margaret thatcher speech writer margaret thatcher speech writer

She is an anomaly; a product of the freak-onomy of her time. 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. Her political antennae refused to allow her to privatise the coal industry, British Rail or the post office. to secure international action to repair the damaged ozone layer. 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. The US academic Cass Sunstein was in Britain at the end of last month. Hire a Writer. Yet by the autumn of 1981 they had made her so unpopular that bets were being taken at the October party conference that she would be "gone by Christmas". Police charges against picketing union printers in Wapping enabled the Murdoch empire to flourish, ensuring their power and hers. She was 87. When Sir Geoffrey Howe resigned in consequence, she replied Margaret Thatcher's most popular book is The Downing Street Years. That 1983 general election contained the telltale seeds of eventual Scottish Tory self-destruction. The time was 1973. But she exploited her luck. For the most part, there's no material there. speech to the House of Lords in June 1993. Among them was loyalist Brian Nelson, a former British soldier and member of the Ulster Defence Association. Scotland was her mission impossible. Had pollsters and the 24/7 media forced leaders to follow opinion, not lead it? Maggie! This was heightened by the suspicion that this power was not consciously deployed. She is an icon of individualism, not of feminism. She became deaf to all warning. Thatcherism failed to destroy the welfare state. Edited text: This speech was delivered to the Conservative party conference in Brighton on October 10 1980. The woman, however, changed. still being scolded for the remark.You can read here exactly what she said, Thatcher is gone, but Thatcherism has infected and discredited all mainstream parties, depriving us of a chance to turn it down. making her big speech the following day as scheduled. By then, 1990, I was 15, adolescent and instinctively anti-establishment enough to regard her disdainfully. "They did their thing with no chance of making any money, so they stood up in crappy pubs and said, 'I hate Maggie'. Several strong women on the continent have risen to the top, but thisBritish woman, in Britain of all places, became a phenomenon, first, throughher gender. On the other hand, growth has been depressed because weak trade unions can no longer ensure wage increases keep pace with inflation. At Bruges in September 1988 she outraged European orthodoxy by declaring: I was on my own. 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. What is more troubling is my inability to ascertain where my own selfishness ends and her neo-liberal inculcation begins. Everyone knows where they were when they heard. Margaret Thatcher was Britain's most significant leader since Churchill. Thatcher never kept a diary, but the archive includes rich details of her role in important domestic and world events. 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. April 25, 2020. Research papers can be complex, so best to give our essay writing service a bit more time on this one. 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.". Out!" in a statement the following morning (22 November), hours before she We must reduce the inequality that has seen a super-rich elite, openly contemptuous of the flag and family values Thatcher proclaimed, float free from the rest of us. After the Dublin European Council in November 1979 she began a long battle They are a more energetic and impressive group than their predecessors, often with experience outside politics that makes them impatient and independent-minded. She had just finished the first volume of her memoirs, which she insisted was all her own work. 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. was an Oxford student home for the university holidays. And on the 11th June, we even won some nine seats we failed to gain in 1983. She was an ardent pro-European, and her 1979 manifesto made no mention of radical union reform or privatisation. The items stored in this section of the site are texts, but many of the most important statements are also available in audio or video form in the separate Multimedia section. She was catapulted into the Conservative leadership by a small group of ideologues centred around a thinktank, determined to roll back the statist ideas that dominated Britain after the postwar Attlee government. MT won election as Conservative leader on 11 February 1975 and gave a euphoric Thatcher jokes were big business, from Rik Mayall's student rants in The Young Ones, to Harry Enfield's satire of Thatcher's children with his Loadsamoney character. Margaret Thatcher's Speech to Congress. . The current crop of leaders are so dull, so ill-defined, so lacking in personality that it's almost impossible for comedians to rage against them. a new dominance from Brussels". 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. One might even credit Thatcher with a willingness to jettison the old rules and conventions that used to prevent individuals deciding their own destiny. 