A truly remarkable woman – and what an icon
It is impossible to overestimate the scale of Margaret Thatcher’s achievement in becoming leader of Britain’s Conservative Party, and then prime minister, in the extremely chauvinistic 1970s.
1979, when she became prime minister, was another world in which men became doctors while women became nurses.
She won three elections in a row, became one of the most famous names and faces on the planet, and was a permanent presence in the international news as the sworn enemy of socialists and communists at the height of the Cold War.
She was forced to resign as party leader and prime minister halfway through her third term, but even so her legacy was such that it went on to win a fourth term under John Major.
The way Mrs Thatcher coolly stood there and spoke (with great wit and completely unperturbed) in the House of Commons while the predominantaly male MPs around her taunted, barracked and heckled, like schoolboys being naughty in matron’s presence, was quite amazing…and amusing.
What fun she would have had wiping the floor with men like Franco Debono and Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando. How cross and angry they would have become.
Her views on Europe were (to me) questionable, but in every other way she was a heroic figure and the stuff of legend.
89 Comments Comment
Leave a Comment
Two highlights that come to mind and which indicate how thatcher despised violence: the Iranian embassy siege in London in which she directly asked for the SAS to intervene (Thatcher had a particular fear of terrorism) and avoid an ‘ongoing problem’, and her quick condemnation of English football clubs, in particular Liverpool FC after the unfortunate events at Heysel.
Two incidents, tackled with ruthlessness and decisiveness. Pity that in the latter she jumped the gun which ultimately brought an end to British football dominance in Europe mainly by clubs such as Liverpool and Everton.
Still, I would say she was truly one of a kind.
A very good politician. A brilliant PM.
Thatcherism – the very best.
In 1984 the Iron Lady made a speech containing these sentences: “We had to fight the enemy without in the Falklands. We always have to be aware of the enemy within, which is much more difficult to fight and more dangerous to liberty.”David Aaronovitch in http://www.thetimes.co.uk.
The same had happened in Malta with the renegade three MPs from the PN government.
Ah the elegance and the eloquence with which she speaks.
You have to love this stateswoman. What a far cry from our little man with the permanent smirk on his face and the deeply furrowed brow at the hint of a tricky question.
THIS my dear Prime Minister is the stuff legendary politicians are made of. Her mannerisms, her grace, her intelligent wit (as opposed to the slapstick humour that s hitting our House of Representatives of late), the embodiment of the Conservative ideology she left behind and the results that ideology yields. What a legacy!
There are nearly not enough words to give tribute to this giant of a woman. In my view I hold her at the highest.
Agree! A doer who did not look down her nose at real jobs – she was a shopkeeper afterall.
Seeing that anything less than a lawyer or engineer these days is not enough for most young Europeans and their parents, I think we need someone practical like her again.We are a continent of peasant wannabes who end up on the unemployment heap while foreigners do the real jobs that many look down on. Snobbery is a terrible thing.
[Daphne – Margaret Thatcher was never a shopkeeper. Her father was. She was an industrial chemist. And we forget the minor detail that she was married to a millionaire businessman, which rendered it unnecessary for her to make a living while also paying for nannies and household staff, allowing her to focus on politics. Otherwise she would have had to be single and childless and surviving only on an MP’s income to get there. However, all kudos to her for not saying, wow, I married a rich man, so now I can sit back and relax.]
Snobbery is good. Entitlement isn’t. What you’re describing is entitlement.
In 1789, we were all sold the vicious Socialist lie that everyone is equal, that social class does not exist, and that we are all entitled to a prosperous, happy, fulfilling life.
No, we’re not. If we’d just scale back our expectations we’d all be much happier. We’re only entitled, at most, to life as computer programmers on subsistence wages.
After her degree in science, she started working as a chemist but when she married Denis Thatcher and had her twins, she decided to bring them up whilst pursuing her studies in law.
She went back to university even though she had already completed one degree and married a millionaire.
[Daphne – Being married to a millionaire actually made it possible for Mrs Thatcher to go to university despite having a household to run and twins to raise. No ‘even though’ about it, though of course I see what you mean.]
Whilst being both a wife and a mother of twins, she managed to become a lawyer specialising in tax services.
She was also a lawyer, besides being a chemist.
I don’t have the words to describe just how remarkable this woman was and the impact she has left all over the world.
