Look inside your own house, at the water coming out of the tap: once a public utility but, after Thatcher, the property of private companies, many foreign-owned. She was a prime minister who happened to be a woman. Reagan would challenge Gerald Ford, the sitting president, the next year. In a eulogy by the former prime minister of Great Britain, Margret Thatcher honors the legacy of Ronald Reagan, the late president. ", This was the great leader in her favourite pose as Samuel Smiles: human beings didn't need to be helped they needed to help themselves. She remained in power till I was 15. At the October 1980 Conservative Conference, in the midst of economic recession, "She's jolly nice," one of them said, "much better to work for than [James] Callaghan." From 1987 to 1988, he was a senior policy writer and speechwriter in 10 Downing Street for Margaret Thatcher when she was British prime minister and remained close to her up to her death.. O'Sullivan served from 2008-2012 as vice-president and executive editor of Radio Free Europe/Radio . Prime Minister Thatcher inherited a settled state of British Europeanness, in which Brussels and the [European] Community began to influence, and often determine, the British way of doing things. But, as the prince in Lampedusa's The Leopard says: "For things to remain the same, everything must change.". Thatcher's reign helped to inspire alternative comedy by creating a generation so bereft of hope that they started putting on gigs just for the sake of something to do. But keeping the show on the road is what all of them must first attend to, because there's nobody else to do it. We had had a strange relationship. Her onslaught on the trade unions left those movements pale imitations of their former selves, too weak to resist the drive to the "flexible labour market" which has seen Britain become the home of what one senior Labour figure calls "crappy jobs", with low pay and no protection. In the current wall-to-wall media welter, I caught the current leader of the Scottish Tories, Ruth Davison MSP, being asked if Thatcher was an electoral asset for her. Plus there's the fact that comedy is now a big business, and there's less money in sharp satire than gentle observation. Harold Macmillan, Alec Douglas-Home, Heath: they seem, by comparison, evanescent figures. It was under her leadership that in 1982 that the Force Research Unit (FRU) was established within the British Army Intelligence Corps. "She had been offered the chance to get on and effectively she then refused to offer it to otherpeople. Margaret Flowers is a leading activist, doctor, teacher, and co-founder of PopularResistance.org, a website that aims to inform and inspire grassroots movements around the world. Here is a selection of the best writing from commentators, politicians and journalists on the legacy of Margaret Thatcher's 11 years in power - and on her continuing impact in the time following her downfall, as figures from across the political spectrum examine the legacy of one of the most important political figures from the last half-century, this (appropriately diplomatic) statement from President Obama, key role not only in bringing about the first Gulf War, publicly advocate for the 2003 attack on Iraq, the Guardian reported upon the death last month of Hugo Chavez, the Daily Mail has morefemale bylines than any other UK paper, Alan Krueger, chair of Obama's council of economic advisers, nor does the balance of research evidence suggest that greater inequality acts as a spur to growth, decline in trade union membership and the rise in inequality, intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich, the primary force behind what was known then as alternative comedy, Rik Mayall's student rants in The Young Ones, wicked, incompetent mindset that was the spirit of the 80s, "very fashionable in the Guardian for a few months before the financial crisis". It is no coincidence the three most influential centre-right thinktanks were all conceived over the following months. "Yes and that was one of the many weird things about her," smirked Alexei Sayle. She was the daughter of a prosperous civic leader who merely began life as a "grocer". There is a paradox. Norman Tebbit, one of Thatcher's acolytes and fellow "Munsters evacuee", said when the National Union of Mineworkers eventually succumbed to the military onslaught and starvation over which she presided: "We didn't just break the strike, we broke the spell." Her voice, a bellicose yawn, somehow both boring and boring I could ignore the content but the intent drilled its way in. Later, when the BBC and ITV scheduled two programmes about Gibraltar, Thatcher tried to stop them. I grew up in Essex with a single mum and a go-getter Dagenham dad. Large parts of society never recovered, while Germany and other countries managed the transition without such brutality. Typically, this distinction is mapped onto the ideas that Conservatives hold about equality. If it ended in disaster, the seeds were only partly hers. It isn't sad for anyone else. speech in July 1945, delivered in a town close to Grantham while she When I think of this memorial, I think of the words of Rupert Brooke, "that there's some corner of a foreign field that is forever England.". This, too, we still live with. Yes, QI can report that a newspaper called the Evening News on . . speech which caused the Soviets to dub her "the Iron Lady". Thatcher's most baleful influence on government was not on industries and