ConservativeHome's ToryDiary

Cameron's task is harder than Thatcher's

We hoped to review the first in the series of eight Margaret Thatcher DVDs that The Telegraph is giving away from today but can't because ConHome's copy arrived with its DVD missing.  The first DVD is about The Making of Margaret Thatcher.  Apparently!

The series couldn't have come at a worse time for Gordon Brown.  The focus on her resilience and decisiveness is such a contrast with Mr Brown's dithering.  Matthew Parris and Martin Kettle have written devastating pieces about the current occupant of Number Ten in their must-read Saturday columns.

Margaret Thatcher's election in 1979 wasn't easy, of course.  Most of all she had to overcome resistance to the idea of a woman Prime Minister.  Was she tough enough for the very large challenges that Britain faced at the end of the 1970s?  Memories of the failed Heath government were also much more recent and she was a reasonably prominent member of that administration.  There are many ways, however, in which her task was easier than that facing David Cameron today:

1. Britain was in a state of economic collapse in 1979.  It's not clear that Britain's economic problems will get as bad as the Winter of Discontent by 2010.  We must certainly hope not.
2. Margaret Thatcher was much closer to a parliamentary majority when she was Leader of the Opposition.  The Tories won 276 MPs at the second 1974 election; 78 more than Michael Howard won in 2005.
3. The Liberals had just 13 seats in 1979.  Today the LibDems hold 62 seats - many of which have always been essential to a working parliamentary majority for the Conservatives.  Labour unpopularity won't produce an automatic Tory win.  Conservatives have to oust LibDems too.
4. Margaret Thatcher was able to win a majority over Labour of 44 seats by polling nearly 44% against Callaghan's 37%.  Put those numbers into electoralcalculus.co.uk today (with the LibDems on a squeezed 15%) and the Tories are eight seats short of a majority.  The electoral mountain facing the Conservatives has been catalogued by Conor Burns for ConservativeHome.
5. Incumbency is more protected.  All MPs now enjoy large allowances with which to communicate with their constituents.  It was much more expensive for individual MPs to communicate with their voters in 1979 and they were consequently more at the mercy of national trends.
6. The Conservative Party membership is much smaller and less docile.  Membership is now about 250,000.  Tory membership was much younger and larger in 1979 (although Labour also had more infantry for the 'ground war' too).  The Boris campaign is finding very uneven levels of activity as it aims to maximise turnout in London's outer boroughs.  The party is also more demanding than in 1979.  It was then a largely pragmatic party of government.  Mrs Thatcher changed that herself.  It now expects more red meat from its leadership.  It's not so ready to follow any kind of agenda.
   
7. Levels of apathy are now much greater.  Voters unhappy with Labour can vote LibDem or stay-at-home.  It's no longer enough to say 'governments lose elections, oppositions don't win them'.  In order to climb the electoral mountain the Conservatives need to persuade voters that they are superior to the other parties.
8. Selling the Conservative Party to voters is harder in today's media age. In 1979 more people read newspapers and millions more tuned into the news bulletins of the three nationwide TV networks.  Today's Conservative Party - in order to overcome the apathy factor - has to find a way of communicating with millions who never watch the mainstream channels or pick up a newspaper.  The Brown-Blair years of spin have also trashed the standing of politicians; Margaret Thatcher said something notable to the BBC1 Nine'o'clock News in 1979 and she had a big audience that was ready to believe her.  She could also be sure that The Daily Mail and The Sun and The Telegraph and the Times and The Express would report and analyse her words for a number of days afterwards.  In 1997 voters are more cynical and the rapidity of the news cycle makes it very hard for any message to stick.

Cameron has advantages.  The SNP threat to Labour in Scotland is particularly significant but he has a tough challenge to win the next election.  That's probably why the Westminster insiders that contribute to the PoliticsHomeIndex still expect a hung parliament.  The 1st May elections are very important.  Up until now Labour unity has been impressive.  The Conservatives are hoping to smash that unity with victories in London and across the country.  George Osborne is making a big speech on the economy on Monday as part of the 1st May attack plan.  ConservativeHome will be there to cover it.

