little bit fishy. Critics argued that it was strange to see Cementation International competing for the contract alone, whilst it would also be easy to see how Mark could have leveraged his position as the Prime Minister’s son to get the deal over the line. Even more concerning was the idea that the PM used her relationship with the Sultan of Oman to grease the wheels. Mark reportedly made £100,000 pounds from the deal, and the whole thing seemed thoroughly dodgy, especially when on a state visit to the Gulf Nations, Thatcher took Mark with her on the visit to Oman, who accompanied her for parts of the tour.

People rightly didn’t like these kinds of dealings, that blend international geopolitics, with the interests of individual members of politicians’ families, and a whole lot of money. Many people called it out for what it was, Mark trading off his own name and his mother’s influence.

Robin Butler – the PM’s former Private Secretary pretty much confirmed something dodgy was going on, when he stated: “She had wanted to see Mark right. She sought the deal for Mark. She excluded everyone from her talks with the Sultan… She behaved in a most peculiar way. I suspected the worst.”

Political opponents didn’t hold their tongues either. MP Willie Hamilton stated at the time: “Never in all our British history had the interests of the United Kingdom, the Prime Minister and her family been so well served simultaneously as in the winning of this large, juicy contract.” Tongue firmly planted in cheek on that one.

Only more speculation has grown in the time since this first occurred. National Archive rules in the UK state that government files should be made public after 20 or 30 years unless they could compromise national security or contain sensitive personal information. In 2016, Downing Street retained four files relating to Mark Thatcher, two were entitled “Cementation contract: Mark Thatcher and the Omanis” – which isn’t suspicious at all. They have been retained for a total of 65 years so they are due to be released in 2051.

The other two are called “Mark Thatcher and the Omanis; other allegations against Mark Thatcher” and “Request by Electronic Data Systems to employ Mark Thatcher.” So, it’s not exactly subtle what they’re about.

These documents are listed as “temporarily retained” but currently have no established release date at all. This is deeply suspicious, if the documents pertained to national security information, why was Mark Thatcher, a private citizen with private interests involved? If the material was otherwise sensitive, then all the more reason for the public to know, given the subject matter.

Then-leader of the Liberal Democrats Tim Farron probably put it best in 2016: “Sunlight is the best disinfectant and this decision is ludicrous. If certain sections still compromise national security or foreign relations after all this time, they should be redacted. Given the topic, it seems more likely that this is a move to avoid embarrassment. There is no legitimate reason for these papers to not be in the public domain and I urge the Cabinet Office to think again.”

It wouldn’t be the last of Mark’s dodgy dealings all over the globe, one of which included the world-famous record-breaking contracts between the UK and Saudi Arabia.

Back in 1985 and deep into Thatcher’s tenure, the Prime Minister and Prince Bandar bin Sultan signed a joint Memorandum of Understanding related to extensive defence spending. The largest arms export deal in British history no less, dubbed by the press as the Arms Deal of the Century it was so lucrative. It went on in multiple phases for decades.

The exact revenue is unknown because subsequent contracts are still generating revenue today, but it easily netted British arms manufacturers a share of £43 billion pounds when the project was ongoing, and a further £40 billion pounds since. The house of Al-Saud has deep pockets after all.

It was all done to establish a state-of-the-art weapons arsenal to the Saudis in order to counter growing fundamentalism, creating a modern and expanded fleet in the Middle East.

Listen, this is about money, weapons, and geopolitical interests. So, from the start everyone wants their slice. Take Prince Bandar bin Sultan for example. He was the Saudi ambassador to the United States, but he earned up to $30 million dollars from the arms deal.

He bought a 2,000-acre manor house and estate in Oxfordshire known as “Glympton.” He even built a complete British pub inside. But there’s more, Prince Bandar bin Sultan is also one of the few Saudi royals who were alleged to have donated money to Al-Qaeda to help finance the 9/11 attacks. So, him being a part of this deal at all was a risk.

It was shady, and it was risky business to get involved with, so Mark naturally was drawn towards it. Where did he fit in? Well, he was a politically connected middleman, and his surname carried some weight because it was assumed he would have influence over his mother. He reportedly facilitated introductions between British intermediaries and figures in the Saudi defence ministry.