services she privatised but those she did not. Either way, I'm an adult now and none of those things are on telly any more so there's no excuse for apathy. Union in a speech Published: Sunday 21st February 2021. During the speech, . There were rumours of a different philosophy, at least in personal relationships. Well, everything really, even her name. "Fatcha" was an instant punchline back then: simply saying it was enough to get a laugh. There are more than 8,000. Get over her! But there were also cuts for basic-rate taxpayers: the 1988 budget, for example, cut the top rate of tax from 60% to 40% and the standard rate from 27% to 25%. It'd be disingenuous to omit that there were a fair number of ding-dong-style celebratory messages amidst the pensive reflections on the end of an era. Had pollsters and the 24/7 media forced leaders to follow opinion, not lead it? Margaret Thatcher's government defended structured political and religious discrimination and political vetting in the north, legislated for political censorship and institutionalised, to a greater extent than ever before, collusion between British state forces and unionist death squads. No gloves, or hats, except for royalty or at funerals, but feet on the table, whisky glass at hand, into the small hours of solitude, for want of male cronies in the masculine world she dominated for all her 11yearsin power. Thatcher's opposition to a positive role for the state in industrial policy caused her grief even during her time in office, but a cross-party consensus newly shaped by Michael Heseltine's report has given him the last word. Simon Heffer, journalist, historian and friend of Margaret Thatcher, recommends the best books to read to gain an understanding of the United Kingdom's first female prime ministerand explains why she was the most influential British leader of the modern era. The 70s was Britain's most equal decade. Even some leading figures on the left have jealously praised the right's creativity and ideological crusaders. All rights reserved. Under Heath and Jim Callaghan the question was widely asked: had democracies become "ungovernable"? The dominance of finance in the economy and the failure of bank regulation flowed from her belief that markets should always be left to themselves. Everything has its season. Neither shift of ownership and power would have happened without a leader prepared to take risks with her life. Not all writers were against her. For years, in fact, she despised writers, except those who did her speeches. Demanding that no criticisms be voiced to counter that hagiography is to enable false history and a propagandistic whitewashing of bad acts, distortions that become quickly ossified and then endure by virtue of no opposition and the powerful emotions created by death. Thatcher refused to recognise the right of citizens to vote for representatives of their choice. For miners, greed was a destructive force, not a force for good. Above all has been the hollowing out of the labour market. Meeting Gorbachev for the first time in December 1984 she declared: "We The truth lies somewhere between these extremes. But we reckoned we got Thatcher only too well and didn't like what we saw, far less what we heard. Elton has previously said that he did two minutes about Thatcher and two hours about his knob, and all anyone ever remembered was the Thatcher material. Superlatives can be agreed: a remarkable first woman PM; the first winner of three elections in a row; brave; tough; relentless; clever; sleeplessly driven by a self-confident conviction that overawed her enemies. In 1979 it had a mile or so of shipyards, a sugar works and factories that still made rope and ship's fittings. What, in retrospect, seems creative and what destructive? Where once we stood within a recognisable postwar social democratic European tradition, after Thatcher the country had rowed halfway across the Atlantic, psychologically imbued with US neoliberal individualism. of her best Parliamentary speeches in a debate on the strikes, prayed on the speech in the House of Commons, her Great speeches: 'Orwellian nightmare' if Tories fail, claims Margaret Thatcher. performance at a Press Conference afterwards, the She was not a writer. First was the sheer depth of hostility towards the Tories in general. How dare her apologists and beneficiaries of her legacy refer to trade unions like the NUM as "corrupt" in the face of their bonuses and tax cuts! It led to riots that nobody needed. Peggy Noonan. It knew what Thatcher wanted. Here shovels the earth during a tree-planting ceremony . The truth is less significant than the alteration to it. The papers date from Margaret Thatcher's childhood to the end of her life, and include tens of thousands of photographs, as well as a vast collection of press cuttings, and many audio and video tapes of public and private events. If the Falklands war was the making of Thatcher, then the poll tax was her achilles heel not least in Scotland. ROBIN HARRIS worked for the Conservative Party from 1978, and increasingly closely with Margaret Thatcher herself from 1985, writing her speeches and advising on policy. By 1990 it was transformed. She needed followers, as long as they went in her frequently unpopular directions. Had Jim Callaghan won the 1979 election, he too would have faced the challenge of how to modernise an economy beset by high inflation, weak management and poor industrial relations. They're happy to share big windfall bonuses with their