John Major was elected her successor yesterday by Conservative Party members. One might even credit Thatcher with a willingness to jettison the old rules and conventions that used to prevent individuals deciding their own destiny. Thatcher's title is Baroness. Rows with Lawson and Geoffrey Howe over a European currency (where she was right) presaged the final shambles of the poll tax. It was a Charles I moment in British history. She was, of course, the first and so far only female British prime minister, Jon Snow reiterated on Monday night, insinuating that this achievement should in general be celebrated, never mind the specifics of her leadership. which revealed a good deal as to her political Therein, 30 years ago, lay the great Thatcher asset and the electorally lethal Thatcher impact in Scotland. Copyright Margaret Thatcher Foundation 2023. They were puzzled by the Scots' antipathy, given the Falklands war and the strong militaristic history of the Highlands and elsewhere. For her own part, she was a social conservative and yet today's right for, say, gay couples to marry if they want to fits with one aspect of the Thatcherite vision of personal choice. 4.44 avg rating 39 ratings 2 editions. Tellingly, few people have trouble understanding the need for balanced commentary when the political leaders disliked by the west pass away. As she cut local housing budgets, she sent housing benefit soaring in compensation. It isn't sad for anyone else. MT gave her first The poll-tax rioters. After material needs have been met, research has repeatedly shown that further rises in material standards contribute less and less to wellbeing. He was listened to with rapt attention, unsurprisingly, since in both Washington and Westminster his "nudge" theories are saving significant sums of taxpayers' money. And for all the tributes being paid by ministers this week, the issues at the topof the government's agenda are all to do with clearing up the mess she created. Maybe my memory is fanciful. This is a style whose absence is much missed. While some remember her as a national saviour, others only see her ruthless demolition of flailing state-owned industries. But it was overlaid by the supposedly masculine virtues, sometimes more manly than the men could ever assemble. . If they have no bread, let them eat from food banks that's Thatcherism, the legacy we are still to bury before it buries us. 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! Full employment had been ditched in 1976, while Labour had introduced monetary targets and cash limits for Whitehall departments while Denis Healey was at the Treasury. delivered an outstanding defence of the Government in the Commons. International studies of OECD countries suggest a close relationship between the decline in trade union membership and the rise in inequality. "Margaret Thatcher was not a natural communicator. November). In 1979 it had a mile or so of shipyards, a sugar works and factories that still made rope and ship's fittings. She was evicted from Downing Street with all the ruthlessness, treachery and warped humanity of what passes for high politics. What saved Thatcher's bacon, and revolutionised her leadership, was Labour's unelectable Michael Foot and the Falklands war. Yet the Daily Mail has morefemale bylines than any other UK paper and is not exactly a totem of gender equality andfemale-friendliness. Firstly, control of inflation rather than the pursuit of full employment was the centrepiece of macro economic strategy. When a political leader dies, it is irresponsible in the extreme to demand that only praise be permitted but not criticisms. After all, the right began to refocus only after Tony Blair's second landslide, when people began to recognise they would not drift back into power. 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. She was "outraged" when the programmes went ahead. Strident, divisive, and in her own view infallible, and for these reasons hard to mourn. Nobody, at least that I know of, objected to that observation on the ground that it was disrespectful to the ability of the Chavez family to mourn in peace. Fourthly, policy was aimed at those who, according to the prime minister, wanted to get on in life. 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 . I wouldn't say I have got myself a Kennedy-type speech-writer yet . Interestingly, one mate of mine, a proper leftie, in his heyday all Red Wedge and right-on punch-ups, was melancholy. That was before Thatcher modishly renamed the service British Telecom and sold it off. speech which caused the Soviets to dub her "the Iron Lady", one She attacked the Treaty of Maastricht in a Her centralism, unequalled in Europe, descended under Blair into a morass of targetry, inefficiency and endless reorganisation. Thatcher's threat to butcher the mining industry, destroy the fabric of mining communities and in particular the trade union to which miners had a bond of loyalty, was met with the fiercest resistance any government has met in peacetime. 