This is
the second multi-volume biography that I have begun since picking up the Lyndon
Johnson series by Robert Caro. Charles Moore is similarly meticulous and
detailed in his writing and I found his first volume to be illuminating with
respect to the United Kingdom of the 1950s-80s, the economic difficulties
confronting the country in the late 70s and early 80s, and the Falklands War.
This book begins with Thatcher’s girlhood and takes the reader through her rise
in the first half through school and politics. In the second half, I would say
that Moore covers three distinct but related climaxes in Thatcher’s life. The
first is the 1979 Parliamentary election. The second is the economic crisis
that Thatcher and her team weathered. But these two are really just the buildup
for the true culmination of the book’s action: the Falklands War, which takes
up the last two chapters and about 150 pages of the book. While it had its
boring parts, I really enjoyed the book. It is sympathetic to Thatcher but not sycophantic.
I would say that it seems like as fair a portrayal of various actors as you can
get in a book written essentially from Thatcher’s view. That is to say that the
author explains all of Thatcher’s thoughts, actions, and reasoning without
going too deeply into the lives of others.
On A Personal Level
Thatcher
was from a middle-class and proper family in Grantham, England. While she could
never truly fit in with the aristocracy that led the Conservative Party, she
always aspired to be one of them. She probably had some sort of a superiority
complex as a girl, being remembered by her contemporaries as someone who had grades
at the top of the class but was not above rubbing it in. For all her intelligence,
she had little self-knowledge. The author reflects on how strange it is for him
to analyze Thatcher so deeply when it appears as if she never or only rarely
did so herself. She consciously avoided introspection and tried to keep busy with
clear tasks and solid goals.
Margaret
Thatcher was always very religious. Moore writes that, “And to the end of her
life she retained the words of scores of the classic English hymns in her mind.
At Denis’s [her husband] funeral in July 2003, when her anguish and mental
confusion were such that she was not sure whether it was her husband’s or her
father’s coffin in front of her, she was seen to sing all the hymns,
word-perfect, without looking at the service sheet.” The author himself was a
witness to this.
It seems
like her relationship with her husband, Denis Thatcher, was not particularly passionate.
She had also been seeing another man while she saw him but picked Denis because
he was younger (though still older than her) and was serious about marriage.
Denis remembered later that when he proposed, “She didn’t leap at it.” She
concealed her engagement during the 1951 election, as engagement was considered
the end of a woman’s career at the time. Despite having twins in 1953, the young
Margaret Thatcher (28 when she gave birth to Mark and Carol) had no intentions of
ending her political career. Both Margaret and Denis Thatcher expressed regrets
later in life that they had not given more attention to the twins when they
were children. With Margaret’s political career and Denis’ business travels,
the children were mostly raised by a nanny.
Her
relationship with her parents was explored pretty deeply in the first third of
the book. Her mother died in 1960 and it seems like Margaret did not grieve
much for her. The author says that Margaret had probably consciously tried not
to be like her mother, who was very much a stereotypical housewife. Moore
writes, “This context, perhaps, helps to explain her remarkably frank comment
to Winn about the mother who had died only a few months earlier: ‘I loved my
mother dearly but after I was 15 we had nothing more to say to each other. It
wasn’t her fault. She was weighed down by the home, always being in the home.’
There can be no doubt of her desire to escape some of her background,
particularly that part which, had she stayed in Grantham, would have
circumscribed her because of her sex. To her father, even as she forgot to send
him a birthday present, she paid tribute. ‘He made me read widely,’ she told
Winn, ‘and for that I owe him everything.’” She also did not have much patience
for her mourning father, who was staying at her and her sister’s houses. It
seems like she just didn’t have a lot of time for personal and familial relationships.
Her Rise to Power
Thatcher
first got on the Conservative list in 1949 for eligibility in the 1950 election.
In the British system, the parties interview and choose all their own candidates,
so it is critical to be chosen and to be selected for a friendly constituency.
