P.M. BRIEFING : British Inflation Still 10.9%

LONDON —  British inflation held steady at 10.9% in October, unchanged from September, the government said today, and officials and analysts said they believed a damaging five-year price spiral had peaked.

Today’s official figure for the year-on-year change in the retail price index promised some solace to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s embattled Conservative government, which has declared inflation its No. 1 enemy.

Chancellor of the Exchequer John Major said: “It is clear that the rate of inflation has peaked . . . with the solitary proviso that nothing untoward happens to oil prices.”

British inflation is up from just above 3% in the mid-1980s. The acceleration has taken it above the European Community average and far higher than Germany’s 3.7%.