David Cameron's letter to Lady Thatcher on the thirtieth anniversary of her 1979 election

"I wanted to write and send my best wishes on this, the 30th anniversary of the great day when you first walked into Downing Street as our prime minister.

I still find it awe-inspiring to think of the state of the nation you inherited and the immense achievements of your governments. Getting the country to live within its means, bringing the trade unions within the law, rolling back the tide of state ownership, standing steadfast with our allies in the cold war ... but above all giving the British people back their pride and self-belief. The whole country owes you a huge debt.

It is with huge trepidation that I attempt, 30 years on, to get rid of an exhausted Labour government and start the process of mending the national finances and tackling some deep and entrenched problems that we face. If we are elected as the next government, I know that it will be extremely difficult work - but in your life and your work you have given all of us an example of real courage to follow."

Hat-tip to Toby Helm.

Comments

[Conor Burns]

Delighted to see David paying tribute to Ladt T at this time. Out on the doorstep people constantly say that we need a Government with the same purpose and resolve as the ones that Lady T led. Next year we have the chance to offer that. The challenges are, in many ways, very different and more complex. The principles that underpin the policy prescriptions are almost unchanged. David is right that we will have something to sustain and guide us that Margaret Thatcher never had: the inspiration of her example.

[JS]

The big worry this time is that David Cameron is, in political terms, as wet as Lady Thatcher was dry - as weak in character as she was strong - as left in outlook as she was right and as timid as she was courageous. It is a brave, or perhaps a foolhardy, optimist who can have any confidence in him coming anywhere near her in achievement. I recommend everyone to read Peter Oborne's two masterly articles in The Daily Mail today.

[Pink Tory]

Her ideas have never been more relevant

[michael m]

If the election is on May 6 2010, do you realise this will be just 4 days short of the 70th anniversary of Churchill becoming PM? The country is now looking for the same kind of leadership and the date will be auspicious

[Thomas]

I don't think that David Cameron is a wet. He may be more cautious than Mrs Thatcher but she got away with things that a man wouldn't. He would be seen as crass.

[Robin R]

David Cameron is not a wet, weak or left in outlook. I agree he may be more cautious but that is no bad thing. Without his leadership I for one would not have joined the Party. If I remember correctly Maggie was no great leader in opposition so give David a fair crack please.

[Thatcherite88]

Robin R - without his leadership, I would have joined the party.

[JS]

[email protected] - Without his leadership there would still be a Conservative party for people to join instead of a slightly less pink New Labour mark 2.

[christina Speight]

A fine tribute - even though the Guardian attempted to to smear her by the intro " Prepare yourselves. This is NOT a spoof. It is the letter sent from David Cameron today - - - " and the invitation "Reactions welcome if anyone feels able" [Of the 6 so far , 5 back Cameron’s views -cs]

Note that we are in a weird world when the Guardian's star columnist Polly Toynbee' conclusion today - and she’s my ‘totem’ political hate figure amongst journalists - says - - -

===“Gordon Brown: no ideas and no regrets
----------Under his leadership Labour has become a rotten, defeatist rabble”

[MrB]

JS and Thatcherite88, I guess that's 2 - 2 so far since I also joined the party because of DC. I like it how you actually try and define that the "true" Tory party is one without Cameron. I don't see how that washes since a) the definition has always changed over time b) you are certainly now in the minority, and there for in no position to argue what the "true" outlook of the party is.

[Steve Tierney]

You anti-Cameron non-Tories are getting really boring.

Okay, we get it, you don't like Cameron. Do you really have to say the same things, over and over again, on every conceivable thread?

If you don't have any faith, or can't get with the program, why hang around whining and carping? Have you nothing better to do?

There was a vote. Cameron won. Deal with it. That's the nature of a democracy.

For myself, I don't like everything we are seeing. But I have confidence that this is clever strategy and that we will get a strong Conservative government at the end of it.

All that matters right now is to save the nation from economic ruin by replacing this wretched excuse for a government current intent on grinding our country into the ground and then into the grave.

[denverthen]

I feel exactly the same as Steve Tierney.

It's vitally important a Conservative government is formed following the deserved collapse in the authority of the current incompetent incumbents.

This is crucial if nothing else than to inject some sanity into a parliamentary system that's been all-but destroyed by Labour.

If parliament's authority is to be restored and if economic recovery is to begin sooner rather than later, it's also vitally important that the Conservatives win a decent majority so that there is a popular mandate for action and reform that Brown, with typical contempt for the electorate, never even bothered to seek.

If detractors can't get their pointy heads around those realities, then it's time they put-up (switched their support to some fringe party or other) or shut-up.

[christina Speight]

Why has everyone gone off the subject into their own little world where the personality of one man is so critical.

This thread is about a wonderful tribute - a deserved tribute - from the party leader to probably our greatest peace-time leader since Disraeli.... maybe longer.

I;m not a worshipper of Cameron and in appropriate places and on appropriate threads I'll say so. But I think he's learning fast [except on Europe] and I hope his memory of Maggie will give the "real courage" he needs and more importantly KNOWS he needs.

Rejoice at this letter

[HenryVIII]

I'm fear that David Cameron's style of politics will fail to ressurect the economy in the way that Thatcher so wonderfully did. Thatcher had a firm ideology and she was not for the turning whilst David Cameron is too much of a showman (but hopefully with more substance than Blair). Thatcher did not behave as she did to win the voters, nor did she do it for self-agrandisment, she did it because she knew that the only way to save the economy was to knuckle down. Firm ideology is needed, a Thatcher figure is needed, but at the moment Cameron is failing to fill these shoes.

[Tim Montgomerie]

I understand that David Cameron also sent Lady T a very big bouquet of flowers.

[Account Deleted]

David Cameron is not a wet, weak or left in outlook. I agree he may be more cautious but that is no bad thing. Without his leadership I for one would not have joined the Party. If I remember correctly Maggie was no great leader in opposition so give David a fair crack please.

sajoo
Sightline Payments

[Maud]

Two of a kind. He'll be hounded out of government just like she was, no doubt. There's no place for them anymore. The people of Britain will rise up and fight back over David Camerons cuts just like they did with the poll tax. REVOLUTION.