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". Interviewing him, I was struck by a Victorian sort of kindness; as an Oxford student in the 1930s he'd worked in his vacation helping families of the unemployed in the Yorkshire coalfield one of them had even named their baby Keith in his honour. in his defence during the IranContra affair later that year.. Elected for a third term in June 1987, she told We might speculate that an adviser had offered Thatcher a selection of good lines, or that she had asked to see some. But the key point is this: those who admire the deceased public figure (and their politics) aren't silent at all. Ingham's rough redraft of my speech with very little success. For a start, she had a superb memory for a brief, and she would have had no problem memorising quickly any number of lines. Charles Powell was a senior foreign policy . The preface to the From a peak of 13 million in 1979, trade union membership had declined by 30% by 1990, and is now not much more than half what it was. The woman dubbed as the Iron Lady during her premiership made her last tearful speech as the leader of the country from the doorstep of . Everything was justified as long as it made money andthis, too, isstill with us. However, for almost a decade Sinn Fin had been patently trying to build a peace process and unfolding events on the world stage including the dismantling of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany, and the release of Mandela were evidence that governments, and apparently intractable situations, could change. John asked a nearby chippy loading his white van. 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. Yet the Daily Mail has morefemale bylines than any other UK paper and is not exactly a totem of gender equality andfemale-friendliness. She will be for ever unforgiven by those who now see worse being done in her name to another generation. of the 1600 libraries around the world which hold the CD-ROM. The government's job was to keep inflation low, not to boost growth through demand management. None present eyed her meanly or spoke with vitriol and it wasn't until an hour later that I dreamt up an Ealing comedy-style caper in which two inept crooks kidnap Thatcher from the garden but are unable to cope with the demands of dealing with her, and finally give her back. Cameron's crew crudely imagine she intended it. Governments can rarely claim to have stimulated the arts but Thatcher, always rather impatient with the examined life, drew writers on to new ground. And nor could Thatcher, much to her relief as she allegedly abhorred the word, as doubtless Chanel did, too. Her defenders always insisted that sentence had been misunderstood, but it stuck because it seemed to capture something essential about the Thatcherite creed: its embrace of individualism and apparent disdain for the collective. Any attempts at revisionism do no favours to her, women or feminism. Or maybe audiences just really, really hated her and wanted to blow off some steam. Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013), who in 1979 would become Great Britain's first female Prime Minister, traveled to the United States and Canada in September 1975, seven months after becoming the leader of Britain's Conservative Party, then out of power. She was not a writer. When President Reagan died in June 2004, she delivered a They are aggressively exploiting the emotions generated by the person's death to create hagiography. Thatcher will be especially remembered for her shameful role during the epic hunger strikes of 1980 and 81. This is one small sign of how the left seems paralysed by a lack of intellectual curiosity and confidence. When Margaret Thatcher won the general election in 1979, she became Prime Minister of a land in chaos. 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. Here is an excerpt from People [PMT]: "In politics," Margaret Thatcher once acidly observed, "if you want anything said, ask a man. Until then Thatcher had shown the strength of her weakness: a dislike of consensus and aversion to debate, leading to decisive action. Having no social or political connection with the class most affected, she gave a very good impression of not caring. From 1979 to 1990, Margaret Thatcher held the office of Prime . 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. No children excluded from school activities because mothers couldn't pay. Her heirs have not learned that lesson, with no sign of their promised "rebalancing". Three separate pieces of legislation between 1980 and 1984 attacked the closed shop, toughened up the laws on picketing and imposed secret strike ballots. Mobilising society, by rule of law, against the trade union bosses was undoubtedly an achievement. talked of "Victorian Values". 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". The fact that the Thatcher question even gets asked confirms vividly just what an upas tree she remains for Scottish Toryism. Margaret Thatcher Curriculum Vitae. She failed to replace those jobs with well-paid equivalents. This was hardly the first or even the worst example of a dig at Thatcher tinged so needlessly with sexism. Margaret Thatcher's most popular book is The Downing Street Years. Norman Tebbit, one of Thatcher's acolytes and fellow "Munsters evacuee", said when the National Union of Mineworkers eventually succumbed to the military onslaught and starvation over which she presided: "We didn't just break the strike, we broke the spell." Knocking up a flan for Denis or helping Carol with her algebra or Mark with his gun-running, are jarring distractions from the main narrative; woman as warrior queen. 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. I have few recollections of Thatcher after the slowly chauffeured, weepy Downing Street cortege. If it ended in disaster, the seeds were only partly hers. I met her just once, as a reporter in the press pack that followed her tour around Greece and Yugoslavia in 1980. 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. The core ideas that underpinned her government endured through 13 years of Labour and are being extended by the coalition. 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. 