cronies, they'll stick up for deposed dictator chums when they're down on their luck, they'll find opportunities in business for people they care about. One turns with gratitude to Alan Clark's diaries for a fine description of being summoned to No 10 and being subjected to just such an examination. But really, such statements were anything but, first because sweeping statements about genders are the opposite of gender equality and second because they revealed her real attitude towards women, which lay behind her notable lack of female-friendly policies, her utter lack of interest in childcare provision or positive action. But what bound all opposition to Margaret Thatcher's programme was a suspicion that the grocer's daughter was intent on monetising human value, that she had no heart and, famously, cared little for the impulses that bind individuals into a society. Critical Commentary: Margaret Thatcher outlined the British policy in relation to various world issues. We might speculate that an adviser had offered Thatcher a selection of good lines, or that she had asked to see some. Thatcher's title is Baroness. In 1990, Margaret Thatcher emerged as one of the first world leaders to champion climate science, issuing a call to action to fight manmade global warming at the Second World Climate Conference hosted at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. She is an anomaly; a product of the freak-onomy of her time. Thatcherism failed to destroy the welfare state. "We have not The authors show just how much . MT gave her first This zest for ideas was boosted by the 2010 intake, which comprises just under half the parliamentary party. The woman dubbed as the Iron Lady during her premiership made her last tearful speech as the leader of the country from the doorstep of . Arthur Scargill and the miners represented the only opposition to the prime minister and her destructive and divisive values and, after the strike, the way was open for the most aggressive neoliberal policies. History will judge her, but not a country in Europe was untouched by Thatcher's example. first television interview the following day, euphoric Privatisation was the single most massive attack on democracy we have seen. But without any question, sitting behind her desk, she was wearing ahat. There are pangs of nostalgia, yes, because for me she's all tied up with Hi-De-Hi and Speak and Spell and Blockbusters and "follow the bear". For Thatcher it all ended months later in November 1990 when she was forced to resign. The time was 1973. Another head of government died recently who, like Thatcher, was called divisive. Heath took us into Europe, and a referendum in spring 1975 confirmed national approval for the move. Her political antennae refused to allow her to privatise the coal industry, British Rail or the post office. There were sporadic resurrections. Gillian Anderson's portrayal of the Iron Lady in "The Crown" is pretty spot-on. Nor, contrary to myth, did Thatcherism emerge fully formed in May 1979. No homeless or disabled people need beg on the streets. This was heightened by the suspicion that this power was not consciously deployed. She was 87. All rights reserved. At times the Conservative party is so anarchic as to appear almost ungovernable, like a plethora of pressure groups pushing pet causes rather than a united group ruthlessly focusing on political success. The latest pit to close, Maltby in Yorkshire, still has a death and general purpose fund to help fellow miners and their families in times of hardship. The spell he was referring to is the unseen bond that connects us all and prevents us from being subjugated by tyranny. Or maybe audiences just really, really hated her and wanted to blow off some steam. Instead state assets and a huge income stream from North sea oil were used to fund a populist programme of tax cuts, privatisation and council housesales. Modern comedians complain that they don't have personalities, they don't really stand for anything. When I started knocking on Highland doors in May 1983, two things struck me more than any other. She lost seven cabinet ministers on the Europe question, a record that permeated the party for years afterwards. This is a style whose absence is much missed. Margaret Thatcher has 43 books on Goodreads with 14026 ratings. she warned that she was not It was perfectly justified to note that, particularly as the Guardian also explained that "to the millions who revered him a third of the country, according to some polls a messiah has fallen, and their grief will be visceral." Of all the things to criticise Thatcher for, calling her out for being a woman seems like something of a wasted bullet. The drastic results of these policies were intentional. Alexei Sayle blames Twitter and the "multiplicity of voices" in the modern world. While she spoke of his example as a beacon, she knew very well that she was an important component of what is often attributed solely to him, and in the first instance "winning" the cold war. It's like a whimsical live-action episode of Postman Pat where his cat is craftily carved up and sold back to him. Everyone knows where they were when they heard. Indeed, many of the policy innovations associated with Thatcher had already been pioneered by her predecessor. At Bruges in September 1988 she outraged European orthodoxy by declaring: The tragic upshot has been the steep erosion of wages for the powerless bottom half, as income, wealth and property is sucked up to the top.