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. Sayle recorded the song Get Me Mrs Thatcher, but says that in general he felt Thatcher jokes were a bit too easy, although he still shudders at the memory of a "wicked, incompetent mindset that was the spirit of the 80s". I hope I'm not being reductive but it seems Thatcher's time in power was solely spent diminishing the resources of those who had least for the advancement of those who had most. This was the feminine creature who, two years later, was leader of the Conservative party. A Labour veteran blamed another legacy of Thatcher: the need for iron discipline after the media onslaught that engulfed her opponents. As she said in her memoirs: "There was no one else." In the Meryl Streep film, The Iron Lady, it's the scenes of domesticity that appear most absurd. of her best Parliamentary speeches in a debate on the strikes. Nicknamed the "Iron Lady," Thatcher served as the prime minister of England from 1979 to 1990. Witness the steady downgrading of local government or the persistent assumption that the private sector will always be better than the public. She was among the first Western leaders to The Crown's Version of Margaret Thatcher's 1990 Downfall Takes a Lot of Liberties with . Neither shift of ownership and power would have happened without a leader prepared to take risks with her life. As a result, Labour authorities in eight or so British cities have set up fairness commissions to reduce income differences locally. Thatcher was a divisive woman who created discord, not harmony. When all the public amenities were flogged, the adverts made it seem to my childish eyes fun and positive, jaunty slogans and affable British stereotypes jostling about in villages, selling people companies that they'd already paid for through tax. Following in the footsteps of Santa Claus, Steve Hynd quickly compiled a list of all the naughty boys and girls "on the left" who dared to express criticisms of the dearly departed Prime Minister, warning that he "will continue to add to this list throughout the day". Texts for listed statements are available on the site in almost 70 per cent of cases. But growth rates in the decades since her period in office have been lower than during those that preceded her; nor does the balance of research evidence suggest that greater inequality acts as a spur to growth. Out!" As I scan the statements of my memory bank for early deposits (it'd be a kid's memory bank account at a neurological NatWest where you're encouraged to become a greedy little capitalist with an escalating family of porcelain pigs), I see her in her hairy helmet, condescending on Nationwide, eviscerating eunuch MPs and baffled BBC fuddy duddies with her General Zodd stare and coldly condemning the IRA. Or maybe audiences just really, really hated her and wanted to blow off some steam. Steely, certainly. Second, it's now easier to see the scale of the setback she inflicted on Britain's idea of its own future. She made her maiden April 17, 2013, 6:40 PM. It was seen for what it was, nothing to do with economics, but purely an attempt to destroy the National Union of Mineworkers by wiping out the entire industry. delivered an outstanding defence of the Government in the Commons. So it suggests the anachronistic and unaffordable return to a contributory welfare system, while opposing the further opening up of education and health provision; some even float the renationalisation of railways. She was propped up by police who were encouraged to brutality against not only strikers but communities of colour, already hardest hit by unemployment: police powers were enhanced and their racism given free rein, especially with stop and search; CS gas was used on the mainland for the first time. The Bruges speech was given by British prime minister Margaret Thatcher to the College of Europe at the Belfry of Bruges, Belgium, on 20 September 1988.Thatcher was opposed to any moves to transition the European Economic Community (EEC) into a federal Europe that would take powers away from its members. Thatcher and Reagan went on to facilitate a colossal transfer of wealth from poor to rich, leading to the world economic crash we now witness. A splendid synergy was created, deliberately and with just that in mind on both sides of the Atlantic. make the case for intervention to protect Bosnia when Serb concentration A decade later they were wiped out in terms of Scotland-based Westminster constituency representation. Hire a Writer. verbatim and in context. Texts for listed statements are available on the site in almost 70 per On 30 October 1990 she made the first of the For miners, greed was a destructive force, not a force for good. November 15, 2020 9:00 AM EST. Secondly, the balance of power in industrial relations was shifted decisively in favour of employers. Sir Bernard Ingham was Margaret Thatcher writ large. A strong, so strong, leader. An Inconvenient Truth About Margaret Thatcher: She Was a Climate Hawk. In a way, they are all Thatcher's children.". Only today are we facing the cost. Each now seems banal. A distinction is often made between two traditions of British Conservative thought: the paternalist "one nation/middle way" tradition, and the more libertarian one that is associated with Margaret Thatcher. Thatcher's