margaret thatcher speech writer

This was a historic step, and resulted in further reinforcing the US-UK alliance. But we reckoned we got Thatcher only too well and didn't like what we saw, far less what we heard. Philip Larkin visited Downing Street where the prime minister quoted approvingly one of his lines to him "Your mind lay open like a drawer of knives." In a way, they are all Thatcher's children.". She was right, he was wrong. 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. Margaret Thatcher, 'Iron Lady' of British politics, is dead - USA TODAY The Iron Lady had a green thumband a surprisingly green philosophy. Margaret Thatcher, Signed Speech on Hayek, 2003, Estimate 1,500-2,000 . Keith Joseph was her guru. Everyone knows that. There are many reasons for this. The remainder are listed without a text because . So what caused this great divide, with one side a fountain of fresh ideas and the other struggling for new inspiration? Sent Bobby Sands to an Irish hero's grave without a blink. Large parts of society never recovered, while Germany and other countries managed the transition without such brutality. It isn't sad for anyone else. Selling off the family silver Harold Macmillan and later Labour called it, as Margaret Thatcher set about reversing the 1945 nationalisations that had put oil, gas, coal, electricity and an airline as well as a house removal company in public hands. The relative wealth of the UK 1% had been falling steadily for 50 years when Thatcher took power in 1979; since then it has climbed steeply and is almost back to 1918 levels. first television interview the following day. In 1990, Margaret Thatcher emerged as one of the first world leaders to champion climate science, issuing a call to action to fight manmade global warming at the Second World Climate Conference hosted at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. While Labour was now "intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich", ambitious feminism wanted to be let in to the boardroom and every corridor of power that and little else is what they mean by changing the world. Seeing as women aren't a minor Brit-flick grateful for even a bad review, that truism doesn't quite hold true here. The task of representing the White House usually was the role of the vice-president, but in this special case, the Reagans and the Bushes both attended. Certainly, in 1983, it did not occur to me to criticise Harold Macmillan or Alec Douglas-Home on the doorstep as a sure-fire vote turner. Many hated her. Climate, freedom and denial: What "Green Thatcherism" teaches us today Shoot-to-kill actions by British forces also significantly increased. Maybe my memory is fanciful. National Press Club Luncheon Speakers: Margaret Thatcher (Recorded The last time the UK ran a trade surplus was the year of the Falklands war. This demand for respectful silence in the wake of a public figure's death is not just misguided but dangerous. Harold Macmillan, Alec Douglas-Home, Heath: they seem, by comparison, evanescent figures. The tragic upshot has been the steep erosion of wages for the powerless bottom half, as income, wealth and property is sucked up to the top. 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 87. 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. It made minor savings at best and was, as the . And for the people of Ireland, and especially the north, the Thatcher years were among some of the worst of the conflict. John Major was elected her successor yesterday by Conservative Party members. If you have a . This site follow the same rules (and shares an editor). When I was a kid, Thatcher was the headmistress of our country. In short, miners believed in society. It was illegal to put an extension lead on your phone. Her gender led her into government and the shadow cabinet, despite Edward Heath's aversion to her. Born: 21 June 1932 in Halifax. in his defence during the IranContra affair, told After material needs have been met, research has repeatedly shown that further rises in material standards contribute less and less to wellbeing. There's something distinctively creepy - in a Roman sort of way - about this mandated ritual that our political leaders must be heralded and consecrated as saints upon death. . to his resignation letter on 1 November, defended herself against rough But really, such statements were anything but, first because sweeping statements about genders are the opposite of gender equality and second because they revealed her real attitude towards women, which lay behind her notable lack of female-friendly policies, her utter lack of interest in childcare provision or positive action. It chose her ina fit of desperation, hats and all though it quite liked the hats. This is a style whose absence is much missed. Reversing Britain's long-term economic decline. It's interesting, though, that even when comedians try to be political, they can never really land a punch on David Cameron, Nick Clegg or George Osborne. 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. Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013), the United Kingdom's first female prime minister, served from 1979 until 1990. . Mobilising society, by rule of law, against the trade union bosses was undoubtedly an achievement. 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! Margaret Thatcher's legacy: roundup of the best writing On June 11th, 2004 Margaret Thatcher gave a speech to the American people at Ronald Reagan's funeral. The set text is still Thatcher's declaration quoted in The Audience that "There is no such thing as society". Margaret Thatcher: Foreign Policy of Great Britain | Speech-Guru The Crown's Version of Margaret Thatcher's 1990 Downfall Takes a Lot of Liberties with . He'd been a bully, she said, whereas Mrs T was warm and understanding. She undoubtedly rescued the prestige of the country from its postwar nadir, but at a high cost to the generosity of its political and social culture. Many of today's more controversial benefits, such as disability, date back to the 80s. The machinery of modern political management polls, consulting, focus groups is deployed mainly to discover what will make aparty and politician better liked, or worse, disliked. "Labour is stuck because they do not want to carry on the slimming down of the state and devolution of power but nor do they really want to reverse it," said one central Tory figure. 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. This is an especially pertinent problem given its heartfelt desire for redistribution of wealth. In 1976 it still did not help and in the same year they had to take a loan in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) [] . But she personified the change from meaning to meaninglessness in so many settlements and lives, and for this reason she is hard to forgive. By delivering a crisp, emphatic victory Thatcher showed the world, and more important herself, what a talent for solitary command could achieve. Margaret Thatcher, the British Prime Minister at the time, gave a eulogy to the grieving American people in honor of the late Ronald Reagan on June 11th, 2004. She was an ardent pro-European, and her 1979 manifesto made no mention of radical union reform or privatisation. Edited text: This speech was delivered to the Conservative party conference in Brighton on October 10 1980. It was all very well for me to write books. A massive programme of social housing would be a good place to start, stimulating the economy. Contrary to an increasingly common belief, "a woman who is successful" is not synonymous with "a feminist". Margaret Thatcher's Strong Stance on Climate Change At countless demonstrations throughout the 80s, it expressed a curious ambivalence a first name intimacy as well as a furious rejection of all she stood for. 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. You knew exactly what Maggie stood for. Look at the cars on the road, none made by the old, nationally-owned British Leyland and only few by the British marques that once dominated but which went the way of much of British industry unable to survive the chill wind of "market forces", another phrase which filled the air back then. Margaret Thatcher was a hugely divisive figure in British politics. News of Margaret Thatcher's death this morning instantly and predictably gave rise to righteous sermons on the evils of speaking ill of her. And the single mums. At the time, Thatcher was the education secretary her first major political role. Lady Thatcher's New Threats for Old - National Churchill Museum This has been a terrible labour, she said. Let us give thanks today for a life that achieved so much for all of God's children.". When Margaret Hilda Thatcher took over as Prime Minister, in May, 1979, I was sixteen. BBC ON THIS DAY | 28 | 1990: Tearful farewell from Iron Lady The woman, however, changed. In his usual slightly dishevelled style, he went to Downing Street to discuss his pioneering concepts of behavioural economics and attempts to implement them under Barack Obama. The drastic results of these policies were intentional. She was the daughter of a prosperous civic leader who merely began life as a "grocer". Margaret Thatcher: 'This is no time to go wobbly' and other memorable Arguably, it was not the sale of council houses that was the problem, but the failure to replace the stock and maintain a sufficient supply of affordable homes. The Thatcher government was across all the details of this shipment. On the crucial morning in November 1990, her colleagues marched individually into her room and each told her to go. During Margaret Thatcher's rise to the top, he was one of the backroom figures whose words helped create her reputation as the Iron Lady. Simon Heffer, journalist, historian and friend of Margaret Thatcher, recommends the best books to read to gain an understanding of the United Kingdom's first female prime ministerand explains why she was the most influential British leader of the modern era. She was unashamed about this, loathing localism and rejecting calls to diminish the "strong state". Tellingly, few people have trouble understanding the need for balanced commentary when