Together with Keith Joseph and Ronald Reagan she introduced free market policies that have been widely copied the world over, successfully beating back what had till then seemed the unstoppable advance of communism.
Eastern Europe (and probably the rest of it too) owes its liberty to her; a fact the likes of Walesa and Havel have been quick to acknowledge.
She was right about Europe too, please read Niall Ferguson’s excellent article in yesterday’s Financial Times http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/26c7f5f8-a067-11e2-a6e1-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2PxZrmJMb in which he apologises in the name of the FT and other respected publications for doubting her at the time.
Net News described her as a spizjara. Their translation of chemist.
[Daphne – Spizjara means pharmacist, doesn’t it? Not a chemist, and certainly not an industrial chemist.]
Correct – to quote you know who.
That’s the official Akkademja translation. Their fault, not mine.
I’m curious to see how they will translate ‘tablet’. I can hear the children of the future saying:
‘Ibghatli email minn fuq il-pirmla mjen’.
Someone on the PSC – I’m not saying who, but it was several years ago – told a young chemist who objected to being classified as a pharmacist, “intom mhux kollha spizjara?”
I was of the understanding that she also worked in that shop. She was certainly born penniless.
In any case, my other points about Europe’s current malaise still stand.
[Daphne – She wasn’t born penniless. She came from quite a comfortable home.]
She was a chemist and then she went on to study law and became a lawyer, if I am not mistaken. That is what I read somewhere on the net.
A barrister.
On a different note, in Brixton, some losers are organizing a public party to celebrate her passing away. And in Malta, if you write anything derogatory about anyone people will start crying li imwegghajn u li attakk fahxi.
The police have already been placed to take control of the situation.
Let them celebrate. If she were alive, she would probably join them. She was quite protective of liberties.
I found this Thatcher quote which is appropriate in the circumstances.
“I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they haven not a single political argument left.”
A remarkable account of this great lady. I loved her, admired her, and like you I questioned her European views.
But she was a great leader, because she believed that there was a lot of potential in restructuring. I never forgot the glorious moment when Dr Eddie Fenech Adami was invited to No 10 in 1987, when he became Prime Minister.
Mintoff never ever got a mention. She destroyed petty politicians with just a quick phrase. God Bless Her.
Mintoff, KMB, Sant and Muscat?
Margaret Thatcher could “wipe the floor with these gentlemen” (quoting MP Michael Reginald Harry Carttiss).
I slightly misquoted MP Michael Reginald Harry Carttiss. What he had said was “You can wipe the floor with these people.” Even more appropriate.
The levels of disgust Joseph manages to cause you pale in significance when compared to the hatred the Scottish have towards Maggie. The situation reminds me about your views on Mintoff – just that you did not organise a street party.
Quite a formidable woman!
I miss a street party to celebrate his passing away, he was a terrible man, he terrorised innocent people at home. He hated the rich people not because he was a true socialist, he was filthy rich himself over the very poor that believed in him. There will be a day when this man will be brought down to the dungeons where Stalin and Beria are rotting in their own evil.
Not all Scottish. Please don’t generalize.
Most, believe me.
There was twice the support for the Tories in Scotland in Maggie’s time as there is now.
A historical proof, if any where ever needed, that women do not need quotas to reach the top.
Margaret Thatcher was distrustful of anything European. The only positive thing she saw in the expansion of the EU was her belief that former communist countries would never accept to be dictated to by another power based in Europe and saw it as a blessing that such divergent countries would never agree between them, hence stalling any progress towards union.
I particularly like “Thatcher on Socialism”. Gejjin bil-gap!
A must read:
http://books.google.com.mt/books/about/Margaret_Thatcher_Volume_1_The_Grocer_s.html?id=Pxy6QVdhWkMC&redir_esc=y
http://books.google.com.mt/books?id=RfHYhcFWbm4C&dq=margaret+thatcher:+volume+2,+the+iron+lady&hl=en&sa=X&ei=JcBjUdWKNYX17Ab4j4HYCw&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAg
May you rest in peace, Lady Thatcher. Your legacy remains a source of inspiration to the world.
“They’d rather have the poor, poorer”.
Oh my God, please take note.
“She had to fight to get on in a man’s world”.
Boy, she did! And she very well did in the 50s and 60s.
“A great Briton” – Cameron re Margaret Thatcher
Her entire political life was a valiant crusade to restore the Great to Britain.