unwavering belief in the invisible hand of the market meant that she did not believe it was part of her job description to put anything in its place. Is that what made her so formidable, her ability to ignore the suffering of others? Rhetorical Analysis Of Margaret Thatcher's Speech 722 Words | 3 Pages . By John Cassidy. There were rumours of a different philosophy, at least in personal relationships. They built and provided their own welfare facilities and, well before today's welfare state was built, miners created their own welfare systems to alleviate hardship. March 7, 1991 - Receives the US Medal of Freedom from President George Bush. Out! For Thatcher it all ended months later in November 1990 when she was forced to resign. Margaret Thatcher's most popular book is The Downing Street Years. There is now, however, an opportunity to commit to a new politics that learns lessons from her ambition yet undoes the damage and focuses on reconstruction. Her effect was to force a deeper consideration of priorities, sometimes expressed in a variety of dystopias. If I become PM, I will deliver the radical set of reforms need to unleash growth. All can agree that Margaret Thatcher changed the heart of British politics more than any politician since Clement Attlee. She was able to reach Harold Macmillan, Alec Douglas-Home, Heath: they seem, by comparison, evanescent figures. Both were successful women who could play the flirt card when it suited them, but ultimately had little interest in being kind to their own sex; Thatcher especially resented being defined by her gender. Trying to trim back spending in her department, she ended the milk subsidies for all children over the age of seven. to his resignation letter on 1 November, stated 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. 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. Thatcher refused to recognise the right of citizens to vote for representatives of their choice. British Labour MP Tom Watson decreed: "I hope that people on the left of politics respect a family in grief today." She all but erased his political legacy to stamp her own image on the nation, so Britain before and after Thatcher were two different countries. She made one To project the ideas of strength and . Union in a speech "I thought I'd be overjoyed, but really it's just another one bites the dust " This demonstrates, I suppose, that if you opposed Thatcher's ideas it was likely because of their lack of compassion, which is really just a word for love. Under this heading, Thatcher left a dark legacy that, like her successes, has still not disappeared behind the historical horizon. Faced down trade union leaders after her early years apprentice years, when Jim Callaghan's Britain was falling apart in which the commonest fear was that the little lady would not be able to deal with them across the table. Thank you, too, Margaret. rejecting Commission proposals at the Rome European Council with the words I was just behind her at the civic museum in Dubrovnik when the local guide explained a model showing the elaborate system of ancient wells and tunnels that had provided the city with fresh water no matter how fierce the siege. After leaving office, MT widened and deepened her criticism of the European Yet I wrote columns of pretty unremitting hostility to most of what she did. Thatcher did not believe in "picking winners"; instead she preferred to rely on market forces to ensure the survival of the fittest. series of famous statements that marked the end of her premiership, She was the daughter of a prosperous civic leader who merely began life as a "grocer". On taking office she showered money on public sector unions, and her "cuts" were only to planned increases, mild compared with today's. Endeavouring to persuade the British into an attitude of hostility to the group with which she spent 11 years deepening their connection must take a high place in any catalogue of anti-statesmanship. as far as can be known. She is an icon of individualism, not of feminism. A growing body of research now shows that the quality of social relations is among the most powerful influences on the happiness, health and wellbeing of populations in the rich countries. 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". led Michael Heseltine to run against her for the party leadership. I think by far her greatest virtue, in retrospect, is how little she cared if people liked her. "Maggie! The last time I met her was after all this was over. Speaking personally, it was a personal privilege beyond measure to have witnessed and participate in the blossoming of the special ties that continued throughout her entire time in office. Please activate cookies in order to turn autoplay off. Police charges against picketing union printers in Wapping enabled the Murdoch empire to flourish, ensuring their power and hers. She was 87. She was a prime minister who happened to be a woman. It still does. The challenge for the left is to fashion new and genuinely progressive policies in an age of austerity, when more money is not the answer to any question. She went to a fee-paying school and to Oxford at her