Portillo's programme on Lady Thatcher

There's a programme on BBC4 tonight at 9pm entitled Portillo on Thatcher: The Lady's Not For Spurning. We'll be watching, if you are planning to too then do join the chatroom below to comment on it live.

David Cameron and Margaret Thatcher unveil sculpture tribute to the Iron Lady

David Cameron and Baroness Thatcher have just unveiled the above sculpture at Conservative HQ.  The bust of Margaret Thatcher will sit alongside that of Winston Churchill, in CCHQ's reception.

David Cameron told an invited audience, including ConservativeHome, that CCHQ would now be graced by tributes to the greatest wartime Prime Minister of the last century and also the greatest peacetime Prime Minister.  At that point Lady Thatcher interjected "Don't overdo it!"  "That's hard to do," he replied.

Mr Cameron only spoke briefly at the reception but also told of his first encounter with Margaret Thatcher, when she was still Prime Minister.  He was working at Conservative Central Office at the time with responsibilities for briefing the Cabinet.  The Prime Minister asked what the latest trade figures were and "I didn't know!"

Lady Thatcher was on good form.  Other attendees were largely party donors and many of Lady Thatcher's key aides over the years.  Both John Redwood and John Whittingdale were there.

Download PDF of full CCHQ_statement on the unveiling.

Margaret Thatcher was a great moderniser (and a tortoise)

That's the argument made by David Cameron in today's Telegraph.  Mr Cameron presented Lady Thatcher with a lifetime achievement award last evening.

This is the key paragraph:

"Today we know what Thatcherism meant for our country - victory in the Cold War, victory against unbridled trade union power, the sale of council houses, the liberation of the British economy. Yet all of this was achieved gradually, by a government that knew it had to take public opinion along with it if real and lasting change was to be made."

Note the seven words we highlight.  David Cameron is signalling that Margaret Thatcher didn't rush things.  She chose the timing of her fights carefully - giving the miners what they wanted at the start of her premiership, for example, and then confronting Arthur Scargill in her second term when she was prepared for the fight.

Related link: Hares V Tortoises

Seventeen years ago today Margaret Thatcher failed to win the first leadership ballot by enough votes

With apologies to our younger readers but can you believe it?  It's been seventeen years since Margaret Thatcher won the support of 204 MPs and Michael Heseltine won 152 votes.  In many ways it seems like yesterday to me.  The 52 majority wasn't enough to end the attempt to oust her and a few days later Margaret Thatcher resigned.  Watch the BBC News report her resignation here but the video below records John Sergeant's reflections on the Iron Lady - including that famous Paris scene where she reacts to her failure to win the first ballot decisively.

George Osborne is Politician of the Year

The dramatic political effect of Shadow Chancellor George Osborne's inheritance tax announcement has been recognised today by The Spectator's annual parliamentary awards.  Mr Osborne has been made politician of the year for what Fraser Nelson, the magazine's Political Editor, believes was "the single most effective policy ever announced by the Conservatives in Opposition".

William Hague is also recognised.  His speech on the anniversary of the abolition of slavery wins him the speech of the year award.  BritainAndAmerica covered it at the time.  It was a great speech.

Baroness Thatcher is Peer of the Year.  The Spectator have recognised the year in which everyone wanted to be seen with the Iron Lady... most notably Gordon Brown but also Rudy Giuliani.  Her impact on Britain still recognised as profound.

Iain Duncan Smith's remarkable political rehabilitation has also been recognised by The Spectator.  The former Tory leader is the magazine's Campaigner of the year for his success at putting social justice at the heart of the public debate.  I'm in Washington DC with Philippa Stroud and Cameron Watt of the Centre for Social Justice for a conference on poverty-fighting.  We'll raise a glass of bubbly to Iain later.

