Margaret Thatcher: The Autobiography

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In the midst of the recession, the Falklands Islands were invaded by the Argentinean army. Mrs Thatcher sent a British expeditionary force to reclaim the islands. With relatively light casualties (although many hundreds died in the conflict) the islands were retaken. This military victory brought a fillip in support for Thatcher. However, it is worth noting she was criticised for both her decision to sink the Belgrano (which was sailing away from the conflict zone) Others also criticised her triumphalist spirit. On reclaiming the islands, Mrs Thatcher proclaimed:

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That was her way of developing intimacy with younger people, I think. She was wonderful. My children remember her vividly. They’re grown up now, but I’ve got pictures of her sitting on the sofa next to my two sons at various ages, when she came here to have lunch with us. For example, Martin Gilbert’s life of Churchill in eight volumes is unutterably tedious. It’s the sort of thing I’d like to see used as an alternative to custody for young offenders. I’d make them read all eight volumes, rather than going to chokey—that would teach them a lesson they wouldn’t forget. But Charles’s book isn’t boring. If you’re not interested in certain questions, such as foreign policy, he does go on a bit about that. But he has to; she was an international figure. Let’s move on to Robin Harris’s book. I think he was Margaret Thatcher’s speech writer and helped her write her memoirs. But what does he add to this story that is not in the official biography? Charles Moore focuses very much on her private decision making processes, rather than discussing the broader social and political landscape. Does Harris do more of that? A complete, detailed account of Margaret Thatcher's life and career in politics, from Grantham to No. 10 Downing Street. Everyone knows the one-liners she produced and the public image she cultivated. This book goes beyond the image and reveals the real Thatcher: her doubts and fears, her womanhood, her pragmatism, her occasional pettiness. Moore does so in a nuanced way, careful to judge her in her own times and the challenges of her days and not necessarily through the all too comfortable lens of today. Personally, I found the asterisks and extra notes, which this volume contained aplenty, rather redundant at times. It is truly a definitive account. Critics and supporters alike recognise the Thatcher premiership as a period of fundamental importance in British history. Margaret Thatcher accumulated huge prestige over the course of the 1980s and often compelled the respect even of her bitterest critics. Indeed, her effect on the terms of political debate has been profound. Whether they were converted to 'Thatcherism', or merely forced by the electorate to pay it lip service, the Labour Party leadership was transformed by her period of office and the 'New Labour' politics of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown would not have existed without her. Her legacy remains the core of modern British politics: the world economic crisis since 2008 has revived many of the arguments of the 1980s, keeping her name at the centre of political debate in Britain.But, anyway, Charles brings all that out in the books and if you read them you will—slightly dangerous thing to say—know everything you need to know about her. Above all, Charles has presented to the world a completely honest and accurate account of Margaret Thatcher. Beginning with her upbringing in Grantham, she goes on to describe her entry into Parliament. Rising through the ranks of this man’s world, she led the Conservative Party to victory in 1979, becoming Britain's first woman prime minister. Behind this dispute there was profound disagreement within the government over policy towards the European Community itself. The Prime Minister found herself increasingly at odds with her Foreign Secretary, Sir Geoffrey Howe, on all questions touching European integration. Her speech at Bruges in September 1988 began the process by which the Conservative Party — at one time largely 'pro-European' — became predominantly 'Euro-sceptic'. Let’s move on to One of Us by Hugo Young. I don’t know if Hugo Young would have known Margaret Thatcher personally, but this book is an unsympathetic view of Thatcher. Why is it worth reading this if you want to understand her? She was not yet a star, but she was a worker and a fighter in a party which was slightly short of both.””Every Labour government we have had has foundered on money and they have always succeeded in running out of other people’s money.”“Equity is a much better principle than equality”

Margaret Thatcher: The Autobiography – HarperCollins

In her mid-twenties she ran as the Conservative candidate for the strong Labour seat of Dartford at the General Elections of 1950 and 1951, winning national publicity as the youngest woman candidate in the country. With unequaled authority and dramatic detail, the first volume of Charles Moore’s authorized biography of Margaret Thatcher reveals as never before the early life, rise to power, and first years as prime minister of the woman who transformed Britain and the world in the late twentieth century. Moore has had unique access to all of Thatcher’s private and governmental papers, and interviewed her and her family extensively for this book. Many of her former colleagues and intimates have also shared previously unseen papers, diaries, and letters, and spoken frankly to him, knowing that what they revealed would not be published until after her death. The book immediately supersedes all other biographies and sheds much new light on the whole spectrum of British political life from Thatcher’s entry into Parliament in 1959 to what was arguably the zenith of her power—victory in the Falklands in 1982.The details of her life in Grantham where he father was a shop-keeper and servant of the town through his work on the council to her successful time at Oxford, studying science/chemistry, to war work teaching step the first third of the book off well. The start of her political life, romances with a number of men and eventual marriage to Denis Thatcher follow and show a well-liked woman who is determined with an eye for detail. We then move from the early days of her election as a MP to placements in the shadow-cabinet and standing as a leadership candidate to replace Edward (Ted) Heath. The latter part of the book then covers the period from election as party leader to success at the 1979 General Election replacing Jim Callaghan and his Labour Government, to early years in office to the end of 1982. I’ve recommended it on the know-thine-enemy principle. Charles is quite even-handed, despite being very pro-Mrs T. And, obviously, Robin is pro-Mrs T. But this shows you what the North London intelligentsia really thought of her and why they hated her. And if anyone wanted to understand—years later—the failings of anti-Thatcherism, this book brings them out absolutely perfectly. Hugo did know her; I’ve been at press conferences with him when he was talking to her. But he didn’t know her well. She wouldn’t have trusted or liked him. But, in this book, he never really comes up with what the alternative was to Thatcher’s programme.

Margaret Thatcher: The Authorized Biography, Volume 1: Margaret Thatcher: The Authorized Biography, Volume 1:

Mrs Thatcher was elected Prime Minister in the Conservative landslide of 1979. Mrs Thatcher wasted no time in introducing controversial economic policies. She believed that a strict implementation of Monetarism was necessary to overcome the economic ills of inflation and low growth, which she blamed on the previous Labour government.These are the Dead Sea Scrolls of Powellism. This is Powellism, red in tooth and claw. It’s got the Birmingham speech in it and other speeches on immigration which, by the way, are really worth reading for people who believe Powell was a racist, because Powell doesn’t talk about race once. All he talks about is immigration and he doesn’t specify who’s doing the immigrating. So, it’s useful for that reason. I remember Ralph Harris saying to me—and he got this from Hayek—’If you pay people to be unemployed, you’ll have unemployment. If you stop paying them to be unemployed, jobs will turn up.’