Book Description

Lady Thatcher's outstanding accomplishments, the debates she sparked, and her inimitable character, personality and style are captured in this collection of Parliamentary tributes and international comments, with a Foreword and Biographical Sketch by long-time advisor John Blundell and an Introduction by The Rt Hon David Davis MP. These pages provide first-person observations and anecdotes describing vividly the policies of Margaret Thatcher, her life, and her legacy. At the end of Margaret Thatcher's remarkable life, over 150 Members of the House of Commons, the House of Lords, and international leaders spoke about their experiences with her. Many of those who chose to speak had opposed her policies as a Member of Parliament and later as Prime Minister, yet still found themselves inspired to commemorate her and contribute to the picture of Lady Thatcher that will be recorded in history. This book presents not only the speeches but explanatory footnotes and introductory material as well. The picture that emerges is one of a highly intelligent, complex, disciplined and accomplished woman, tough yet gracious, an Iron Lady indeed, characterized as being "of the highest quality, of exceptional tensile strength, highly resistant to wear and tear and to stress,"and who, it must be admitted, applied herself so ably that she achieved the majority of her policy goals, irrespective of whether one agrees with those goals. Thatcher is credited, as her colleagues remind us in these pages, with reviving Britain's economy by privatizing many of the State-owned businesses, and much of the public housing; with laying the foundations for mended relations with Ireland; with forging friendly and productive relations with world leaders from Ronald Reagan to Mikhail Gorbachev; with helping to tear down the Iron Curtain; and ultimately with reviving Britain's self-respect and global prestige in the 1980s. Women note that Thatcher, leading by example rather than through "feminist"rhetoric, encouraged them and empowered them to achieve more than they ever thought they could. Some of her detractors called her "divisive."What comes through in the speeches is that Thatcher was courageous, and passionate; and as such she evoked powerful responses from all around her. Those who worked for her and with her found her extraordinarily hardworking, extremely demanding, and uncommonly compassionate. She evoked love and loyalty from those who were with her, and even when she deeply angered those who disagreed with her decisions--they appreciated Thatcher's thoughtful, painstaking approach to those decisions, and her grit, her patriotism and her integrity.