An excellent Iron Lady, a dismal Denis

Why did they choose Jim Broadbent to play Denis Thatcher?

You see, The Iron Lady can make a great boast. The central performance is extremely convincing. So convincing that you get lost in it. You don’t end up watching the film, thinking ‘God, that performance by Meryl Streep is excellent.’ You just accept that she is Margaret Thatcher and wonder whether it is appropriate to intrude into her privacy. In other words, the very fact that we start worrying about privacy is tribute to the performance.

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Ross Clark

Britain is living beyond its means

But Jim Broadbent does, well, a very good Jim Broadbent impersonation. I like Jim Broadbent impersonations. But not in the middle of a film about Margaret Thatcher.

Denis Thatcher was a much more obvious and traditional Tory figure than his wife, and his support, as an affluent older businessman, was central to her development as a successful Conservative politician.