Whether she succeeded or not is debatable.
I wonder whether Helen Mirren made any comments during last night’s performance at the Gielgud.
She will forever be remembered for this famous speech:
“We shall not be diverted from our course,” she told the party conference in Brighton in 1980.
She continued: “To those waiting with bated breath for that favourite media catchphrase the U-turn, I have only one thing to say: You turn if you want to. The lady’s not for turning.”
A truly remarkable woman who should have stood trial as a war criminal for sending hundreds of Argentinian sailors to their death by defying the UK,s own exclusion zone during the war for the Malvinas. The Belgrano was outside the exclusion zone and in fact on its way back to port . The UK had received draft peace proposals brokered by Chile 14 hours before the order to sink the ship was given. A truly remarkable war criminal.Anyone wondering what Malvinas is – its the correct term for what the British call the Falkland islands.
Bollocks. In war, we kill as many of the enemy as we can. The Argentinians were the enemy.
Oh and shove your Malvinas freedom fighter talk up your arse. The Falklands are British.
Hallina Raphael – the Belgrano was a salutory lesson to the rest of the Argentinean navy as to what to expect if it dared to ship out. All’s fair in love and war – the Argentinians started it and by god, Maggie finished it. Pity about the dead British soldiers though.
Er….waffle, m’boy… that’s su propia versión fabricada, but then I’m not surprised, you being enspoused to an Argentinian, and all that….
Strange view you have.
Go figure. Maybe that’s why she is indicted and sought by the ICJ then.
Hallina Mr. Raphael Dingli. Wake up to today’s world and get out of the revolutionary cocoon. It’s way beyond its expiry date.
Raphael, look at it this way: the Spaniards colonised Argentina, Mexico and El Salvador, the Portuguese colonised Brazil, and the British colonised the Malvinas and renamed the islands The Falkland islands.
It seems that according to you the descendants of the Spaniards should have a right to rule the islands because they colonised the biggest chunk of land in the area.
The Belgrano was the tit-for-tat for sinking the Sheffield. War is never fair.
The Argentinian government started that war to alienate the people from the real trouble which Argentina was facing. As I recall, some of her MPs meddled with the idea of surrendering the islands to Argentina, and Thatcher’s reply was “What for do we pay the forces?”.
I was not discussing Malvinas sovrenity. I was pointing out the fact that she should have been tried as a war criminal. No more than that. So I will not be looking at it your way. Never ever.
That’s because you’re stupid as well as ignorant. Even if you were to look up the facts, you’d still be saying she’s a war criminal.
And stop calling them the Malvinas. If I had my way I’d pack you in a crate and post you to Buenos Aires, so you can go and suck up to that ridiculous Kirchner.
I don’t think you’d go down too well with the Argie Pope, HP. I understand he’s rather partial to the Malvinas.
I was disgusted when that ridiculous Cristina Kirchner, on her first meeting with the Pope, asked him to “mediate” on the Falklands dispute. What incredible Latino cheek, the same sort of cheek I would expect from one of our politicians.
The Pope should have told her where to get off, but Catholic priests being the mellifluous fence-sitters that they are (except when it comes to zygotes and embryos) he said nothing.
If what you say is true, then screw the Pope. I believe Christ was for self-determination. Then last month’s referendum is the final word.
It’s this sort of invincible stupidity that lumped us with independence. The rest is history.
The Falkland Islands were never populated by Argentinians or/and ruled by Argentina. Throughout the years the Falklands had been ruled by the French and the Spanish – the ones who gave the islands to Great Britain. GB took hold of the islands long before Argentina had been a state.
Argentina (which was ruled by the fascist and murderous military junta) illegally invaded the islands in April 1982. Leopoldo Galtieri did this so as to divert attention from his disastrous domestic policies and the so-called ‘Dirty War’, during which all socialist and communist sympathisers ‘disappeared’ and were murdered.
Britain took back what was rightfully hers and her peoples’: her land If the Argentine militarists had used an ounce of common sense they would have realised that all they needed to do was to kill the islanders with kindness, and not put them under arrest as prisoners of war, as they did. They shot themselves in the foot.