the political leaders disliked by the west pass away. Her Irish policy failed miserably. In a world where most media talking heads come from the top few percent of income earners, unions are not only important in wage bargaining, they also provide some of the few well-informed voices whose job it is to speak on behalf of the less well-paid. Take the larger view. Government will respond to clear leadership if it knows what a leader wants. If you want anything done, ask a woman.". "Comes here every week to water them flowers." They are a more energetic and impressive group than their predecessors, often with experience outside politics that makes them impatient and independent-minded. Visit a station and notice the plethora of competing train companies, replacing the single British Rail that operated in the pre-Thatcher days the fruit of a rail privatisation that was not hers, but was made possible only by the serial privatisations she had pioneered and made normal. Scotsman Obituaries: Bernard Ingham, press secretary who ensured Literature had nothing to do with politics, the Italian writers said. Flags were flying over Port Stanley on 14 June. Her death must be sad for the handful of people she was nice to and the rich people who got richer under her stewardship. Copyright Margaret Thatcher Foundation 2023. There was, for example, the time in the late 1970s when, as Opposition Leader, she almost succeeded in censoring the one half-decent joke in a key campaign speech. Three separate pieces of legislation between 1980 and 1984 attacked the closed shop, toughened up the laws on picketing and imposed secret strike ballots. As coal, steel and shipbuilding fell under her wrecking ball, whole communities were destroyed. The spell he was referring to is the unseen bond that connects us all and prevents us from being subjugated by tyranny. Margaret Thatcher was not known for her sense of humour. In her eulogy for the former president, Thatcher uses specific structure, tone and diction, and word choices throughout her writing to . Later that year she introduced the broadcasting ban on Sinn Fin, which prevented viewers and listeners hearing my voice. To the extent that there was an industrial strategy, it was to sell Britain as a destination for Japanese car companies and to shift the focus of the economy away from manufacturing towards financial services. There are pangs of nostalgia, yes, because for me she's all tied up with Hi-De-Hi and Speak and Spell and Blockbusters and "follow the bear". The prime minister was intensely interested in the campaign, and asked many penetrating questions. The London mayor regretted that usage, but he surely understood its origins. performance at a Press Conference afterwards. 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. Prime Minister Thatcher delivered the fourth speech to Congress by a British prime minister. I am reminded of this every time the debate comes up about whether more female bylines would reduce sexism in the media. Heath took us into Europe, and a referendum in spring 1975 confirmed national approval for the move. In 2009, Boris Johnson lamented that Thatcher had become "a boo-word in British politics, a shorthand for selfishness and me-first-ism, and devil-take-the-hindmost and grinding the faces of the poor.". My mate John and I were wandering there together, he expertly proselytising on the architecture and the history of the place, me pretending to be Rumpole of the Bailey (quietly in my mind), when we spied in the distant garden a hunched and frail figure, in a raincoat, scarf about her head, watering the roses under the breezy supervision of a masticating copper. In her speech, Thatcher used rhetorical techniques to show the strength and principles of Reagan and project those values onto the American people. It's how she would have, if pressed, put it herself. She added layers of her own to this intimacy, directing the creation of a single European market that surrendered important national powers to the collective. Perhaps Labour would benefit from another defeat, given the danger of taking power unprepared and turning into a zombie government, like the tragedy unfurling in France. Thatcher's Bruges speech 'not anti-EU' - former aide - BBC News The milk snatcher reputation absorbed and lived with. The Margaret Thatcher speech that was buried by the Brighton bomb Rows with Lawson and Geoffrey Howe over a European currency (where she was right) presaged the final shambles of the poll tax. But she became a very effective one. Gloves. And on the 11th June, we even won some nine seats we failed to gain in 1983. Eventually, the Italian contingent, largely existential or postmodern, rose up against us. Had Jim Callaghan won the 1979 election, he too would have faced the challenge of how to modernise an economy beset by high inflation, weak management and poor industrial relations. Words. I grew up in Essex with a single mum and a go-getter Dagenham dad. first television interview the following day, euphoric The welfare state, with its unemployment and housing benefits and free