Showing posts with label Baroness Thatcher. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Baroness Thatcher. Show all posts
Friday, April 12, 2013
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The authorities in London are prepared for rioting as people “celebrate” the death of Margaret Thatcher, Boris Johnson has warned.
The authorities in London are prepared for rioting as people “celebrate” the death of Margaret Thatcher, Boris Johnson has warned.
Mr Johnson, the Mayor of London, said that that protesters who break the law during the street parties will be “properly dealt with”.
Anarchist groups have warned of more mass protests on Saturday, with 2,000 to 3,000 people expected to attend.
The events, at 25 locations across the country, are being organised by a group called Class War, with the help of other organisations such as the All London Anarchist Revolutionary Mob, which says it is “committed to radical action to undermine the state”.
One of the “parties” is being planned for Trafalgar Square in central London on Saturday, the scene of the poll tax riots in 1990. » | Peter Dominiczak, Political Correspondent | Friday, April 12, 2013
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Protesters plan to line the streets by St Paul's Cathedral on Wednesday so they can "turn their backs" on Baroness Thatcher's casket, it has emerged.
Nearly 3,000 people have joined Facebook group "Maggie's Good Riddance Party", which claims it will hold a "right jolly knees up" outside St Paul's on the day of Baroness Thatcher's funeral.
The protesters wish to "get their money's worth" from the funeral, which will be paid for in part by the state.
Those attending include a civil servant at the Department of Work and Pensions, a carer and a branch leader of the National Union of Students. Some warned of "civil unrest".
Police have said anyone wanting to hold peaceful demonstrations in London on the day of the funeral will not be prevented from doing so, but urged organisers to contact the Metropolitan Police in advance.
The protesters plan to line the streets where Baroness Thatcher's funeral carriage will pass, particularly outside the cathedral, so they can turn their backs on the coffin as it goes by.
Any protest, and ensuing confrontation with the police, will be watched by millions of television viewers around the world. » | Amy Willis | Friday, April 12, 2013
Thursday, April 11, 2013
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Many of the political titans who have dominated British politics for more than 40 years are set to be present in St Paul’s Cathedral next week to pay their final respects to Baroness Thatcher.
All surviving members of Lady Thatcher’s Cabinets - including Lord Heseltine and Lord Howe – have been invited to attend the funeral on Wednesday, which will see more than 2,000 people mourn the loss of the former prime minister.
Foreign politicians including former South Africa leader FW de Klerk and former US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton have also been invited.
From the world of arts, singer Dame Shirley Bassey and composer Lord Lloyd-Webber will be attending the service. Jeremy Clarkson, the Top Gear presenter, will also be at the funeral.
Number 10 said the guest list had been drawn up by Lady Thatcher's family and representatives with the assistance of the Government and the Conservative Party.
More than 2,000 invitations are expected to be printed today and sent out tomorrow. » | Peter Dominiczak, Political Correspondent | Thursday, April 11, 2013
THE GUARDIAN: The Margaret Thatcher I knew: 20 personal insights – What was the former prime minister really like to work with and against, to live with and to help dress? Those who knew her best remember » | Monday, April 08, 2013
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
MAIL ONLINE: Oscar-winning actress launches astonishing assault on Lady Thatcher / Accuses her of 'wreaking heinous social and economic damage' / Good-natured debate started by Cameron and Miliband blown apart / Left-wing MPs use recall of Parliament to condemn Thatcher's Britain
Labour MP Glenda Jackson tonight launched an extraordinary attack on Baroness Thatcher, barely 48 hours after former Prime Minister’s death.
Ms Jackson, an Oscar-winning actress turned politician, suggested Lady Thatcher was ‘a woman but not on my terms’.
And she accused the former Tory Premier of ‘wreaking the most heinous social and economic damage on this country’.
The bitter outburst from the left-winger came during a Commons debate to pay tribute to Baroness Thatcher, who died on Monday aged 97.
It sparked furious complaints from Tory MPs, accusing Ms Jackson of using the recall of Parliament to attack the memory of the person who has been deceased'.
Labour leader Ed Miliband and predecessor Tony Blair had urged the party's MPs to show respect to Baroness Thatcher when discussing her legacy.
But the unprecedented occasion of a seven-hour debate to pay cross-party tribute was marred when Ms Jackson launched into a devastating attack on the three-times election winner.
To cries of 'shame!' form Tory benches, Ms Jackson finished her speech remarking how women who helped run the country during the war would not have recognised the idea of 'womanliness' embodied in Baroness Thatcher.
She added: 'The first prime minister of female gender, ok. But a woman? Not on my terms.'
With the Labour benches almost deserted behind her, she told MPs: 'When I made my maiden speech in this chamber a little over two decades ago, Margaret Thatcher had been elevated to the [House of Lords].
'But Thatcherism was still wreaking - as it had wreaked for the whole decade - the most heinous social and economic damage on this country, on my constituency and my constituents.' Read on and comment » | Matt Chorley, MailOnline Political Editor | Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Tuesday, April 09, 2013
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Margaret Thatcher’s success as British Prime Minister was down to her tough upbringing as a child, according to the Baroness’s daughter Carol.
Carol Thatcher, 59, paid tribute to her mother for developing skills gleaned from her “austere childhood” and a lack of "luxuries", which helped shape her glittering career in public life.
Lady Thatcher’s daughter said skills such as discipline, motivation and “tunnel vision” were instrumental in her political career, which ended in her becoming the country’s first and only female occupant of Downing Street.
