Margaret Thatcher, who led Britain’s Conservative Party to three election wins via a combination of unshakeable will and iron discipline, has delivered a stark, if brief, message to her old organisation: ”Get on with it”.
In a rare foray into contemporary politics, Thatcher, who turns 80 later this year and is increasingly frail, issued the call late Tuesday at a dinner to celebrate the 30th anniversary of her accession as party leader.
The message, read out on her behalf after she arrived at the event in London to a standing ovation, was distinctly to the point: ”Conservatives must get on with it.” Despite the brevity, the implications were clear for a party which has lost three consecutive elections to Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Labour Party, and is currently agonising over choosing its fifth leader since losing office.
”I think the fact that we have lost three elections is serious, and her view is the Conservatives are afraid to be Conservative because we think everyone is afraid of us,” said a spokesman for pro-Thatcher organisation Conservative Way Forward, which organised the dinner.
”We need to stand up for what we believe in. She won three times by being tough and honest.” Conservative lawmakers are currently locked in furious debate as to whether their next leader should seek to move the right-wing party closer to the centre, thus apeing Blair’s electoral success, or return to core Thatcherite principles.
Although Thatcher — now officially Baroness Thatcher — rarely appears in public or comments on the party, her allies make it clear she favours the latter option.
The Conservatives governed without a break from 1979 to 1997, the first 11 years under Thatcher, but have lost their way since then, with some party pessimists wondering publicly if they will ever take office again. ‒ Sapa-AFP