On Monday 8th April 2013, news broke of the death of the greatest peace time Prime Minister that this country has ever had. She embodied values and convictions and expressed them in such a way that I do not believe that we will ever quite see the like of her again, or at least not for a very long time. Mrs Thatcher, the beacon of inspiration, is still the guiding light for many people in politics. Young and aspiring politicians still find that the determination in which she demonstrated acts as a catalyst for their burning passion to make a difference, regardless of their political persuasion.
Mrs Thatcher's legacy goes beyond her radical economic and social reforms which changed the face of Britain for the better. For me, her legacy is that of not being afraid to be heard, not being afraid to stand for what you believe in. "Never do things because other people do them", her father would say to her, "persuade other people to follow your way." We know that with regard to Mrs Thatcher herself, never has a lesson been so well recieved.
In government, Margaret Thatcher introduced policies which would transform Britain forever. Gripped by post war decline and the winter of discontent, the British people saw in her the determination to lift Britain out of decline, to put the great back into Great Britain. During her statement to the House of Commons during the no confidence debate in 1990, Mrs Thatcher read to the house from a 'famous dispatch' which had been published in the Economist in 1979, it read;
'We [Britain] talk of ourselves without shame as being one of the least prosperous countries of Europe, the prognosis for the foreseeable future, in 1979, was discourageing; Conservative government has changed all that.'
Margaret Thatcher put the great into Great Britain, giving people the right to buy their council houses created a true property owning democracy. Nigel Lawson's cuts in income tax, gave people more money in their pockets to spend and scaling back the state. People were inspired to do better for themselves and their families. In a Panorama interview with Sir Robin Day in 1987, Mrs Thatcher asserted;
"It doesn't matter to me who you are or what your background is, if you aspire to do better then yes, I am with you, all the way. Whether it is unskilled effort or whether it is skilled"
She transformed Britain into a modern meritocracy in which if one had the skills and the determination to succeed, then under Thatcher, one could achieve and aspire.
When she left office in 1990, Britain stood tall in the councils of Europe and the rest of the world. She took a country that had lost faith in itself, and by administering the medicine, restored Britain's reputation abroad in that Britain has the strength to succeed and will never be intimidated- Thatcher of course refused to hand back the Falkland Islands to Argentina. She truly was the patriotic Prime Minister.
Her contribution to British history will never be forgotten, and her values and determination should be an inspiration to us all. May she live on in memory as the woman who took a country in decline and turned it around, who believed Britain's best days were ahead and not behind us. Above all, she will be sorely missed.
As Dame Jill Knight put it perfectly to Mrs Thatcher at Prime Minister's Questions in 1990;
'A thousand years from now, when everyone in this house is dead and dust, she alone will have her hallowed name in the history books.'
Sam Griffiths