Margaret was lucky enough to meet and make a good impression on John Grant, who
was an influential Conservative in the constituency of Dartford. She was just 23
years old when they met. Unfortunately for her, it was a strong Labour constituency,
and despite doing far better than expected and shaving 6,000 votes off the Labour
incumbent’s lead, she lost by a significant margin. There was another election
in 1951 in which Thatcher (then Roberts), concealing her engagement to fiancé Denis,
lost again, though shaving the Labour lead by another 1,300 votes.
With her
new last name under which she would become widely known, Margaret Thatcher (nee
Roberts) studied and practiced law, being called to the Bar in February 1954. After
some years practicing law, Thatcher got onto the Conservative list for the
Finchley constituency and won. Always a strong speaker and a good candidate,
she increased the Conservative majority in the constituency and won handily. By
1961, she was a minister, serving as the parliamentary under-secretary at the
Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance, perhaps because it was seen as a “womanlier”
post. In 1964, the Conservatives went into the opposition, which must have
stung for Thatcher as she lost her job. Despite that setback, she continued to
perform well and gain recognition for her youth, ambition, and effectiveness.
In October 1967, party leader Edmund Heath made her shadow minister for fuel
and power. In 1970, thanks to a Conservative victory, Thatcher entered the true cabinet for the first time, not just the
shadow cabinet. She was to be Education Secretary from 1970-74.
Thatcher
got in trouble when she tried to cut free milk in British schools to save money,
which did not end up happening due to popular resistance, and afterwards she was
nicknamed “milksnatcher.” She looked even worse when she toured a school on TV
and talked to students about silver breakfast spoons as if they were normal to
have in the home. She was looking bad. That said, her perception inside of the
Conservative party was getting quite good. The Heath government from 1970-74
was not a very right-wing government, and many backbenchers grew frustrated at
the fact that they weren’t cutting the size of the state. When the
Conservatives lost in 1973 and Labour took over in 1974, a movement began to
push the party to the right. Thatcher, then the new Environment Shadow
Secretary, was not involved, but may have been secretly harboring ambitions, as
she certainly sympathized with the right wing of the party.
Originally,
Margaret Thatcher wanted a mentor of hers, Keith Joseph, to replace Edmund
Heath, but Joseph was soon out of the running due to a poor speech. With Joseph
out, she decided to go for it, urged on by the right wingers. She had Airey
Neaves, another MP, run her campaign to become Leader of the Opposition. The
guy was good. One typical trick that the author puts down is this: Neaves says
to an MP, “Margaret assumed you must have turned down a job offer from Ted
[Heath].” The MP asks, “Why?” And Neaves tells him, “Oh, because you so
obviously should have one if you want it.” Thatcher won on the second ballot,
and in 1975 became the leader of the Conservative Party, shocking the world who
knew the Conservatives to be stuffy, sexist, and elitist. It was very
surprising to see a middle-class-born woman, then, leading the party. It was really
a huge deal to have a major party led by a woman in 1975, especially the
Conservatives, and Moore does a really good job of analyzing the role that her
gender played in Thatcher’s leadership.
Thatcher
brought in a lot of old enemies within the party into her cabinet. I think that
this makes a lot more sense in the UK system since the “government” is a much
more united group that rises and falls together. A new PM will not find it very
hard to get the loyalty of their own cabinet versus a President of the United
States would with the leaders of the legislative branch. It was also useful to
Thatcher to keep people in place since she didn’t have many followers from earlier.
She didn’t really have anyone to bring in. She also didn’t reshape the civil
service, choosing to let it remain as it was. Moore writes that she met with
difficulties in leadership due to a “cultural gulf” between her and more
aristocratic members, her gender, and her high need for privacy. All of these
things cut her off from fellow party members and leaders. That said, she had at
least one great strength: “She had a burning sense of mission.” She was
ideological and her clear philosophy served as a guide for her and for the Conservative
Party for the next 15 years. As a leader, her overwhelming hunger for ideas led
to a huge movement toward the right in the Conservative party. It was simple. “Thatcher
was the most clamorous customer in the ideological marketplace.” Young policy wonks
did not find the left of the Conservatives or the Labour party looking for new
research and ideas, but they did find Mrs. Thatcher. When it came time to do
research or get a job at a think tank, they went right-wing.