Other award winners:

• Nick Clegg, newcomer
• Liam Byrne, minister to watch
• Alex Salmond, parliamentarian of the year
• Tony Blair, resignation of the year
• Ian Paisley, "marathon man"!

Related link: Last year's Spectator awards

Cameron had hour-long meeting with Margaret Thatcher this evening

I know the-end-of-Ming is the big story of the evening but I've also heard that David Cameron and Baroness Thatcher met this evening for over an hour.

I have no details of what was discussed but I hope to have some photographs later.  The Press Association certainly have them already but they're too expensive for ConservativeHome!

Lady T was in the Commons for a special occasion to mark the history of the shadow cabinet rooms.

When I get more I'll post again.

Hague: You're no Margaret Thatcher, Mr Brown

William Hague has just wowed the Conference.

Here is my favourite section of a speech that delighted the Tory faithful:

"Some of us stood here thirty years ago with Margaret Thatcher. We, Gordon, backed her when she rescued our country in the face of every denunciation and insult from the likes of you. Margaret Thatcher would never have devastated the pension funds of this nation, nor kicked its small businesses in the teeth. So you may fawn now at the feet of our greatest Prime Minister, but you are no Margaret Thatcher.  Gordon Brown is not a conviction politician. He is a calculation politician. He calculates that people will forget who caused the current crises in our health service, our prisons and our pensions.  He calculates that he can pretend to be a new government. But he is the old government, and after ten years of failure and disappointment, he cannot be the change the country needs.  So, now, Conservatives, this is our opportunity, to show this week the real change that Britain needs. We live in a new world, and the old politics of Gordon Brown are no longer enough."

Caroline Spelman has told the Sunday Express that a good proportion of the party's £10m election warchest will be used to expose Gordon Brown.  The idea of painting Gordon Brown as a 'calculation politician' is a good one.  I think it could resonate.

William Hague's speech will have only increased his credibility as a 'comeback Tory leader'.  A poll in today's Mail on Sunday found that 19% of the public favoured William Hague to succeed David Cameron.  Boris Johnson with 10% was next.  David Davis and Ken Clarke were both on 7%.  Liam Fox enjoyed the support of 4% of the public.  George Osborne was on 1%.  Mr Hague, although 3/1 favourite, told Sky News that he never wanted to be Tory leader again.

Margaret Thatcher: "You can't have stability without tax cuts"

So reports Fraser Nelson over at the Coffee House blog.

10pm, 21/9 update: Since this post, Fraser's 'scoop' has been picked up across the media. He tells the story.

More Tory MPs criticise "nauseating" and hypocritical Brown for Margaret Thatcher's Downing Street meeting

There is widespread coverage in this morning's newspapers of yesterday's ConservativeHome article by Robert Wilson MP.  Mr Wilson had suggested that Mr Brown could be accused of behaving in a "shallow, self-serving and unscrupulous way" towards the "elderly", "frail" and "lonely" Margaret Thatcher, who "has difficulty with her memory". 

A spokesman for Baroness Thatcher told the Daily Mail that Mr Wilson's argument was "a silly one."  The spokesman continued:

"She has been to No. 10 to see every one of her successors. It was very gracious for the Prime Minister to invite her.  It would have been unheard of for her not to accept. I don't think these comments are helpful to anybody."

A source close to Mr Brown urged David Cameron to discipline Mr Wilson: "She does not deserve to be treated in this way by Conservative MPs. David Cameron should sack him from the front bench."

Another Conservative MP, Gerald Howarth, a close friend of Baroness Thatcher, attempted to plough a middle course.  He accused Mr Brown of "nauseating" behaviour and of "trying to cash in on the public affection for Lady Thatcher" but said that it was "inconceivable" that she could have turned the PM's invitation down.

Philip Davies, MP for Shipley, said: "He claims to be the person who doesn't believe in spin and yet he cosies up to Lady Thatcher despite opposing everything she did when she was Prime Minister."

