Mrs T believed in her own omnipotence

I THINK it right to make some reasoned career assessment of Margaret Thatcher before trying to answer the question of there being a Thatcher Day.

She was our Prime Minister for 10 years and seven months – 127 months and 545 weeks. To suggest that just the 10 weeks – the length of the undeclared war – of conflict against Argentina over their occupation of the Falkland Islands, just 1% of her time as PM, should be the sole justification for such an honour is quite unbelievable, something approaching desperation to immortalise the lady.

A total of 255 British military personnel were killed in that conflict, while 649 Argentinian personnel were killed. Some of the latter had but a few days of military instruction. The result was never in doubt. It’s arguable the same end result could have been achieved with a sea and air blockade.

The actual ownership of the islands had long been in dispute. If this honour was bestowed on Mrs Thatcher for restoring peace under British rule to the Falklands, then it’s arguable that Mr Major and Mr Blair are entitled to a “Named Day” for securing the Northern Ireland Good Friday peace accord and rule from Britain.

Young people today – like the young and old people of 1982 – have no idea where the Falkland Islands are. They will have disappeared from the press by the time this letter is published – if it’s published.

Mrs Thatcher’s place in history was properly acknowledged as our first female PM with a statue in the House of Commons lobby – an act that was fully supported on all sides of the house.

That she was fired as Prime Minister by members of the Parliamentary Conservative Party intending to vote “no confidence” in her as PM is also a fact.

I believe many other of her achievements should also be given consideration, for she did achieve a remarkable number of “firsts” during her career as Prime Minister. I do not think any of the following achievements can be disputed as they are all part of her historical record as a politician.

As a Cabinet minister in the Heath government, she ended the free school milk given to primary school children, something provided by the Health Act in 1944. She also created more comprehensive schools – started by the Labour Party in the 1960s – than any education minister in history.

Because of financial cuts Mrs Thatcher made to higher education, she was the first Oxford-educated, post-war Prime Minister NOT to be granted an honorary doctorate from Oxford University.

Mrs Thatcher privatised many of the state-owned enterprises and allowed the sale of council houses to the tenants. Both were popular decisions, but not with everyone. The Post Office’s 112,000 employees voted 96% against privatisation, despite being offered a sweetener of £1,500 each.

The businesses being privatised were funded by taxation; people asked: ‘Why do I have to pay for something I already own?’ If you had no money to buy shares, you got nothing, yet you had paid the taxes that helped to build them. Some rail business have been “de-privatised” and returned to public ownership.

Mrs Thatcher was the first PM to allow council house tenants to buy their homes and it was very attractive to tenants, but councils were not allowed to use the money to build new council houses. This gradually created a very severe shortage of homes for rent, resulting in the growth of a profitable “buy-tolet” house market that accelerated house prices.

Unemployment. Mrs Thatcher was the first Prime Minister to achieve the record of over 3,000,000 people unemployed. The UB40 Form was used to claim unemployment benefit. The form’s name was subsequently used by the reggae band UB40.

I worked in Birmingham and there was a rather soured suggestion that Mrs Thatcher should be invited to perform a public ceremony and hand a UB40 form to the three millionth unemployed person! It was known at the time that some suicides were clearly attributed to people who had become totally bereft at the absence of any glimmer of a hope of a job.

Perhaps Mrs Thatcher’s most famous ‘first’ was the Poll Tax, for that is what everyone called it. She gave the Duke of Westminster, the biggest property owner in London and one of the nation’s richest men, the biggest council tax rebate in the country. Most working and middle class earners saw council tax bills double and poll tax riots resulted. ‘Can’t pay – Won’t pay’ was the slogan.

Her contribution to the life of the nation is what counts. The 1% momentary nationalistic fervour of the Falklands War carries no weight. Her personality impact was substantial. She was a worker. She became addicted to the power the job gave her; she believed in her own omnipotence. Virtually every member of her first Cabinet resigned before she did.

Her real impact rests much more on her social and economic impact as she changed the face of Britain. It depends whether or not you like the new face. She was very much a strong pro-European.

The ‘first’ act of Mr Major, who replaced her as PM, was to wipe the Poll Tax off the slate.

Don Frampton Newton Abbot, Devon