The
Conservatives benefitted from the breakdown occurring in the late 70s between
public sector unions and the Labour Party. The fundamental promise of Labour
government was that its connections to unions and workers meant no labor
strikes, yet these happened regularly in the late 70s. Industry was in uproar
over pay increases not keeping up with inflation and it was an awkward situation
as Labour found itself in management. In 1979, the Conservatives delivered
defeat to Labour, winning 339 seats against Labour’s 269.
Economic Difficulties and the Budget of 1981
Britain
had been struggling economically for years and went into recession in the early
1980s. The Conservatives focused on trying to defeat inflation and allowed
unemployment to reach 3 million, its highest level since the 1930s. They managed
to get inflation down from 18% to 8% in 1982. They passed through difficult
times though and in December 1980, Thatcher’s approval rating dropped to its
lowest at 23%. Compared to Reagan, Thatcher was more serious about deficits and
less-so about tax cuts. While the Americans ran huge deficits to pay for tax
cuts, Thatcher was much more serious on deficits and seriously worried about
Reagans high spending habits.
1981 was
a bad year. In July there were riots in major cities and budget cuts during the
recession were very unpopular. Despite that, she and her Chancellor of the
Exchequer were united and stood firm on the budget. At this difficult time, the
Prime Minister received a document from her research group titled, “Your
Political Survival.” Moore writes, “The ‘blockbuster’ was quite possibly the
bluntest official document ever seen in Downing Street. Although it recognized
that ‘your Government has achieved the beginnings of a near-revolution in the
private sector and especially in Industry,’ and ‘things in the economy are
better than people realise,’ the note warned that ‘it is exactly at this moment
that colleagues’ nerves begin to crack and internal revolt (now clearly
recognised in all the newspapers), threatens your own position.’ Hoskyns told
her that ‘Your own credibility and prestige are draining away very fast.’ The
most likely outcome was ‘you as another failed Tory prime minister sitting with
Heath’, but it was a serious possibility that she would be simply thrown out
before the next election. He then listed her faults. ‘You lack management
competence’ was the headline of one paragraph. ‘Your own leadership style is
wrong’ was another. He warmed to his theme: ‘You break every rule of good
man-management. You bully your weaker colleagues. You criticise colleagues in
front of each other and in front of their officials. They can’t answer back
without appearing disrespectful, in front of others, to a woman and to a Prime
Minister. You abuse that situation. You give little praise or credit, and you
are too ready to blame others when things go wrong.’ ‘The result’, the next
paragraph was headed, ‘is an unhappy ship’: ‘This demoralisation is hidden only
from you. People are beginning to feel that everything is a waste of time,
another Government is on its way to footnotes of history. And people are
starting to speculate as to who might reunite the Party, as Macmillan did after
Suez, if you go. But no-one tells you what is happening, just as no-one told
Ted.’ To survive, ‘you have an absolute duty to change the way you operate.’”
Thatcher reshuffled her cabinet and stayed afloat. By 1983 the economy was
improving but she was politically saved before then by a foolish Argentinean
dictator.
The Falklands Invasion
Argentina’s
invasion of the Falkland Islands came with little warning for Britain. While
there had been some disputes for many years where Britain seemed to signal
willingness to transfer the islands to Argentina, it had not happened,
frustrating Argentina. The Islands had been British since 1833 and were settled
by 1,800 English-speaking people. Most leaders wanted to use diplomacy to
resolve the invasion but Thatcher, in her gut, did not want to do that at all.