And for his excellent work, Mark was paid a staggering £12 million pounds for his contributions according to leaked documents from a defecting Saudi diplomat.

It wasn’t just Mark and the Prince though; the whole deal was dirty. BAE Systems who won the contract disguised at least one billion pounds of payments by making them through an anonymous offshore company called Poseidon. The company also provided a £60 million-pound slush fund to keep Prince Turki bin Nasser – the commander of the Saudi Air Force – happy during his visits. He apparently received: “extravagant holidays, fleets of classic cars, planeloads of shopping and blond girlfriends.”

BAE claims this was all paid for under contractual arrangements but the associated bills were given the misleading title “support services.” This is how geopolitics really works; the wheels have to get greased somewhere.

Sir Michael Quinlan, former British Ministry of Defence permanent secretary told the public that no commission payments (otherwise known as bribes) were paid using public funds. We know that this was a lie, the MoD itself authorised quarterly payments to Prince Bandar as a commission, and we know dear old Mark got some money going the other way.

The National Audit Office’s report into the role of the MoD during the arms deal has never been published, in fact it remains the only NAO investigation to be fully suppressed like this. Only 10 copies of the report were allegedly ever produced and they have apparently all since been destroyed. We may never know just how involved Mark really was in something that was altogether bigger than him.

The Coup

That’s actually a good jumping off point to talk about Mark’s most famous series of decisions. You see there’s an argument to be had that Mark was never really a bad guy – at least not in the sense of some of the extremely evil individuals his mother surrounded herself with – by comparison he was just something of a spoilt, arrogant, entitled trouble magnet who had a propensity to get in over his head. And it would definitely be his time in Africa which would showcase that more than anything.

In 1995, Mark moved to Constantia in Cape Town South Africa, where he immediately got himself wrapped up in something dodgy again. In August of 1998, Matrix Capital (the name of Mark’s South African based finance company) was the subject of a major anti-corruption investigation. It was alleged that over 900 small loans were offered by Mark’s company to low-paid government workers like officials, police, military personnel, and civil servants.

Ok, that’s not that strange, lots of countries with low-income government workers have systems where they take out loans. Yeah, but the problem was Mark had become a loan shark. His scheme infiltrated 26 police stations and multiple government buildings.

When individuals defaulted on the loans, Mark’s company would aggressively pursue the reimbursement of the debt through collectors and charging a 20% per month interest rate. Borrowers reportedly owed Mark’s company over 2.2 million South African Rand – that’s about £220,000 pounds – but the company’s records were so poorly kept that it was impossible to verify the debts. The whole thing was another disaster for him, especially as it was questionable whether he was in accordance with local lending laws.

Mark for what’s worth, stated that borrowers approached the company voluntarily, and he was only trying to help out his business associates. He reportedly told a South African newspaper that: “I’m not the one that elects to increase their debt. They are. What’s wrong with that?”

But it wasn’t quite all so rosy internally either. Mark is reported to have filed official complaints about his officers not honouring their debts, whilst agents who worked for him faced internal disciplinary proceedings. To everyone it was pretty obvious what was going on, and the South African officials saw it the same way, with the Western Cape Police Commissioner ordering a special task force to investigate potential breaches of common law, and authorities issuing 205 separate subpoenas requiring Mark to testify and hand over documents. Whilst Chief Executive of the Consumer Institute of South Africa Diane Terblanche described Mark’s practices as “common loansharking.”

In the end no wrong-doing was ever proven, but it’s just another blemish on the younger Thatcher’s record.

But soon it would get even more serious for Mark the thrill seeker, because in 2004, he tried to start a coup in Africa.

Yes really.

This would – as it turns out – be Mark’s main contribution to his legacy, beyond all that cool racing he did anyway. By this time in the early 2000s, his mother had long since stopped being Prime Minister, but the family had accrued enough wealth to get old Mark out of any scrapes just in case.

And as scrapes go, this was a doozy.

So back in 2004, there was a failed coup in the west African nation of Equatorial Guinea. The nation is located right in Africa’s armpit and this can be quite a troubled part of the world at times. So back in 2004, this coup was supposed to overthrow then President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, and replace him with the opposition leader in exile – Severo Moto. A team of 64 mercenaries (primarily South African and Angolan veterans of the 32nd Buffalo Battalion) were ready to strike at any moment.