Exclusion zones in times of war run contrary to the very basic objective of war: that is to defeat the enemy. With the help of the exclusion zone, the Argentines were ferrying in countless other troops (conscripts, which scores of Argentine officers had actually physically abused), so Thatcher did the strategically sound thing in ordering the sinking of the Belgrano. If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
Oh, and it was the ruling military strongmen of Argentina who sent 650 Argentine servicemen to die in the Falklands, not Thatcher. She did the sane thing and ordered the liberation of British territory, something which the Argentines don’t want to get into their heads.
But I guess you can’t deal with socialists.
Ok, ok, calm down. There is no need to start another war about the Falkland Islands.
I have little knowledge about the nationality of the population there, but I can tell you it is a miraculous place. Last Christmas, Anglu Farrugia was despatched there by the Malta Labour Party as a dead man, and he came back alive.
@Baxxter – The Malvinas are not British – they are a British colony.
Look up the United Nations recent decisions on this when your snobby anger subsides. Words like stupid and ignorant will never be convincing in any argument so try again. I choose to believe she is a war criminal. I also choose to call the islands as I do. We are in agreement on one thing though Kirchener is ridiculous and Argentina is as corrupt as it ever was. That however, does not change or influence my position on the Malvinas one iota. @Ignacio – you have me at a disadvantage as I do not know you – however, the fact that I have an Argentinian wife is not colouring my judgement. I am my own decision maker. @ Jar Jar – I pity your one sided view about the war dead – any reasonable human being would be sad about the deaths from all sides in any conflict. So I feel sad for you and your ilk. @ Another John. Many criminals have not been indicted by the ICJ – and that is a sad reflection on this sometimes toothless tiger. @General – If you read your history you will find that the exclusion zone was instigated by Britain in this very context. They broke their own rules – how very British. Enough said for now.
Fuck off. They are a British DEPENDENCY, not a colony.
So tell me, do you have interesting conversations with your wife?
@Baxxter. calm down on your anger.it is unbecoming.
Yes, and that reminds me of someone in the Maltese context…
“I started life with two great advantages: No money and great parents”.
The world has just lost a very beautiful mind.
U mietet f’qigh ta’ sodda r-Ritz, miskina Madre Teresa.
That is because she truly deserved it.
Ghaliex intom il-Maltin tghidu “qiegh” ta’ sodda? Mhux “fuq” sodda nimteddu?
That’s it really.
I feel bereft. They don’t make them like that anymore.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/08/margaret-thatcher-death-etiquette
Different view of the lady but a good defence for your posthumous Mintoff views.
The world has lost an amazing woman and brilliant politician.
May Lady Thatcher rest in peace.
Ask the Scots (and north of Engand) for that…I dont think they will agree with you….the cost of keeping your house warm in the winter was negligable before privatisation…after, (and now),,,pensioners are in fuel poverty….yes, she almost destroyed the Unions, result…construction workers over here, have no rights, they have to go to work when sick ,cause if they dont they dont get paid…(or after 3 days they get a token from the government)…he pension is a joke (not even £100 pounds a week), if you dont have a private pension, you have to work till you die…that is the Britain that created Maggie…
Apart from being an industrial chemist, I believe she was a lawyer too.
She turned the course of economic thinking for Britain and the rest of the world.
Remember when she was elected PM Britain was called the sick man of Europe with many state entities bleeding the country with the unions calling the tune.
What Margaret has achieved is still relevant to this day and not only for Britain. She will long be remembered as one the best PM Britain has ever had.
Margaret Thatcher was in inspiration in many ways, to many.
She, and what she achieved, very much shaped my political and economic thinking.
One outstanding aspect about her was that she was ready to fight and to defend the principles she believed in. And she defended democracy, freedom and free markets.
God Bless Her.
…was an inspiration…
The 10 years I spent studying in the UK were under a Conservative government led by Margaret Thatcher.
The change she brought about was remarkable.
The only time I disagreed with her was when she appointed a supermarket owner to run the health service. Things spiraled down for the National Health Service as soon as it started being run like a business.
Emergency departments and other wards closed down for days because of lack of money, too much was spent on creating the hierarchy and there seemed to be more chiefs than Indians in health authorities.
Unfortunately, this seems to have been adopted in the health service here as well.
Instead of using experienced nurses to promote good nursing on the shop floor, they get promoted and locked in offices to do secretarial work.
Remembering the general outcry in Malta when you said of Mintoff’s death, ‘May God rot his soul’: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/apr/08/margaret-thatcher-death-party-brixton-glasgow
That’s what a free country really means.