Philip Davies is certainly right about that.  The Independent has listed some of the things Gordon Brown had previously said about Margaret Thatcher's time as PM:

"Britain's first woman prime minister has done conspicuously little for Britain's women."

"Britain can no longer survive, far less prosper, on the simplicities of Margaret Thatcher's capitalism."

"Poverty does not concern Mrs Thatcher."

"The Thatcher government has not only failed to prepare our economy for the 1990s but failed to advance our quality of life in the 1980s."

"She plans to eradicate the right to education and the health and social services as we know them."

"As support for Mrs Thatcher's policies of social division dwindles she will discover that there are simply not enough City speculators without a conscience to keep her in power."

I'll give the final word to The Sun: "Lady Thatcher was certainly up to monkey business yesterday — visiting a gorilla attraction at London Zoo."  LOL!

PS The Telegraph has a picture of Lady Thatcher's zoo visit.

Margaret Thatcher back in Downing Street

After a one-to-one meeting with Gordon Brown, Baroness Thatcher will have a tour of Downing Street before Mrs Brown joins them for tea.

Unbelievable.

4pm: This is how the Downing Street website is covering the visit:

"Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher returned to Downing Street today for private talks with Gordon Brown.  Lady Thatcher was greeted with a warm handshake from the Prime Minister as she arrived outside Number 10 before the two headed off for a private meeting.  During his press conference earlier this week, Mr Brown described Lady Thatcher as a "conviction politician" who "saw the need for change".  Lady Thatcher was Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990."

4.45pm: The day gets more surreal...

Iain Dale phoning in to BBC News 24: "... isn't it great to see her back in Downing Street, back where she belongs?"

Presenter Sally Nugent bringing the conversation to an end: "It is."

Ousting Maggie or Black Wednesday - Which event hurt the Tories most?

A little question for you...

In the recent history of the Conservative Party there are two standout and, I believe, negative events: (1) The 1990 ousting of Margaret Thatcher and (2) The events of Black Wednesday 1992 when Britain was forced out of the ERM.

Which of those two events has done more to contribute to the difficulties we have had over the last fifteen or so years?

The ousting of Margaret Thatcher was the worst event in modern Tory history:  Many will, of course, say that the ousting of Margaret Thatcher was justified by the subsequent victory for John Major at the 1992 general election.  But the long-term consequences have been hugely destabilising for the party.  A party that could remove a sitting Prime Minister (who had transformed Britain and had won three elections) was capable of anything.  The party gained a reputation for being ruthless in the pursuit of its own interests.  A poison entered the bloodstream of the party in November 1990 and every Tory leader since Margaret Thatcher has been undermined by leadership speculation about their future.  The wiser course would have been for Margaret Thatcher to have gone to the country as party leader in 1992 and have been removed from Downing Street by the electorate.  The Thatcherites' sense of grievance would not then have existed and Neil Kinnock would have presided over Black Wednesday.

No, Black Wednesday was worse:  No political party can win elections if it's not seen as economically competent.  On Black Wednesday the Conservative reputation for superior economic management was lost and we've only just begun - almost exactly fifteen years later - to recover that reputation.  The exit came shortly after a series of 'Top Tory sex scandals' and this led The Sun of Thursday 17th September 1992 to declare: 'Now we've all been screwed by the Cabinet'.  Many in the party seemed indifferent to the misery of those recessionary years - some reportedly sang in the bath while homeowners sank into negative equity.  Black Wednesday also ignited the deepest divisions over Europe that raged until recently.

Discuss...

"What if Thatcher led the Tory party today?"

In an article that will no doubt meet approval with those in Team Cameron that he is close to, Bruce Anderson thanks God for Lady Thatcher being there at the right place and time to defeat defeatism and socialism. After that preface, however, he goes on to attack Thatcher-loving Tories for slowing Cameron's progress:

"The Tories who adore her have conferred mythic status upon her. In so doing they forget that, like all great leaders, she owed her success to a fusion of ability, force of personality, and the fortune of circumstances. In 1979, she was not only the right leader. She was the only leader, just like Churchill in 1940."

