It seems hard to believe now, but only The Spectator supported Margaret Thatcher in the first leadership ballot. She had been Keith Joseph’s campaign director, and when he faltered she took his place. The Economist, true to its endearing habit of being wrong in major calls in modern British history, said she was
“precisely the sort of candidate who ought to be able to stand, and lose harmlessly”
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The Spectator has different tradition: of being isolated, but entirely correct. We were for Maggie all the way, and when she triumphed we devoted a front page leading article to her triumph under the cover line “Britain’s Second Lady”.
The leader (below) was written by the Patrick Cosgrave, our then political editor, who loathed Ted Heath.
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