And yes, I did say South Africa, where Mark Thatcher lived at the time. I’m sure you can see where this is going.

Led by former SAS officer Simon Mann, the 64 men planned to fly a Boeing 727 from South Africa to Zimbabwe, where they could collect weapons that they had purchased from Zimbabwe’s national defence contractor, and then continue on to Malabo the capital of Equatorial Guinea. There they would join up with another 15-man squad already on the ground before spreading out to seize key targets like the Presidential Palace. Sounds simple in principle, in reality coups are a lot about timing and luck.

Almost anything can sink a coup plot quickly because the stakes are so high for everyone involved. And unfortunately for the coup plotters, this is exactly what happened.

The coup collapsed on the 7th of March. The main team didn’t even make it to Equatorial Guinea, South African authorities tipped off Zimbabwe who impounded the plane and arrested all 64 attempted coup plotters. The 15-man leading team in Malabo were arrested as well, as it turns out they’d all long been under surveillance. By the 9th everyone was in custody. But where does Mark come in?

Well, as it turns out the coup was financed by a network of wealthy individuals who would presumably get something out of their coup backing in the way of lucrative state deals once the dust settled. Mark, was one such financier.

Mark stated that he became a coup financier by accident, it sounds ridiculous but listen to his story and see what you think. Mark had bought a helicopter that he claims he thought would be used for humanitarian purposes as a civilian chopper. He thought this because he was asked to contact Crause Steyl – a man who owned and managed his own air ambulance business.

Naturally Mark didn’t think to ask any more questions at the time, that or he didn’t want to know for plausible deniability later. According to the coup plot this helicopter was actually supposed to be the one that would take exiled politician Severo Moto to Malabo. Ultimately Mark denied any and all knowledge of the plot, claiming that he was a victim in it all for being scammed out of a helicopter.

Ultimately the whole thing would be a bit of a disaster for Mark, who ended up getting arrested in his Cape Town home by late August of 2004. Mark despite denying everything did admit to breaking anti-mercenary legislation in South Africa by agreeing to finance the helicopter. In his plea agreement though he would state that he acknowledged that the helicopter was going to be used for mercenary activities before the deal was ultimately finalised. It’s unclear if he knew the exact planned purposes of the chopper or not, either way financing a helicopter for someone you’re not overly familiar with is a poor decision in a chain of poor decisions that led Mark to this moment.

He was charged with South Africa’s anti-mercenary law also known as the Foreign Military Assistance act. He was also placed under house arrest during this time, but he claimed he was innocent of all charges. His dear old mother paid his bail amounting to £167,000 pounds, and he appeared in court in January of 2005.

Mark could have been staring down significant jail time, up to 12 years within South Africa or extradition to Equatorial Guinea, whose government might not take so kindly to the coup plotters who just failed to overthrow them. But yet again, despite a circumstance that most people might not be able to squeak away from unscathed, Mark managed to get off with very minor consequences.

He was sentenced to a four-year suspended sentence, and was fined three million Rand (or around £265,000 pounds back then). He was also warned by the judge that a failure to pay his fine would result in additional prison time on top of violating his parole. But he was able to get away with absolutely zero jail time. He at the very least was able to pay the fine all by himself this time after selling his home to finance it.

He reportedly stated at the time that: “There is no price too high for me to be reunited with my family.” Or if there is, Mark just hasn’t found it yet.

He did get his fair share of mockery throughout the whole process at least, such as the banner that was put up across the road from the courthouse that read “save me mummy,” no doubt a nudge at Mark’s relationship with his mother. I think it’s fair to say that his foray into politics was definitely less successful than hers.

And in terms of business, he was ruined at least for a while. He stated to Vanity Fair that he felt like a corpse floating in a river because nobody would deal with him. If his hapless endeavours did nothing else, it softened his pride somewhat.