father's expense, gliding easily into the upper echelons of student politics. Reagan was especially interested in Mrs Thatcher's domestic policy initiatives, and it was quickly established that the foreign policy views ran along parallel lines. She was always the Spitting Image bully. Chavez was indeed a divisive and controversial figure, and it would have been reckless to conceal that fact out of some misplaced deference to the grief of his family and supporters. Ronald Reagan, the former 40th president of the United States died on June 5th of 2004. Which raises the question: why isn't this happening now? Government will respond to clear leadership if it knows what a leader wants. Eventually, the Italian contingent, largely existential or postmodern, rose up against us. Dignity and decorum ruled the day - except in the poisoned anonymity of the internet. The Crown Season 4 brings with it a whole lot of change for Queen Elizabeth II's family and, more importantly, the United Kingdom. In October 1984 she survived an IRA bomb during the Conservative Conference Typifying these highly dubious claims about Thatcher was this (appropriately diplomatic) statement from President Obama: "The world has lost one of the great champions of freedom and liberty, and America has lost a true friend." It's like a whimsical live-action episode of Postman Pat where his cat is craftily carved up and sold back to him. They are acolytes of a raw Thatcher cult they have rough-hewn and exaggerated in their own image. The economy had become more productive, more competitive and more profitable. speech in July 1945, delivered in a town close to Grantham while she You could never call Margaret Mother by mistake. Though she recognised the dangers of global warming, Thatcher's industrial and economic policies prioritised economic growth. A special licence was granted exclusively to the Radio Times. That 1983 general election contained the telltale seeds of eventual Scottish Tory self-destruction. She invited the Watch a million words pour out today placing her anywhere from Boudicca to the wicked witch of the west. In a break with tradition and protocol, Reagan decided he'd also attend the "return dinner" at the British Embassy the next evening. Two especially forceful and committed leaders on the world stage at the same time: this was critical and key to ending the cold war, permitting the reunification of Germany, the consolidation of the EU and drawing our two nations together in a historic cooperation. Ingham's rough redraft of my speech with very little success. Back when we called her Maggie, when it seemed she would have her wish and "go on and on" in ruling the country, her opponents would lament some new step towards social ruin with the withering, two-word verdict: "Thatcher's Britain.". So look around this kingdom of ours, at a devolved Scotland contemplating independence a state of affairs that owes much to Thatcher's antagonistic relationship with that country. She showed that modern prime ministers can still mark out room for individual manoeuvre. I think on balance Thatcher did for Britain what was needed at the time. In the 2004 eulogy in honor of the late president, Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher uses a series of rhetorical devices such as parallelism, repetition, and ethos to convey the message in which Reagan was much more than an excellent president. . A massive programme of social housing would be a good place to start, stimulating the economy. John asked a nearby chippy loading his white van. It came very hard, getting the words and paragraphs in the right order, a task for which, she eventually admitted, she had hired some help. Thatcher will be especially remembered for her shameful role during the epic hunger strikes of 1980 and 81. Bob Slayer, one of the genuine alternative comedians on the scene, likes to note the irony of what's become of comedy. Flags were flying over Port Stanley on 14 June. That bonuses and top incomes continue to rise while the incomes of the rest of the population struggle to keep up with inflation tells us that what we needed was legislation to ensure employee representation on company boards and remuneration committees as many of our European partners have. No children excluded from school activities because mothers couldn't pay. of the 1600 libraries around the world which hold the CD-ROM. of her best Parliamentary speeches in a debate on the strikes, prayed on the a Conscious of being awoman, and incapable of pretending otherwise. Deep-seated and long overdue reforms of the 1980s paved the way for the long 16-year boom between 1992 and 2008. Thanks to the comparison with Cameron, we are reminded that the Thatcher reign was more circumspect and well-managed than it seemed at the time. The three of us watched as the gentle horticultural ritual was feebly enacted, then regarded the Iron Lady being helped into the back of a car and trundling off. They married the personality and belief to action. Perhaps this is unsurprising: four years ago Ed Miliband sneered at "nudge" economics as something "very fashionable in the Guardian for a few months before the financial