"...David Cameron recognises the challenges. He will rise to them. But he is not maximising his opportunities in the opinion polls, partly because so many natural Tories are so dazzled by the Thatcherite heritage that their eyes cannot see clearly and their brains cannot work properly."

One of the main reasons people hearken back to both her and Churchill, particularly since New Labour came to power, is that they weren't afraid to take strong decisions that were right but not always expedient. People are crying out for real leadership in the current cynical yet consensual political environment. In the words of Churchill:

"You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life."

Anderson doesn't quite say that Cameron is equally the only leader of our time, but he does list a number of big challenges for him that he believes Thatcher wouldn't have been suited to tackling:

• Stopping a federalist Europe (she "hated it too much to negotiate effectively")
• Reforming public services (her dislike of them would have prevented her having a "programme or radical reform")
• Environmental protection (voters wouldn't have trusted her to build nuclear power, "the only sensible answer to the environment")
• Protecting the Union ("the Scots disliked her too much to listen. The Scots were wrong. These days, they usually are")

I'm not sure the comparison completely works, who knows how the Thatcher of the 80s would have responded to the 21st century? There's no doubt that she was for her time, but Thatcherism still has some lessons for today. We can and should shift our focus from individualism to social responsibility, but that doesn't mean that tax cuts and a stronger military aren't needed, for example...

Deputy Editor

Is Mrs T the greatest living Briton?

In this week's Spectator Fraser Nelson offers his readers a funny little insight into 'Operation Humanise Gordon Brown':

"It is rumoured that his aides have littered little ‘smiley’ stickers throughout his paperwork, and inside his car, reminding him to grin at every occasion."

But as, I think, William Hague has said: Brown is learning how to smile but not when to smile.  In yesterday's cliche-laden acceptance speech Labour's great clunking fist grinned at nearly all of the wrong times.  One political leader who did not have smiley faces in her paperwork was Margaret Thatcher.

In today's Sun, Trevor Kavanagh makes the case for Margaret Thatcher to win ITV1's search for the Greatest Living Briton.  Here are some highlights from his article:

"17 years after she left Downing Street, her name is still invoked with awe by every rising politician across Europe.  German Chancellor Angela Merkel and new French President Nicolas Sarkozy are both hailed as the new Margaret Thatcher."

"Her reforms turned Britain painfully but triumphantly from the “Sick Man of Europe” into one of the world’s strongest economies.  They ended the tyranny of militants and Marxists such as Arthur Scargill, who tried to destroy her elected government.  She gave union members a choice on whether or not to strike — and mostly they didn’t. She gave council house tenants the chance to buy their own home — and overwhelmingly they did... We take these things for granted today. Labour would like to give the impression they nodded along with approval.  But they opposed her every inch of the way — because they loathed everything she stood for.  The fact is that if Tony Blair, Gordon Brown or Neil Kinnock had their way, we would still be at the mercy of union militants."

"I travelled with her as she broke new frontiers around the world.  She was the first foreign leader to visit parts of the Communist world — at the invitation of leaders who gained kudos from her presence at their side.  She can claim credit for standing up to the Soviet Union and, along with US President Ronald Reagan, helping to bring down the Iron Curtain.  Russians queued for a glimpse of her as she dazzled leaders including Mikhail Gorbachev."

"Political journalists knew where she stood before she opened her mouth. She was straight as a gun barrel."

Related link: Mrs T is top PM says BBC's History magazine

In office but not in power

Last week Sam Coates and I attended the UK launch of John O'Sullivan's new book - The President, The Pope and The Prime Minister.  Margaret Thatcher was at the reception (as my rather inadequate snap of the great lady and Sam shows).  She appeared to be in excellent health and joined guests that included Bruce Anderson, Iain Dale, Alan Duncan, Robin Harris, Allister Heath, Peter Hitchens, Lord Lamont, Fraser Nelson and Peregrine Worsthorne.

