A newly edited, single-volume commemorative edition of The Path to Power and The Downing Street Years; this is Margaret Thatcher in her own words. Why didn’t you choose Margaret Thatcher’s memoirs among your five books? Are they not much of a read? Politicians’ memoirs often aren’t.

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. She was touchy because she knew it was something that, as part of her programme, she ought to have done. She also knew that with three million people unemployed, you couldn’t just cut them off at the knees and say, ‘Well the state’s not going to help you.’ But I think she had a view that, had she been able to stay in power for 20 years, which I don’t think she ever dreamed of doing, the time would come when there would be high levels of employment. Then she could have started to reform the welfare state. It would have attracted the same criticism that David Cameron got when Iain Duncan Smith was doing it in the coalition government. 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'.She brought that totally un-hypocritical sense of virtue, energy and hard work into her view of political life” British policy in Northern Ireland had been a standing source of conflict for every Prime Minister since 1969, but Margaret Thatcher aroused the IRA's special hatred for her refusal to meet their political demands, notably during the 1980-81 prison hunger strikes. No, she was. He made that speech when he was shadow defence minister. He says that there was no point in Britain being east of Suez. The point of being east of Suez was India. He took the view that, once India had gone, we should be realistic about where we were. This also ties in with his anti-Americanism. He believed, with some justification, that one of the main aims of American foreign policy from Versailles onwards had been to dismantle the British Empire.

The Downing Street Years - Wikipedia The Downing Street Years - Wikipedia

Margaret Thatcher was the towering figure of late-twentieth-century British politics. Now following her death in 2013, this is her account of her remarkable life. This book is very detailed and has extensive notes and sources. In fact if there is any criticism it would be that it is too detailed. For a person who loves the minutiae of policy making this book would be wonderful. For those looking for a general biography they may find it to be a little cumbersome in the shear amount of detail given. One other observation. Most Americans know very little about the English education system or the English system of government. This book is written by an English author who assumes that everyone understands these topics. Perhaps a glossary or an appendix explaining these systems would have been useful in the American edition. I think almost certainly in dealing with the trade unions. We’ve had very little industrial action since. The country’s never been held to ransom since. There’s been the odd strike, of course, but people’s lives have not been damaged, nor has the productivity of the country. Trade unions now have virtually no power at all. They’re like friendly societies. Even the Labour party don’t take them seriously—well, Corbyn did, but he wasn’t serious either. But I don’t think you’ll see Keir Starmer paying much attention to the trade union movement. And in that sense she really shifted the consensus. Blairism was a tribute to Mrs T and how far she had moved the goalposts. She said, ‘Mr Heffer, have you seen what I’ve done? I have privatised…’ she got out the list. ‘I have tamed the trades unions…’ It was only a question!Margaret Thatcher's home and early life in Grantham played a large part in forming her political convictions. Her parents, Alfred and Beatrice Roberts, were Methodists. The social life of the family was lived largely within the close community of the local congregation, bounded by strong traditions of self-help, charitable work, and personal truthfulness. After graduating, she moved to Colchester, where she worked as a research chemist for BX Plastics. In 1951, she was invited to stand as the Conservative candidate in the safe Labour seat of Dartford. Although she lost, she impressed many in the party with her strong, articulate views. She also married Denis Thatcher in 1951. In 1953, she gave birth to two twins Carol and Mark. That’s probably quite a good moment to move on to Enoch Powell because I wanted to ask you about his views on the US in relation to his influence on Mrs Thatcher. At least ostensibly, it seems to be an area where they might have had profound disagreements. But, anyway, tell us why you’ve chosen Freedom and Reality in particular, which is a collection of his speeches that were published in 1969, which would have been the year after his highly controversial ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech and the year before Heath was elected prime minister. There are very many books available on this subject, but to me this is a much more worthwhile a read than either a straightforward cheerleading account or a hatchet job. It is critical in the best, evaluative, sense of the word. And although it points out the telling fact, it never comes close to lecturing the reader.

Margaret Thatcher: The Autobiography (Hardback) - Waterstones

She wasn’t a woman of ideas,’ Alfred Sherman developed his theory about Mrs Thatcher’s intellectual character. ‘she was a woman of beliefs, and beliefs are better than ideas.’” Keith Joseph 谈到英国二战后的经济政策：“We made things worse when, after the war, we chose the path of consensus. “ They had promised too much and been guilty of ‘subordinating the rule of law to the avoidance of conflict.’’In short, by ignoring history, instincts, human nature and common-sense, we have intensified the very evils which we believed, with the best of intentions, that we could wipe away.’” 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. It does not matter what you say or do. There is a shift in what the public wants and what it approves.I suspect there is now such a sea-change - and it is for Mrs Thatcher.’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. But Hayek’s fundamental idea about the importance of the individual, of the free market economy, of allowing people to do as they wish without the state intervening, was absolutely fundamental Thatcherism and, of course, remains fundamental to the libertarian ideas that are held by the heirs of Mrs Thatcher today.