healthcare, actually protected wages: employers could not force workers to accept low pay or unpaid overtime because of the job's healthcare provision, as they do in the US. The problem for Labour is that this issue so fundamental, since it underscores so much policy is unresolved in their ranks. What will not be forgotten? For those miners and their families to be referred to as the "enemy within" by Thatcher was something they would never forgive and, if there is rejoicing at her death in those communities she set out to destroy, it can only be understood against this background. She played a key role not only in bringing about the first Gulf War but also using her influence to publicly advocate for the 2003 attack on Iraq. Therein, 30 years ago, lay the great Thatcher asset and the electorally lethal Thatcher impact in Scotland. 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. He was a political and historical figure and the need to accurately portray his legacy and prevent misleading hagiography easily outweighed precepts of death etiquette that prevail when a private person dies. But there are less obvious manifestations of the same habit. Action. In her 1982 party conference speech, Margaret Thatcher offered a prediction for the future: "How absurd it will seem in a few years' time that the state ran Pickfords removals and Gleneagles Hotel . If you have to tell people you are, you aren't.". delivered an outstanding defence of the Government in the Commons. Thatcher exposed the sharp edges of class division in Britain and the strike of 1984/5 was as much a clash of values as it was about pit closures. The economic crisis that Britain faced had been created not by the working class itself, these wholesome people that Sir Keith remembered from his vac weeks in Barnsley, but by a working-class leadership that was determined to bring the whole system crashing down. On the other hand, growth has been depressed because weak trade unions can no longer ensure wage increases keep pace with inflation. Respected, viewed with awe, a conviction politician, but if liking came into it, that was an accident. In fact, several countries have adopted these ideas with startlingly successful results; just changing the wording on some forms raised an extra 200m income tax in Britain, while personalised text messages drastically reduced the use of bailiffs to recover court fines. Yet despite the attempts of some columnists to claim otherwise, Thatcher can't really be seen as "a warrior in the sex war", let alone as "the ultimate women's libber". Only in the sense that all the women beneath her were blinded by falling shards. British Labour MP Tom Watson decreed: "I hope that people on the left of politics respect a family in grief today." Across Yorkshire or south Wales, Kent or Nottinghamshire, there are villages that have never recovered from the closure of coal mines, ordered by a Thatcher who ruled there was no place for pits that were not "economically viable", regardless of the social consequences. I think on balance Thatcher did for Britain what was needed at the time. She certainly was divisive, bisecting the country politically and geographically: hard-hit regions in the north of England, Wales and Scotland may be notably less civil in their farewells. When she took over in 1979, the bottom of that device would have carried the legend, "Property of the GPO." The Thatcher government believed that the criminalisation of the republican prisoners would break the republican struggle. 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. People should pay her the respect of doing the same after her death. This book shows how. Yet, at that last encounter, her tone was different. Hire writer now Order. She led Britain further into Europe, while talking us further out. No single mother raising children was to be called "workless", skipping meals to feed them and forced to ditch them to submit to "workfare" or a starvation wage. 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. Thatcher's most baleful influence on government was not on industries and services she privatised but those she did not. But she regarded rightwing causes as an intellectual hobby. Although the "right to buy" and the privatisation of utilities by selling shares to new small investors was often justified as giving rights to "the little people", the reality is that the less well-off fell ever further behind the rich. The first three speeches were by Winston Churchill. People would denounce them unequivocally, often in graphic terms. Scotsman Obituaries: Sir Bernard Ingham, formidable press secretary to As far as her supporters are concerned, this radical transformation worked. of her best Parliamentary speeches in a debate on the strikes. That said, by the mid-1980s it was clear that the Conservative government's economic policy was based on a handful of core principles. These developments set a benchmark. still being scolded for the remark.You can read here exactly what she said, The last time I met her was after all this was over. making her big speech the following day as scheduled.