I started to read the book over the weekend and will write a full review in due course.  But a great truth appears on page four that I had to share:

"Though [the liberal left] sometimes lost the power of government through election defeats, they and their colleagues almost never lost power in the bureaucracy, the courts, the universities, the media, the charitable sector, and the great cultural institutions."

I think that's still true today and why the work of groups like the New Culture Forum and the Centre for Social Justice are so important.  It has been the great mistake and weakness of conservatism that we allowed liberals their long, largely unchallenged march through the institutions.  As Norman Lamont might say: Even when we're in office, we're hardly in power.

BUY: The President, the Pope and the Prime Minister: Three Who Changed the World

'Falklands was most important act of Margaret Thatcher's premiership'

"Had [Thatcher] lost the Falklands, it is doubtful she would have wished to continue. Her departure would have halted and probably reversed the economic reforms responsible for Britain's subsequent economic revival... Lady Thatcher was never temperamentally interested in reflecting on history. She preferred to make it. But she understood then, and she understands now, that the Falklands War was the most important episode of her premiership. Of course, at one level, Max Hastings, who similarly made his name in it, is right to call the Falklands a "damnably silly conflict". Britain was fighting a lonely struggle thousands of miles away from its shores for aims that made little or no sense to anyone else. But for that very reason it was of transforming intensity.  Unlike New Labour's wars, it was a national struggle for British honour and interests. This anniversary is a reminder that decisive leadership is always at some stage most likely to involve iron and blood."

That's the conclusion of an article by former Downing Street adviser Robin Harris in today's Independent on Sunday.

***
William Hague is currently visiting the Falklands and producing a short video diary for ConservativeHome.com.

Labour MP wants Thatcher statue removed

Publicity-hungry Labour MP Stephen Hepburn has put down this Early Day Motion:

"That this House recalls the cruel and divisive reign of Margaret Thatcher and demands that the statue be removed from the Members' Lobby until such time as its erection has been approved by a vote in the House."

One thing we can be sure of is that Parliament won't even think of erecting a monument to the achievements of Mr Hepburn.

Related link: The bronze lady.

Evening update: Greg Hands MP has suggested an amendment to the EDM. Insert the following after "That this House recalls"...

"the great achievements of Baroness Thatcher in changing Britain for the better; including curbing excessive trades union powers, standing up to naked aggression in the Falklands, extending popular capitalism, giving millions of Britons the chance of home ownership, and helping to win freedom for millions of people in Central and Eastern Europe, and believes that an impressive statue in members lobby is a fitting tribute to Britain's first female Prime Minister."

The bronze lady

Marking yesterday's historic unveiling of the bronze statue to Margaret Thatcher in the Members' Lobby of the House of Commons, the Daily Mail's Stephen Glover pays tribute to all that she achieved for Britain:

"Inflation over 20 per cent in some years; trades union power dominant; the stockmarket flat for many years; strikes everywhere; above all, despair. Britain really was a joke, and when one went abroad, in America or on the Continent, people would come up to express their sympathy. The idea of relentless economic decline was stamped into our national psyche. Many so-called intellectuals said that the only realistic objective of government was to 'manage decline'.  Margaret Thatcher rescued us from much of this. She took on the over-mighty trades unions and faced down the striking miners. She privatised many ludicrously inefficient nation-alised industries that were run solely for the benefit of their employees. She liberalised foreign exchange restrictions, and slashed income tax, so that almost for the first time since the war, entrepreneurs sprang up, and hard work and enterprise were rewarded. In the City, she presided over 'Big Bang,' as a result of which London is now overtaking New York — an inconceivable prospect 25 years ago — as the world's foremost financial centre...

She did revive Britain. She scrapped the language of economic decline. She made us believe that success was possible. Without the economic reforms of Thatcherism, there would have been no New Labour, and certainly no Gordon Brown presiding benignly over a golden economic period which, however, he threatens by ever-creeping taxation and rising public expenditure...