She was helped by the fact that Argentina’s junta was a fascist regime, so the
Labour Party, led by Michael Foot, had nothing good to say about them. It put
the United States in an awkward situation as an ally of both countries.
On the
diplomacy front, the UK was able to pass Security Council Resolution 502, which
called for the “immediate withdrawal” of Argentine forces and urged both sides
to come to a peaceful and diplomatic resolution. Meanwhile, Britain prepared
for war. They met with initial failure, as helicopters crashed on a glacier in
South Georgia, though none died. Initially thinking that as many as 17 men were
dead, Thatcher wept. Upon hearing the better news, she was relieved, but
disturbed that the crash could be an omen of further failure. British
submarines started to attack Argentine destroyers armed with Exocet missiles
and managed to clear a way for an amphibious landing. Throughout the operations,
Britain systematically offered terms to Argentinean dictator Galtieri, and when
he refused them, they published the documents, embarrassing Argentina. British
ships were sunk, but after the landing, British soldiers won back the islands,
taking 11,000 Argentine troops captive. 255 British servicemen died along with
649 Argentines, and three Falkland Islanders. Argentina never abandoned its
claim to sovereignty but didn’t cause any more problems until the 21st
century, when oil was discovered. As a
result of the debacle, Galtieri’s government fell.
Moore
writes that the Falklands crisis brought out the Prime Minister’s best
qualities: her courage, conviction, and resolution are well known, but also in
evidence were her careful judgment and restriction of her own passion for fighting,
her modest approach in which she listened to others, and her lack of vanity.
While on other occasions she could be long-winded, she started no digressions
during this crisis. Thatcher would later judge individuals based on where they
were during the crisis. Ronald Reagan, French President Mitterand, Chilean
dictator Pinochet, New Zealand Prime Minister Muldoon, and King Hussein of
Jordan were all foreign leaders who gained her respect. Moore writes that, “The
British Antarctic Survey, who had advised her on the terrain, became such
favourites that not only did she ensure they received more government money,
she also listened to them when, years later, they warned of the damage to the
ozone layer caused by pollution.” The PM also gained “a soft spot” for Leader
of the Opposition Michael Foot, who she thought had been patriotic. By
projecting force 8,000 miles across the sea, she forced the USSR to recognize
the will and capacity of the West.
Her Relationship with Ronald Reagan
Ronald
Reagan, in preparation for his 1976 presidential run, went to a few foreign
countries to improve his foreign policy credentials. In the UK, he was sure to
visit Thatcher on April 9th, 1975. Denis Thatcher had seen Reagan
speak in 1969 and gave him high praise. They had only planned to meet for 45
minutes but stayed to talk for an hour and a half. Thatcher recalled being won
over by his charm and Reagan recalled that it was immediately evident that they
“were soul mates when it came to reducing government and expanding freedom.”
When she
won the premiership in 1979, Reagan was the first foreign politician to call
her. Since he wasn’t too important at the time, the switchboard didn’t even put
him through, though they managed to talk a few days later. Always close, it
seems like Thatcher was the dominant partner in the relationship. Everything I
read about Reagan, this book included, seems to suggest a general lack of
respect from others regarding his knowledge of the issues. A great leader and
communicator, he was out of his element when discussing specific policy issues
and Thatcher exploited this to get her way.
Conclusion
This meticulously
researched book is very well-written and an engaging portrait of the early
years of the future Prime Minister and her early challenges in the important
role. I really enjoyed the book and look forward to reading the rest of the
series.
Miscellaneous Facts
- The first time Thatcher was called the “Iron Lady” was in Red Star, the newspaper of the Russian Red Army. They were trying to insult her by comparing her with Bismarck, known as “The Iron Chancellor,” but she liked the nickname and took it as her own.
- Politicians in Britain bring some of their own staff, but most are staffed by the civil service and the party.
- In 1982, Mark Thatcher, the PM’s son went missing when on a race through the deserts of Algeria. He was thought missing but found after a few days in his broken-down car.
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