Remember what we all owe to the Iron Lady
OFTEN portrayed as harsh and divisive, Lady Thatcher actually presided over a government whose first aim was an inclusive Britain. Those who dispute her legacy should remember the days when not only the trade unions but also the state monopolies made daily life a misery for ordinary citizens.
We had no choice but to accept whatever service was offered. We could wait 18 months for a telephone to be installed, public phone boxes were routinely out of order and often we had to make do with shared lines. BT by contrast has had to be effi cient or lose custom to competing suppliers.
We can all remember the days when the electricity, gas and water companies would never arrange an appointment but expected us to be at their beck and call.
It is all so long ago that we have forgotten it along with the Cold War and the endless strikes. Occasionally we should remember what we owe Mrs Thatcher.
Council tenants were not excluded from buying, the waiter in the boardroom was as likely to own shares as the director and a bright child from a poor family could go to a major public school. However for those who knew her it was that extraordinary will and round-the-clock energy which we will remember.
Three years before I became an MP I went along to Downing Street as part of a delegation on defence. We were told to report at half past seven on a dark winter’s morning and we arrived to find the PM looking as if she had just emerged from a beauty salon after 12 hours sleep. In fact she would have been working most of the night. We expected 10 minutes of her precious time but were given 45 minutes. That meeting sums up the woman. Nothing was too much trouble and there was always enough time in the day.