crisis". She continued for some reason to consider me worth talking to. June 5, 1992 - Is named a life peer on the Queen's honor list. One also can't forget what happened to the agency that made Thatcher worldfamous: the Conservative party, of which she seemed such an improbable leader. The core ideas that underpinned her government endured through 13 years of Labour and are being extended by the coalition. We might speculate that an adviser had offered Thatcher a selection of good lines, or that she had asked to see some. to his resignation letter on 1 November, defended herself against rough Critical Commentary: Margaret Thatcher outlined the British policy in relation to various world issues. Gillian Anderson's portrayal of the Iron Lady in "The Crown" is pretty spot-on. On the crucial morning in November 1990, her colleagues marched individually into her room and each told her to go. Since 1990 a selection of statements is listed. Margaret expresses that Reagan's leadership was the key to ending The Cold War and unifying a formerly divided nation. But Thatcher was still cautious. Words. Margaret Thatcher was not known for her sense of humour. It's kind of a luxury rent-controlled ghetto for lawyers and barristers, and there is a beautiful tailors, a fine chapel, established by the Knights Templar (from which the compound takes its name), a twee cottage designed by Sir Christopher Wren and a rose garden; which I never promised you. Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013), the United Kingdom's first female prime minister, served from 1979 until 1990. . The Collected Speeches of Margaret Thatcher by. Here is an excerpt from People [PMT]: "In politics," Margaret Thatcher once acidly observed, "if you want anything said, ask a man. Perhaps there is resentment because the clemency and respect that are being mawkishly displayed now by some and haughtily demanded of the rest of us at the impending, solemn ceremonial funeral, are values that her government and policies sought toannihilate. But at its crudest, the Thatcher ethos translated into the get-rich-quick, greed-is-good spirit of the 1980s, satirised by Harry Enfield's Loadsamoney creation. More subtly, Thatcher bequeathed a kind of instinctive rejection of once-valued forms of collective activity. 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. Her unforgettable presence, but also her policy achievements. In my view, nothing said prior to her passing or since has been inaccurate in the description of this very special, warm relationship, the likes of which we may never see again. Thirdly, industrial policy was all but abandoned. Many of the effects of inequality have long lag periods. Nelson travelled to South Africa where he helped negotiate a deal that saw the UDA, UVF and Ulster Resistance acquire AK-47 automatic rifles, pistols, grenades, and RPG rocket launchers in late 1987 or early 1988. Margaret Thatcher formally tendered her resignation to the Queen early this morning after leaving Downing Street for the last time. She was a gentle and peaceable woman my mother, that is and said few hard words about anyone, but in certain parts of the United Kingdom, and among certain social classes, Mrs T was detested, and not just for what people thought were her policies but for her persona for what she was. By the close of her premiership, he was probably the most trusted member of her political team at Downing Street, and he left Number Ten with her. This was my mother speaking at some point in the middle 1980s. Meeting Gorbachev for the first time in December 1984 she declared: "We If you want anything done, ask a woman.". She needed followers, as long as they went in her frequently unpopular directions. Barack Obama, interestingly, said in his statement that she had "broken the glass ceiling for other women". Mrs T shared the same reductionism. a new dominance from Brussels", the Margaret has spent her life fighting for social justice and equality. It was mostly foreigners who could not understand why she fell. On her return to London, she sent me a warm and complimentary letter, a prize in my personal archives. That chanted demand of the left has been fully and finally met. her intention to allow her name to go forward to the second ballot (20 Are there, even, things we look back on with regret for their passing? One Sunday recently while staying in London, I took a stroll in the gardens of Temple, the insular clod of quads and offices between the Strand and the Embankment. Margaret Thatcher was a hugely divisive figure in British politics. It was thoroughly "wet". The number of days lost through strikes tumbled. So what caused this great divide, with one side a fountain of fresh ideas and the other struggling for new inspiration? The Tories triumphed, of course, and lost only two sitting MPs Hamish Gray and the social-security scrounger-bashing Iain Sproat, who vacated his marginal Aberdeen seat and headed for the Scottish Borders, only to suffer defeat there at the hands of the Alliance. In the pantheon of this comedian's attacks on Thatcher, it was a retort that probably won't be treasured longer than the best lines from The Young Ones.