When Margaret Thatcher saw footage of Tony Blair embracing Muammar Gaddafi, she famously said: “I didn’t hug him. I bombed him.”
She was truly a remarkable woman.
To all bloggers here, go on youtube and watch the documentaries about the Falklands War and the Iranian Embassy Siege, these documentaries play an important role on Margaret Thacther’s strong will and character.
Well said!
There was more class in Margaret Thatcher’s handbag than there is in the whole of the Maltese cabinet.
Thatcher’s greatest legacy is free market economics.
Reluctantly, even the left leaning parties of Europe, and to a certain degree, the less free world, came to follow her views.
From free market economics, all other personal freedoms tend to follow.
Save for the European project, the Nationalist Party in Malta fought pretty much the same type of wars the Tories fought under Thatcher (over-powerful unions, state run companies, socialist group think and increasing education) which is why I support both.
‘There was more class in Thatcher’s handbag’ – but it cost less than Michelle’s.
Margaret Thatcher will go down in history as the first politician who faced up to the militant unions and won a crushing victory.
Unions, and indeed extreme socialism in Europe, have never recovered since. A true legend with an endearing legacy. A hero…
I fully agree. What a woman, if only all women had her stamina.
[Daphne – And all men.]
Great Britain lost an icon and Malta’s parliament lost another, Austin Gatt.
Maggie made it acceptable to put yourself first.
She shafted the workers.
I particularly enjoyed the way the print unions were well and truly tucked up. It couldn’t have happened to nicer people.
Her legacy: There are 2.5 million unemployed in the UK and no-one gives a monkey’s.
I am now hitting the imaginary “like” button.
There were 1.5 million unemployed by the end of James Callaghan’s term of office. An increase of 1 million, over 33 years of globalisation and post-industrial economy, isn’t a bad record at all.
Please do take a look at today’s ‘The Independent’ (London) cartoon. Images speak more than words.
This is a fantastic BBC Production of Thatcher’s early political career.
The Long Road to Finchley
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODfWZzGdeYI
Was the closing down of the coal-mines in Britain during Thatcher’s administration?
How could Heseltine betray this great lady
I agree with everything you stated. However I wouldn’t be so sure that her views on Europe were questionable.
She truly was.
Although I’m too young to remember her as prime minister of the UK I have read a lot and watched several documentaries about her. She is truly was a formidable woman and leader.
She will be remembered for her clear political conviction and resistance to sway away from her clear principals.
She will be remembered for restoring the UK’s political and economic might on the world stage after decades of decline.
She will be remembered for her clear policies that; freed the individual and society from the shackles of socialism; freed the country from a strangling government by decreasing its role in the economy but at the same strengthening its role as regulator; freed the markets; and freed the country from crippling and inefficient state companies with privatization. All this through her conviction for freedom and the free-market economy.
She will be remembered for her fight against communism, her role in ending the cold war and for defending Britain’s pride in the Falklands War. All this through her conviction for democracy.
She will also be unfortunately remembered for her mistakes. Namely her stance on apartheid in South Africa, the socially unjust poll tax and in many people’s eyes, including mine, her policy on Europe in the late years of her premiership. The latter divided the British conservative party in two and left it unelectable for almost a generation.
But I think in the long run, although she clearly wasn’t a feminist, she will be remembered as the woman who broke the glass ceiling for women in the most spectacular of ways by working her way up from a plain grocer’s daughter to a powerful leader of a powerful western state, at a time when such an idea was inconceivable. And indeed, powerful she was. The images of her leading groups of men who appeared to weaken at the knees at the sight of her, both in her own country and at international summits, will endear. In President Reagen’s words, she truly was the best man in England!
Her loss is indeed a great loss for the whole world. The world needs more women like her, more leaders like her. She can’t remain the stuff of legends.
May she rest in peace.
In May 1979, when I was not yet 12 years old, I wasn’t in the least bit interested in the fact that Margaret Thatcher – Britain’s first female prime minister – was elected. What I do remember though, was my dear late maternal grandfather chiding my siblings, my cousins and myself for being boisterous and for not wanting to watch the news, saying “You should be ashamed of yourselves! It’s history in the making!”.
This one is specifically for H.P.
http://www.smh.com.au/world/ding-dong-song-soars-after-thatchers-death-20130412-2hpq3.html