Why Lady Thatcher is the perfect face for the £50 note
One of the few things I envy about previous generations of Britons is the quality of their leaders. They may have been shivering in underheated homes, unable to shop on Sundays and beaten at school, but their prime ministers were intelligent, educated and serious people. Even the weak or wrong-headed ones – James Callaghan, for instance – were patriots and, mostly, worthy of high office.
The truly standout leader of the post-war period, however, is clearly Margaret Thatcher. A divisive figure, perhaps, but the far-reaching nature of her legacy is never disputed. Which is why a petition to put Lady Thatcher on the new plastic £50 note makes perfect sense. At the time of writing, it had been signed by almost 12,000 people.
This is not enough, given stiff competition. Since the Bank of England began its call for submissions from the public, virtue-signalling campaigners have been lining up to recommend all sorts of fashionable candidates – most of whom the public will never even have heard of.
The firm favourite seems to be Noor Inayat Khan, “the first British Muslim Second World War heroine”. A pacifist and Indian independence supporter, Ms Khan certainly was a gutsy and interesting woman, a Paris-born spy for the British who, after being betrayed, met a tragic end in Dachau concentration camp. There is at least one prominent biography of Ms Khan in existence, and a memorial trust in her name. She is a fascinating and possibly historically revealing figure, but is she note material? Doubtful.
By contrast, Lady Thatcher screams billfronting appropriateness and clearly deserves to join fellow note faces Churchill (£5), Jane Austen (£10) and Adam Smith (£20). You don’t need clever arguments about history and diversity to agree that she was the most important leader of the post-war period, not least because of the radical way in which she changed Britain utterly and forever.
You can add in her gender if you like. Feminists and diversity warriors naturally loathe the Lady, but that doesn’t change the fact that her leadership was all the more extraordinary given that she had to battle through seas of sneering men. If the gender card feels tiresome, as Lady Thatcher herself found it, follow her lead and play the science one instead. She was the first scientist to inhabit 10 Downing Street.
Lady Thatcher’s appeal feels fresher and more urgent by the day. Many young people, saddled with debt and struggling to get on the housing ladder, find her life story inspirational, learning from her stratospheric rise from humble beginnings through hard work and strategy, not connections or inborn privilege.
And with every new attempt by Jeremy Corbyn’s Left to overturn everything sensible and innovative in our society with spiteful and half-baked socialist politics, keeping Lady Thatcher in currency, as it were, has never felt more important. She is a reminder to the new generation that the hollowfeeling Westminster of Cameron and May that they know is not how it always was, or how it has to be.
My only reservation about the campaign is that it pertains to the £50 note, the least-used note of all. On the upside, it is grand, the zenith of paper money, and very impressive to wield. In that, it suits the woman who reintroduced ambition, aspiration and entrepreneurial culture to Britain perfectly. FOLLOW Zoe Strimpel on Twitter @zstrimpel; READ MORE at telegraph.co.uk/opinion