Sink the Belgrano – the ship’s destruction was the single most controversial action of the war. At the time of the sinking the ship was sailing away from the taskforce, outside the exclusion zone. ibid.
She had become a unique phenomenon in British politics. ibid.
The [coal] strike became a battle between two implacable opponents. ibid.
She ordered the police to deal with Scargill’s flying pickets. ibid.
On 11th October 1984 at the height of the miner’s strike an IRA bomb exploded at the Grand Hotel in Brighton. ibid.
‘They are a weak lot some of them in Europe, you know. Weak. Feeble.’ Thatcher: The Downing Street Years III: Midnight in Moscow, Twilight in London, re raid on US Tripoli and use of UK bases
The visit to the Soviet Union was a coup for Margaret Thatcher. ibid.
On 11th June 1987 Margaret Thatcher and the Conservative Party won a third term with a majority of 101. ibid.
‘Victory is a marvellous emollient.’ ibid. Thatcher
The rich got richer while the poor became poorer. ibid.
House prices and personal debt rocketed. ibid.
Her community charge never won the backing of her own supporters. ibid.
In October 1989 the Conservative Party celebrated Margaret Thatcher’s 64th birthday and her tenth anniversary as Prime Minister at the party conference. Yet just over a year later those same colleagues who clapped and cheered her in public would force her from office. Thatcher: The Downing Street Years IV: Wielding the Knife
For some time Nigel Lawson and Margaret Thatcher had been at odds over the management of the economy. ibid.
Only four cabinet colleagues offered their unqualified support. ibid.
I’m interested in politics. That’s all. Long Walk to Finchley BBC 2008 starring Andrea Riseborough & Samuel West & Rory Kinnear & Philip Jackson & Julia Joyce & Michael Selwood & Geoffrey Palmer et al, Margaret gets research chemist job
It’s actions that set the great ones apart, Margaret. ibid. dad
Politics is about people. ibid.
A force of bloody Nature. ibid. Denis
Oh it really is too depressing. I mean this whole job – trying to pump air into ice cream to make it go further; God knows what it’s going to taste like. This is exactly what you get with Mr Attlee and his hair-shirt policies. ibid. Margaret
This is our candidate – Edward Heath. ibid. lady
Is that why you prefer to be alone with your organ, Mr Heath? ibid.
Edward Heath: She’s certainly got something about her.
Waldron Smithers: Yes, the whiff of cheap perfume. ibid.
You lead; I’ll follow. ibid. Maggie to Ted on dance floor
We shall never speak of this again. ibid. Ted to Maggie
Were you planning on proposing marriage at some point? ibid. Maggie to Denis
Margaret: Denis likes a drink, daddy.
Dad: I gathered. ibid.
Damn their establishment! Damn the lot of them! ibid.
You and your bloody one-nation poofters make me sick. ibid. outgoing MP to Heath
You’ll rue the day you ever helped that woman. ibid.
With Denis at her side, Margaret Thatcher served as MP for Finchley for 33 years. In 1975, she stood and defeated Edward Heath in an election for the leadership of the Conservative Party. He never forgave her. ibid. caption
A lot of the things she said were not right ... Fevered and very often irrational. Ian Gilmour
Tomorrow, no matter what they do, it’ll be business as usual. The Iron Lady 2011 starring Meryl Streep & Alexandra Roach & Jim Broadbent & Harry Lloyd & Anthony Head & Richard E Grant & Iain Glen & Olivia Colman & Nicholas Farrell & Susan Brown & Martin Wimbush et al, director Phyllida Lloyd, Margaret’s dad
Never run with the crowd, Margaret; go your own way. ibid.
I’ve always preferred the company of men. ibid. Margaret
The new member of Parliament for Finchley 1959 is Margaret Thatcher. ibid. announcer
I’m going to run for leader of the Party. ibid. Margaret
Someone must say the unsayable. ibid.
In Britain? There will be no female prime minister here, not in my lifetime, no. ibid.
I don’t recognize myself. ibid.
All I wanted was to make a difference in the world. ibid.
What about loyalty to me? Margaret starring Lindsay Duncan & Ian McDiarmid & Roger Allam & Michael Cochrane & Oliver Cotton & Philip Jackson & Robert Hardy & James Fox et al, director James Kent, Margaret, BBC 2009
What about us? The family? Me? ibid. Denis to Margaret
If she’s fucked, so am I. ibid. Alan Clark
We know what we have to do. ibid. Margaret
The Tory Party, I suppose – bunch of pygmies in the end. ibid. Denis to Margaret
Jokes are such hard work ... I’ve never understood the ha ha business. ibid. Margaret
You don’t join with your enemy; you don’t make deals with him; you destroy him. ibid.
The Community Charge will work – trust me. ibid.
I am a woman, Willie. I must dominate them or they will destroy me. ibid.
One must always fight, ma’am. What else is there? ibid. Margaret to Queen
Geoffrey, fetch my shawl, will you? ibid. Margaret
He who wields the dagger never wears the crown. ibid. Heseltine
It’s a funny old world. ibid. Margaret in cabinet
She managed to fight her way to the top in a man’s world to become the West’s first ever female prime minister. Michael Cockerell, The Making of the Iron Lady, BBC 2008
Finchley in north London first elected Margaret Thatcher as its MP in the 1959 General Election. It had taken her ten years and numerous rejections. ibid.
She had been a research chemist and a tax lawyer. ibid.
The ‘statutory female’ in Heath’s cabinet had been given the Ministry of Education. ibid.
School milk now became a hugely controversial issue for the lady with the hats. ibid.
It had been a peasants’ revolt organised by Airey Neave. ibid.
Margaret Thatcher, the grocer’s daughter, was living above the shop once again. Maggie: The First Lady II, 2003
Britain was in recession, inflation was running over 10% and set to rise. Within a month the government reduced spending on public services, cut direct taxation but almost doubled VAT, a sales tax, to 15%. ibid.
1980 saw the largest rise in unemployment since the depression of the 1930s. ibid.
Margaret Thatcher’s popularity began to plummet. ibid.
The prime minister and her chancellor demanded even more spending cuts. ibid.
Elected prime minister for a second time, swept back to power on a surge of patriotism. ibid.
In 1984 she took on the miners’ union. ibid.
In 1981 IRA prisoners went on hunger strike ... Margaret Thatcher became the IRA’s prime target. ibid.
Mrs Thatcher’s relationships with her most senior ministers and oldest allies began to turn sour. ibid.
Michael Heseltine made his move. ibid.
One by one the Cabinet ministers went to see her: they were far from encouraging. ibid.
She took the decision to stand down. ibid.