Thatcher must stand

If anyone deserves a permanent monument outside Parliament it is Margaret Thatcher. Plans for a bronze statue of the former prime minister in Parliament Square have been blocked for a number of reasons: the least convincing is that it might be a magnet for protesters. Any politician of substance is likely to be a controversial subject. Only time has softened the reputations of the other residents of the square, and even they can still attract graffiti. Vandals targeted Winston Churchill’s statue during the 2010 student protests.

Yes, Lady Thatcher’s reputation is controversial, but that hasn’t prevented Oliver Cromwell from enjoying pride of place outside the Commons. His supporters would say he was the hero of Parliament; his opponents might point out that he shut it down in 1653. Opinion of Lady Thatcher, by contrast, should be united on one point at least: she was a resolute defender of democracy. Her victory in the 1984 miners’ strike, for instance, was over the principle of who governs: the elected government or a trades union that didn’t even ballot its own members?

Not only is Lady Thatcher synonymous with Parliament but she is a rare example of a politician who transcended her position to become a statesman – shorthand for the nation she represented. Lady Thatcher led this country to victory in the Falklands war and her economic policies became the consensus, at least until Jeremy Corbyn dragged Labour to the far-left. Much of what makes Britain competitive and strong today is thanks to the work of Lady Thatcher. It is time to disregard the extremists and pay the respect due to her.