Miss Thatcher said that her mother’s tough upbringing helped her become a “very motivated” person.
The pre-recorded comments were made in a BBC documentary last night, which was presented by Andrew Marr, one of the corporation's leading political journalists.
She told the former BBC Political Editor: “My mother certainly had an austere childhood. Material luxuries were in short supply.
“I think everything she put into use in her career in later life, was gleaned from her childhood – the discipline, the motivation and the tunnel vision.
“She was a very motivated child, a very motivated teenager and we all know what a motivated adult she became.” » | Andrew Hough | Tuesday, April 09, 2013
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Unlike most politicians today, she had courage, integrity and a clear sense of who she was
In the 300 years that have passed since the office was invented at the start of the 18th century, there have been just a handful of truly great prime ministers: Pitt the Younger; Gladstone; Disraeli; Lloyd George; Churchill.
And, it can now be asserted with certainty, Margaret Thatcher. With her death, she joins the ranks of the immortals.
The reason is simple. Most prime ministers allow themselves to be shaped by the times in which they live. Just a very few – and she was emphatically one of these – refuse to conform.
They have the daring to shape the world. Pitt intuitively discerned the emerging empire, Gladstone brought a profound moral sense to British government, Disraeli created the modern Conservative Party, Lloyd George saved the nation in the First World War.
Churchill – the greatest of them all – rallied the British nation, and then the entire world, against Hitler.
The magnificence of Thatcher was her adamantine refusal to accept the conventional wisdom of her age. When she became premier in 1979, almost everybody who mattered accepted it as fact that Britain was finished. Almost everyone believed that the unions – the new feudal barons – were in control, and there was nothing to be done about it. » | Peter Oborne | Monday, April 08, 2013
Monday, April 08, 2013
MAIL ONLINE: Baroness Thatcher died at London's Ritz hotel after suffering a stroke / Had been recuperating at five star hotel after spending Christmas in hospital / Former prime minister was rarely seen in public in recent years / Had been in fragile health since suffering series of strokes in 2002 / Daughter Carol rushed home from Klosters, Switzerland yesterday
Baroness Thatcher died today in the luxury suite at the Ritz where she had spent months recuperating after an operation.
Britain's first and only female prime minister, who passed away peacefully at the age of 87 after suffering a massive stroke, had checked into the five star hotel at the start of the year following minor surgery on her bladder over Christmas.
While a close-knit circle of friends took it in turns to visit the increasingly frail 87-year-old at the Belgravia hotel - a long-time favourite of the former leader's - it was a solitary start to what would prove to be her final few months.
She had been due to spend Christmas Day with her niece Jane Mays, who lives in north east London, but was admitted to hospital five days earlier for minor surgery to remove a growth on her bladder.
Her daughter Carol Thatcher, 59, was understood to be at her side in the hospital at Christmas time.
After being discharged Baroness Thatcher was checked straight into a suite at the hotel in Belgravia amid concerns she would no longer be able to manage the stairs at her elegant four storey mansion.
Staff at the hotel had invited her to make the Ritz her home for the foreseeable future, and her carers are understood to have been taking it in turns to stay with the 87-year-old. » | Kerry McDermott | Monday, April 08, 2013
BBC: Margaret Thatcher, who has died following a stroke, was one of the most influential political figures of the 20th Century.
Her legacy had a profound effect upon the policies of her successors, both Conservative and Labour, while her radical and sometimes confrontational approach defined her 11-year period at No 10.
Her term in office saw thousands of ordinary voters gaining a stake in society, buying their council houses and eagerly snapping up shares in the newly privatised industries such as British Gas and BT.
But her rejection of consensus politics made her a divisive figure and opposition to her policies and her style of government led eventually to rebellion inside her party and unrest on the streets.
Father's influence
Margaret Hilda Thatcher was born on 13 October 1925 in Grantham, Lincolnshire, the daughter of Alfred Roberts, a grocer, and his wife, Beatrice.
Her father, a Methodist lay preacher and local councillor, had an immense influence on her life and the policies she would adopt.
"Well, of course, I just owe almost everything to my own father. I really do," she said later. "He brought me up to believe all the things that I do believe."
She studied chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford, and became only the third female president of the Oxford University Conservative Association.
After graduating she moved to Colchester where she worked for a plastics company and became involved with the local Conservative Party organisation.
In 1949, she was adopted as the prospective Conservative candidate for the seat of Dartford in Kent which she fought, unsuccessfully, in the 1950 and 1951 general elections. (+ video) » | Monday, April 08, 2013
BBC: Baroness Thatcher: Life at No 10: Margaret Thatcher was the UK's first female prime minister. She served three consecutive terms in office, and her ideology continues to have a huge influence in British politics today. ¶ Following the announcement of her death, take a look back at the life of the Conservative leader whose policies and personality divided opinion. (+ video) » | Monday, April 08, 2013
BBC: Mikhail Gorbachev, Former Soviet Leader: Our first meeting in 1984 marked the beginning of a relationship that was difficult sometimes, not always smooth, but serious and responsible from both sides. Gradually, human relations developed as well, they became more and more friendly. Eventually we were able to reach mutual understanding, and this contributed to changes in atmosphere between our country and the West, and to the end of the Cold War. Margaret Thatcher was a great politician. She will remain in our memory and in history. Read all the reactions » | Monday, April 08, 2013
THE GUARDIAN: Obituary: A Political Phenomenon »
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