But some have argued that this is not merely a case of stumbling into some kind of accidental coup, and that Mark was more involved than he ever let on, using his political connections to get away when things went south. In 2024 orchestrator of said coup Simon Mann told The Telegraph that “the truth should come out”, and gave the news publication access to his emails and unpublished parts of his memoirs. You see, Simon got extradited to Equatorial Guinea and was sentenced to 34 years before being released on humanitarian grounds in 2009. But it seems he found his conscience in jail to want to bring the truth to light.

In his personal notes from that time, it’s alleged that Mark was told by Mann about the coup during a walk on Table Mountain. They also allege that Mark was to have a negotiated stake in the post-coup government and intended to even move to Equatorial Guinea after it was all over. Mann went as far as to claim that Mark spoke with his mother over the potential coup plot. Given all of that, getting away with a suspended prison sentence would be very fortunate indeed.

Mark states the whole thing is nonsense, saying that: “Simon can say what he wants. I’m really not going to comment on any of that.”

Whether Mark was always more of a foppish buffoon who found himself in situations he just couldn’t handle, or whether he was a bit more calculated than you think, he certainly is never far from a scandal. And the person who might encompass that the most is Mrs Thatcher’s former press secretary – Sir Bernard Ingham. Mark asked him in 1987 what he could do to help his mother win her third successive election. Sir Bernard said: “Leave the country.”

As it turned out though that managed to be potentially terrible advice from the people of Equatorial Guinea. Maybe just stick to the racing next time.

Key Takeaways

• Mark Thatcher, son of Margaret Thatcher, was known for his reckless behavior and involvement in various scandals.
• He had a brief and unsuccessful career as a racing driver, culminating in a disastrous attempt at the Paris-Dakar rally.
• Mark was involved in several controversial business deals, including a lucrative but suspicious contract in Oman.
• He was implicated in a failed coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea, for which he received a suspended sentence.
• Mark’s actions often required his mother’s intervention, highlighting his reliance on her influence and wealth.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Mark Thatcher?

Mark Thatcher is the son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. He is known for his involvement in various scandals and controversial business dealings.

What was Mark Thatcher’s racing career like?

Mark Thatcher had a short and chaotic racing career. He competed in various races, including the Bathurst 1000 and the Paris-Dakar Rally, but often faced financial difficulties and poor performance.

What happened during Mark Thatcher’s participation in the Paris-Dakar Rally?

During the Paris-Dakar Rally, Mark Thatcher and his team got lost in the Sahara Desert. They were stranded for two days before being rescued with the help of Margaret Thatcher, who intervened by calling the Algerian Ambassador.

What was the scandal involving Mark Thatcher and the University in Oman?

Mark Thatcher was involved in a controversial deal where Cementation International, a subsidiary of Trafalgar House, secured a contract to build a new university in Oman. Critics argued that Mark leveraged his mother’s influence to secure the deal, which was worth around $525 million.

What was Mark Thatcher’s involvement in the Equatorial Guinea coup?

Mark Thatcher was a financier in a failed coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea in 2004. He was arrested and charged with breaking South Africa’s anti-mercenary legislation but received a suspended sentence and a fine.

What was the outcome of Mark Thatcher’s trial for his involvement in the coup?

Mark Thatcher was sentenced to a four-year suspended sentence and fined three million Rand. He was also warned that failure to pay the fine would result in additional prison time.

What was the nature of Mark Thatcher’s business dealings in South Africa?

In South Africa, Mark Thatcher’s finance company, Matrix Capital, was involved in a loan sharking scheme targeting low-paid government workers. The company offered small loans with high interest rates and aggressive collection practices.

How did Mark Thatcher’s mother, Margaret Thatcher, influence his business dealings?

Margaret Thatcher’s political influence was often suspected to have played a role in Mark Thatcher’s business dealings, particularly in securing lucrative contracts and getting him out of scrapes.

What was the significance of the Al-Yamamah arms deal?

The Al-Yamamah arms deal was a lucrative defense spending agreement between the UK and Saudi Arabia, worth billions of pounds. Mark Thatcher was reportedly involved as a politically connected middleman, facilitating introductions and receiving significant payments.

Sources

• Original Scandal video: Margaret Thatcher’s Son Tried to Spark a Coup in Africa
• Hero image source by Colin / openverse, by-sa.

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