Ten years ago today, the House of Commons and the House of Lords paid tribute to Baroness Thatcher, one of the traditions observed when former Prime Ministers die. Parliament had been recalled from its Easter recess, itself unusual for such an event, not without controversy.
[The photograph is taken from the gov.uk website: https://www.gov.uk/government/history/past-prime-ministers/margaret-thatcher]
In addition to the many things said about Lady Thatcher's life before and during her Prime Ministership, there were also glimpses of her life after Number 10, including tributes to her family and those who worked for and cared for her over the years, including Sir Denis, Mark Worthington, Cynthia Crawford, and Charles Powell.
House of Commons
In the Commons, her after Downing Street years were captured most memorably in a speech by Conor Burns, described as 'remarkable' by the then Leader of the House of Commons, Andrew Lansley. It included this:
Quite recently, towards the end of last year, I remember saying to her, “You must have made mistakes.” She said, “I suppose I must have done.” I said, “Can you think of any specific examples?” She replied, “Well, they usually happened when I didn’t get my own way.”
From the Labour side,
Frank Field also offered insight into her post-Downing Street life.
However, Mrs Thatcher was not uncritical of her own record. On one occasion I asked her, “Mrs T, what was your greatest disappointment in government?” Again as though she had thought long and hard beforehand about it, she said, “I cut taxes and I thought we would get a giving society, and we haven’t.”
House of Lords
In the Lords, there were tributes from those who worked with and for her, former ministers and former civil servants. Again, reflections on her life after 1990, including as a member of the House of Lords, were also offered.
Speaking for Labour, Baroness Royall of Blaisdon, said:
When I first came to your Lordships’ House I was mesmerised by this frail but still powerful woman who through sheer determination had transformed our society, dividing opinion and dividing the country. Not for her the consensual notion of one nation that I passionately espouse. As increasingly frail as she became, as a result of that enormous impact, her appearances in the House at key moments and on key Divisions were electrifying.Lord Forsyth of Drumlean's speech included anecdotes from her time as an ex-Prime Minister: a visit to Downing Street when Gordon Brown was Prime Minister, a day at Ascot, her attendance at the House of Lords; and this from a time when she went to dinner at Flemings investment bank.
A number of people have pointed to her having a feel and affection for, and an easy way with, ordinary folk. My noble friend Lord Lamont talked about this. When I worked for Flemings investment bank, we had a fantastic collection of pictures. She asked to see the pictures, so I arranged a dinner and a number of prominent people from the City came to it. They all sat down while we finished looking at the pictures. I was taking her up and everybody was waiting for her. Then the lift door opened and a cleaning lady came face to face with Margaret Thatcher and said, “Oh, Mrs Thatcher, I like you”. Margaret said, “My dear, what are you doing here at this time of night?”. She said, “I’m just finishing my shift, but I’m such an admirer of yours”. They got chatting and Margaret said, “Do you do the whole place yourself”. The cleaner said, “No, I’ve got all my friends downstairs but they won’t believe that I’ve met you”. Margaret said, “We’ll go and meet them”. I said, “But Margaret, we’ve got a dinner going”, but she went down and talked to all the cleaning ladies while everybody else had to wait. That was very typical of the way in which she operated.
The Lords tributes ran from 2:36pm to 8:04pm.
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