Margaret thatcher

Wednesday

Isabel Hardman

‘If only people could see the real Margaret Thatcher’: Lords pay tribute

Today’s debates in Parliament about Baroness Thatcher were supposed to be a tribute to the first female Prime Minister. If you were looking for the most faithful rendition of this, you should have been sitting in the House of Lords, not the Commons this afternoon. In the Other Place, the debate is always rather more civilised and measured, though it has grown rather rowdier in recent years. But today the speeches painted a fascinating picture of Margaret Thatcher, not least because many of them came from those who worked with or in opposition to her when she was in power. Some were notable by their silence: Lord Howe arrived with

Steve Hilton

‘She was Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, Lady Gaga; all rolled into one’ – Steve Hilton on Margaret Thatcher

Tomorrow’s Spectator includes a three-page symposium on Margaret Thatcher from a selection of her friends colleagues, admirers and sparring partners. Here’s the full version of what Steve Hilton – No.10’s strategy officer from 2010-2012 – has to say about our first female Prime Minister. I was lucky enough to meet Mrs Thatcher (as I will always think of her) on a few occasions, and one in particular stood out. We talked about Communism, and my family’s experience in Hungary. I was feeling incensed at the time because of the way in which the ruling elite dabbled in capitalism for their own personal enrichment, but denied the opportunities of enterprise to

Steerpike Steerpike

The guru speaks

A Maggie-tastic jam-packed Spectator tomorrow. Amongst the tributes, the words of Steve Hilton stuck out: ‘I saw her as thrillingly anti-establishment; as much of a punk, and as brilliantly British, as Vivienne Westwood, who once impersonated her on the cover of Tatler. Margaret Thatcher had the virtues most valued in today’s culture: innovation, energy, daring. She was Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, and Lady Gaga all rolled into one — and a thousand times more consequential than any of them. In today’s techno-business jargon, she was the ultimate political disruptor: determined to shake things up, unleash competition, challenge and confront vested interests. To be transformative, being reasonable doesn’t get you very

Jonathan Jones

Margaret Thatcher in six graphs

With the debate swirling about Margaret Thatcher’s legacy and her government’s record, it’s worth taking a look at what the cold, hard economic data has to say about her time in office. Of course, growth rates and unemployment figures can’t tell us everything about a period, but they can at least provide a bit of substance to mix with the well-worn rhetoric. 1. Average growth. Under Thatcher, GDP rose by 29.4 per cent — an average of 0.6 per cent growth per quarter. (That’s the same as the average growth rate from 1955 to 2013.)   2. Manufacturing jobs lost, but more service jobs created. A net of 1.6 million

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

Football, Thatcher and political hooliganism

It was never going to take long for football to become part of the Thatcher death row. Almost any big media story that involves stupidity, mawkishness, and tribal loyalty will inevitably be sucked into the national game. On Monday, Manchester United decided not to stage a minute’s silence for Mrs T – no surprise there – and now it’s turning into a nationwide fight. Some football people want to honour the Iron Lady, but the FA is reluctant. Reading FC chairman John Madejski has called for a tribute ahead of his side’s game against Liverpool FC, but the Liverpudlians so despise Thatcher that they will find the idea too offensive

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Margaret Thatcher: An Accidental Libertarian Heroine

It is 34 years since Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister. Coincidentally, she entered Downing Street 34 years after Clement Attlee won the 1945 general election.  The whole history of post-war Britain is cleaved, neatly, in two. If the first half of that story was dominated by a left-led consensus, the second has been a triumph for liberalism. We have lived in an era of liberal emancipation and are much the better for it. Mrs Thatcher, of course, was a great economic liberal. Her approach to economics, guided by Smith, Hayek and Friedman, stressed the importance of individual endeavour. Remove the dead hand of state control and Britain could flourish again.

Sebastian Payne

Introducing our first ebook: Margaret Thatcher in The Spectator 1975-1990

No publication understood the Thatcher project better than The Spectator. We backed her for the leadership in 1975 when no other national publication would. We understood her opportunities, foibles and genius when many of our rivals were baffled by this coarse-sounding lady and her popular appeal. We have put together 21 essays from the period into our first-ever ebook: Margaret Thatcher in The Spectator 1975 – 1990. It’s available today on the Kindle, for just 99p. It begins with Patrick Cosgrave advocating Thatcher as Tory leader, then gives a six-month and one-year progress report. Ferdinand Mount describes the uneasiness that followed the 1979 triumph. Then, as now, The Spectator was

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

MPs line up to pay respects to – and criticise – Margaret Thatcher

This afternoon’s tribute debate in the House of Commons will continue until 10pm, with many MPs wanting to pay their respects to Margaret Thatcher. There will be many speeches about how the former Prime Minister inspired and shaped the politics of those speaking. But there will also inevitably be those who want to talk about the negative aspects of her legacy. Ed Miliband, who gave a measured tribute on Monday, faces the challenge of giving a speech that isn’t insincere but that remains respectful too. Some of his MPs, such as John Healey, who has written a forceful piece for PoliticsHome, are boycotting the event. Others, such as David Winnick,

Tuesday

The Spectator

Andrew Neil on The People’s Margaret Thatcher

This morning, Andrew Neil presented a Radio 4 special recalling how voters felt about Margaret Thatcher. Including opinions from her supporters and detractors, it’s a fascinating look into how she was perceived by the electorate throughout key moments in her premiership. Here is what people had to say: On her public perception: ‘She doesn’t convince me for a start she doesn’t understand the problems of working class people. She talks down to people’ Debating the cost of the Falklands War: ‘Our village school is going to be closed. The cost of keeping it open would be about a hundredth part of £1 million. Wouldn’t our school be a better use

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

‘No such thing as society’: what it means for today’s welfare debate

Any Tories who might be asking ‘What Would Thatcher Do?’ about some of the political rows bubbling away today would surely wonder what her response to the current benefits debate might be. She kept well away from welfare reform, but she did have strong views on the role of government in helping people get on. Her notorious Woman’s Own interview provided us with the greatest insight, and in much greater detail than the ‘there’s no such thing as society’ line that everyone can quote. Here’s a longer extract from the transcript (which you can read in full on the Margaret Thatcher Foundation website): ‘I think we have gone through a

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Maggie Won’t Jump

  A remarkable clip from an interview with Swedish television. No-one asks Margaret Thatcher to “jump” and gets away with it. One does rather think that some of her successors would have been happy to make fools of themselves in this fashion.    