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. Perhaps she had just come inside. Harold Macmillan, Alec Douglas-Home, Heath: they seem, by comparison, evanescent figures. Much has been written about the special significance and warmth of the British-American alliance during the two terms of Ronald Reagan. Seeing as women aren't a minor Brit-flick grateful for even a bad review, that truism doesn't quite hold true here. By 1987, anti-Tory tactical voting had taken hold. All of us that grew up under Thatcher were taught that it is good to be selfish, that other people's pain is not your problem, that pain is in fact a weakness and suffering is deserved and shameful. When a political leader dies, it is irresponsible in the extreme to demand that only praise be permitted but not criticisms. 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. Not all writers were against her. She gave Nigel Lawson at the Treasury his head and was genuinely alarmed when he cut income tax to 40%. Yet her understanding of Britain was alarmingly crude. More insidiously, it fathered amood of tolerated harshness. Making sure the verdict wasn't purloined by others. Therein, 30 years ago, lay the great Thatcher asset and the electorally lethal Thatcher impact in Scotland. 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". Without it, she would have been nothing. But what bound all opposition to Margaret Thatcher's programme was a suspicion that the grocer's daughter was intent on monetising human value, that she had no heart and, famously, cared little for the impulses that bind individuals into a society. Seizing her chariot's reins to drive it on recklessly, they lack her brains, experience and political skill. April 17, 2013, 6:40 PM. This does lead to divisions. Reagan was received coolly, and the discussion was highly superficial, if only because the British side clearly did not care to engage on substance: meet for a serious discussion with a movie actor and a "Grade B" actor at that? 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. Curiously, the phrase does not sound as dated as it should. Bernard Ingham, journalist and civil servant. an interviewer "there is no such thing as society" and is Yet, as the heated benefits debate showed last week, Labour is trapped by history bereft of fresh ideas and, when tentatively offering proposals, strangled by the most stifling conservatism. Norman and Margaret hold, and will always hold, a unique place in our esteem and affection. Her death must be sad for the handful of people she was nice to and the rich people who got richer under her stewardship. 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. She hated what she called "that French phrase laissez faire". declared that she wanted our money back, invited the speech which caused the Soviets to dub her "the Iron Lady". Well, everything really, even her name. Rows with Lawson and Geoffrey Howe over a European currency (where she was right) presaged the final shambles of the poll tax. ", As Matthew Parris evocatively put it in Monday's Times, "She rather liked men (preferring our company, perhaps, to that of women), [but] she thought us the weaker sex. They recognised the need for cohesion when at any time disaster could strike a family unit or indeed a whole community. But every prime minister since has bowed to her legacy, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown eager to be snapped with her on their doorstep. They were puzzled by the Scots' antipathy, given the Falklands war and the strong militaristic history of the Highlands and elsewhere. That's because, 23 years after she was ejected from Downing Street by her own party in a move whose psychic wounds linger on, the country we live in remains Thatcher's Britain. It's true that whenever there's a major news story, millions of people immediately begin strip-mining it for puns and bon mots, making it harder for professional comics to develop focused, funny material that nobody's heard before. Lady Thatcher, you honor us by coming to the site of Sir Winston's pivotal speech, an event Westminster College has immortalized with the beautiful Winston Churchill Memorial. This, too, we still live with. They are acolytes of a raw Thatcher cult they have rough-hewn and exaggerated in their own image. One of the few direct hits scored in the modern era was when Alex Ross and James Herring remixed Nick Clegg's bizarre "I'm sorry" speech and turned it into a hilarious R&B tune. The eulogy is a good illustration of Thatcher's feelings for . You knew exactly what Maggie stood for. Reagan was a highly influential president during his time in office, and had a lot of responsibility concerning the Cold War. Between 1945-90 every statement made by Margaret Thatcher is listed, as far as can be known. Maggie was a fully formed comedy character before comedians had even gotten to her. Are there, even, things we look back on with regret for their passing? Deep-seated and long overdue reforms of the 1980s paved the way for the long 16-year boom between 1992 and 2008. 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. I just now watched the British Gas one again. Conscious of being awoman, and incapable of pretending otherwise. She was right, he was wrong. At a banquet in Belgrade the press sat next to the so-called "Garden Girls", who were the secretaries at No 10. Ronald Reagan, the former 40th president of the United States died on June 5th of 2004. 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. In the 2011 biographical drama film "The Iron Lady," Meryl Streep plays the role of Margaret Thatcher, the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Get over her!