Her legacy is all around us; Tony Blair's is chiefly in Iraq. He may have stayed away last night, as the seven-and-a-half foot statue of Lady Thatcher was unveiled, but one day, if as a plain MP he should ever pass through the Members' Lobby, he will see the statue towering above him.  Here she has been placed in the company of Winston Churchill, David Lloyd George and Clement Attlee — all, in their ways, great men, and all of them, like Margaret Thatcher, prime ministers who left a legacy to be proud of. With such people, at least, she has received her due."

Talking to one MP last night he noticed how her statue stands in front of a much smaller bust of Ted Heath.  He still lives in her shadow - even in death.  The Great Sulk can continue.

Related link: Iain Dale on the unveiling.

Mrs T is top PM says BBC's History Magazine

Historian Francis Beckett has decided that Margaret Thatcher is the most effective Prime Minister of the 20th century.  Mr Beckett, who authored a highly critical biography of Mrs Thatcher, put the Iron Lady in the same '5 out of 5' category as Clement Atlee.  They were judged to have (1) a clear idea of what they wanted to achieve in office, and (2) they went on to deliver what they wanted to achieve.

Edward Heath ends up ahead of Winston Churchill in the second tier of Prime Ministers.  But succeeding in taking Britain into the European Economic Community can hardly equal keeping Britain out of a Europe run by Hitler?

Few Tories will have a problem with Tony Blair's mid-table ranking.  Tony Blair is at the bottom of the '3 out of 5' grouping of twentieth century PMs.

Three other Tories - John Major, Anthony Eden and Neville Chamberlain - sit at the bottom of Beckett's list.

Should Mrs T receive a state funeral?

ToryDiary will return to today's terror plot tomorrow... in the meantime it would be good to receive readers' opinion on whether or not Baroness Thatcher should be honoured with a state funeral.  I hope, of course, that the whole question will be academic for a good number of years and there is something a little inappropriate in discussing the issue.  We are discussing the issue because Downing Street has written to a Labour MP to veto the idea of a state funeral.

Yesterday's Daily Telegraph slammed Downing Street's intervention as "very bad taste".  Agreeing that it's premmature to be conclusive about the idea of a state funeral, Stephen Glover, writing in today's Mail, nonetheless thinks Mrs T deserves an honour that hasn't been bestowed on a peacetime Prime Minister since the nineteenth century:

"There are millions of British people — not just Tories — who will believe that Margaret Thatcher’s political achievements should be honoured when the time comes.   Not many of us who can remember the 1970s would want to go back to them. This determined, stubborn, sometimes maddening and, above all, brave woman did make a big difference to our history. In most respects it has been a good one.  Shelve the issue for the time being. There should be no unseemly public argument about Margaret Thatcher’s funeral arrangements. But, when the time comes, we must give her what she deserves."

I was interviewed on Radio 2 this afternoon and argued that it was important to establish whether Mrs Thatcher actually wanted a state funeral but given her worldwide reputation - as an iconic standard bearer for British values and for democracy - Britain should certainly be open to honouring her in this way.

Comparing the end of Blair to the end of Thatcher

On Radio 4 this morning, Jim Naughtie presented How to Topple a Prime Minister.  It was a reflection on the end of the Thatcher premiership and included interviews with Ken Clarke, Geoffrey Howe, Kenneth Baker and John Wakeham.  The programme looked for comparisons with then and the looming end of Tony Blair's own premiership.  The graphic below summarises some of the programme's observations and adds a few of ConservativeHome's own.

Margaret Thatcher in hospital overnight

BBCi: "Former Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher has been taken to hospital after "feeling faint", the Tory party says.  Lady Thatcher, in Downing Street from 1979 to 1990, has suffered from frailer health in recent years but recently held a lavish 80th birthday party.  She will stay overnight at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital but is expected to return home on Thursday.  Following some minor strokes, she has restricted the number of speaking engagements she undertakes."