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Conviction politics: ‘What Would Thatcher Do?’ grips the Tory party

Conor Burns, a close friend of Margaret Thatcher, gave a fascinating interview with Radio 4’s The World at One today about his memories of the Iron Lady. Like so many accounts, it focused on Thatcher’s disregard for opinion polls and focus groups. Burns said: ‘I think it’s a failure of politics that looks too much at focus groups and too much at public opinion polls. Again, I remember last November showing her a poll in one of the Sunday papers and it showed that we were nine points behind, and she asked when the next election was, and I said it wasn’t for another two and a half years and

Steerpike Steerpike

Lady Thatcher on the ‘The Iron Lady’

Conor Burns, a close confident of the late Baroness Thatcher, has lifted the lid on the former Prime Minister’s reaction to the biographical Meryl Streep film I mentioned yesterday. The Tory backbencher recounts: “I went from Leicester Square to watch the Iron Lady to Chester Square to have a gin and tonic with Lady T, and I told her ‘I’ve just been to see a film about you.’ She said ‘what do you mean a film about me?’. “I said: ‘Well they’ve made a film about your life and career as Prime Minister, and it’s an hour and half long’ and straight away, she said: ‘I couldn’t imagine anything worse’.”

Sebastian Payne

An alternative reaction to Margaret Thatcher’s death

On my way home last night, I dropped by Windrush Square in Brixton to observe an alternative reaction to Baroness Thatcher’s death. It was easy to find the party simply by following the cacophony. Around 200 people turned out to engage in a cold evening of drinking, dancing and heckling. Three competing sound systems blasted music against occasional shouts of ‘Maggie Maggie Maggie, dead dead dead’. Was the crowd attempting to make a serious point or was it just an excuse for a drunken party? These pictures should give you an impression of the impromptu event: Ironically from what I could see, many in the crowd appeared rather too young to remember Thatcher: some

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Tory Thatcher tributes will mark the next stage in battle for party’s soul

MPs will pay tribute to Margaret Thatcher in the Commons tomorrow. One set of speeches worth listening to with some care will be those from the 2010 intake of Conservative MPs, raised during the Thatcher years, and often considered the group most enthusiastic about keeping her flame alive in the party. It is also likely that from this group will emerge the next Conservative leader. They are a confident bunch, bursting with ideas, books and essays about how to reinvigorate Conservatism. Paying tribute to the former Prime Minister will also be an opportunity for some of them to pay tribute to her policies, and perhaps her conviction in driving through

Monday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

David Cameron places himself in Margaret Thatcher’s tradition

‘For many of us, she was, and is, an inspiration’, David Cameron said of Margaret Thatcher in his tribute to her. It was him, firmly — and proudly — placing himself in her tradition. Cameron has moved in Thatcher’s political direction as leader. He has become —partly, through circumstance and necessity — less interested in being a unifying figure, and more interested in getting things done. There has, in recent years, been an end to any attempts to distance the party from her legacy. Thatcher’s life-story is a truly remarkable one. Cameron rightly dwelled on the sexism she had to take on to become Tory leader. But she also had

The Spectator

David Cameron’s tribute to Margaret Thatcher: full text

Today we lost a great leader, a great Prime Minister and a great Briton. Margaret Thatcher didn’t just lead our country – she saved our country. And we should never forget that the odds were stacked against her. She was the shopkeeper’s daughter from Grantham who made it to the highest office in the land. There were people who said she couldn’t make it; who stood in her way; who said a woman couldn’t lead. She defied them all. She fought her way to a seat in Parliament…to the leadership of her Party…and then to lead our country…winning the backing of the British people three times in a row. She will be remembered for

Steerpike Steerpike

Spineless Spice Girl deletes Thatcher tribute after Twitter abuse

The political tributes and barbs cast after the news of Margaret Thatcher’s death have been covered on Coffee House today, but what of the world’s other great egos: those in showbiz? Steerpike was impressed by Meryl Streep, who having played Thatcher in the controversial 2011 biographical film ‘The Iron Lady’, is slightly better placed than her Hollywood comrades to pass comment. Streep told the Washington Post: ‘to me she was a figure of awe for her personal strength and grit,’ and while she acknowledged Thatcher’s detractors, the actress has some rather sound opinions: ‘Her steadfast, almost emotional loyalty to the pound sterling has helped the UK weather the storms of European

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Margaret Thatcher and Scotland: A Story of Mutual Incomprehension

There is a poignant passage in Margaret Thatcher’s memoirs during which she contemplates her failure in Scotland. She seemed puzzled by this, noting that, in her view, many of her ideas and principles had at least some Caledonian ancestry. And yet, despite her admiration for David Hume and, especially, Adam Smith, there was no Tartan Thatcherite revolution. Sure, there were some true believers – Teddy Taylor, Michael Forsyth – but Scotland never warmed to the Iron Lady. And she never quite knew or understood why. Two issues, above all, led to her downfall. Europe and the Poll Tax. The former was a Westminster affair and a matter of internal internecine