Thatcher hated her Iron Lady nickname
But aides convinced her it was a vote-winner
SHE became known as the Iron Lady for her determination and uncompromising political style.
But Margaret Thatcher initially loathed the nickname that came to define her tenure as prime minister, it has emerged.
The Tory leader, who was yet to be elected premier, branded the moniker ‘terrible’ after it was coined by a propaganda newspaper for the Soviet Army in 1976. But a major BBC2 documentary into Baroness Thatcher’s ascent to power reveals that she was convinced to use the name to her advantage by a close aide.
The pivotal advice was given by Sir Gordon Reece, the flamboyant ex-television producer who softened the politician’s image during her years in opposition. Her change of heart was revealed by the BBC’s political correspondent, Michael Cockerell.
He said: ‘When the Soviet paper called her the Iron Lady she said: “That’s terrible”. Gordon Reece said: “No, don’t you understand? It’s exactly what we want. It’s that mixture of strength and femininity in one sentence. Be proud of being the Iron Lady”.’
The moniker was written in a report by the Soviet Union’s Red Star newspaper which heaped criticism on Baroness Thatcher, who had taken the reins of the Tory party less than a year earlier.
Having been picked up by the British media, she gave the insult her personal endorsement a week later. During a speech in Southgate, north London, she said: ‘I stand before you tonight in my Red Star evening gown, my face softly made up and my fair hair gently waved, the Iron Lady of the Western world.
‘A Cold War warrior, an Amazon philistine, even a Peking plotter. Well, am I any of these things? … Yes I am an Iron Lady... if that’s how they wish to interpret my defence of values and freedoms fundamental to our way of life.’
As part of his image-altering advice, Mr Reece also made the Tory leader take humming lessons with a National Theatre coach to lower her ‘shrill’ voice and advised her to dress in less fussy clothing. The fivepart BBC series marks 40 years since Baroness Thatcher’s election as prime minister and dramatically reveals how her political career was almost ended years earlier. Just months after Ted Heath was elected prime minister in 1970, he hatched plans to sack her as education secretary over her national unpopularity.
She had decided to scrap free milk for older primary schoolchildren, which earned her the name Thatcher ‘ the milk snatcher’.
The attempt to oust her was recalled by Tory grandee Ken Clarke who said: ‘[ Heath] panicked about the fact that this secretary of state for education, who he didn’t like anyway, was now one of the most unpopular women in the country. Ted was going to sack her.’ But the Tory whips’ office advised him against it. ‘He couldn’t sack the only woman in the Cabinet. And on that basis he reluctantly kept her,’ Mr Clarke said.
The series, titled Thatcher: A Very British Revolution, airs on Monday and will chart how Baroness Thatcher came to topple Mr Heath and become one of Britain’s most influential leaders.
It also details her softer side ironing shirts for her husband Denis and feeding her family a special recipe for coronation chicken.