A prize for one of the most intellectually stimulating fringe meetings must go to Charles Moore and Sir Simon Jenkins for their joust over the career and legacy of Margaret Thatcher hosted by Policy Exchange in the Trouville Hotel. Jenkins has just published a book entitled, "Thatcher and Sons" which argues that Gordon Brown and Tony Blair are even more Thatcherite than the leaderene.
He said that Thatcher was a truly revolutionary leader who changed the political landscape. Still at the start she was very cautious. She would never have countenanced privatising the Post Office or PFI schemes. He defined Thatcherism in two waves. The first wave was good, the second bad. Charles Moore who is preparing his own biography of Mrs T, disagreed that Gordon Brown could be described in any way Thatcherite.
He had some excellent insights into why she didn't reverse the abolition of grammar schools when she was Education Secretary. And he explained her relationship with her own Party. She liked the toffs but not the wets. The different perspectives were riveting.
We also learned about how Mrs Thatcher loved having brilliant men around her, and unlike with male PM's who grow weary of their colleagues, one reason she could go on and on was the frisson she got as a heterosexual woman in a man's world. The Moore and Jenkins Show could run and run.
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