Remembering Margaret Thatcher

On May 4th, 1979, thirty years ago on Monday, the Conservative Party under the leadership of Mrs. (later Baroness) Margaret Thatcher won a General Election in the UK. Mrs. Thatcher took office as Prime Minister, and would rule for three terms and eleven years. In the process, she would win one war (over the Falkland Islands) and contribute to coalition victory in the first Gulf War (although she would leave office before the fighting began); demolish much of the socialist structures that had encumbered Britain, and restore a great deal of prosperity to its formerly blighted economy; and, along with US President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II, be a member of the international triumvirate that finally destroyed the Soviet Union.




She was hated, ridiculed and vilified by her foes, not least of which was the Soviet Union. In 1976, while she was Leader of the Opposition in the British Parliament, the Soviet Defense Ministry newspaper Red Star famously reacted to her anti-Soviet views by labeling her "the Iron Lady". Needless to say, she was delighted at the compliment! In 2007, at an unveiling of a bronze statue of her in the Houses of Parliament, she quipped, "I might have preferred iron, but bronze will do - it won't rust."

Her clear-cut assault on socialism and big government led to short-term economic complications for Britain, and drew demands from the opposition that she should change course. However, she remained steadfast, refusing to budge from her principles. She stated this most famously in her speech to a Conservative Party Conference in 1980, captured in the video clip below.

Baroness Thatcher's political and social philosophy might be best summed up in her words to reporter Douglas Keay in 1987:

I think we have gone through a period when too many children and people have been given to understand, "I have a problem, it is the Government's job to cope with it!" or "I have a problem, I will go and get a grant to cope with it!" "I am homeless, the Government must house me!" And so they are casting their problems on society - and who is society? There is no such thing! There are individual men and women, and there are families, and no government can do anything except through people, and people look to themselves first. It is our duty to look after ourselves, and then also to help look after our neighbour. Life is a reciprocal business, and people have got the entitlements too much in mind without the obligations.

Baroness Thatcher is still alive, although no longer making public appearances due to ill health. On this, the thirtieth anniversary of her accession to power, this grateful former colonial boy sends her his best wishes and profound thanks for helping to re-shape the world, and make it a better place, at least for a time.

Peter