Margaret Thatcher: The Autobiography

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Why didn’t you choose Margaret Thatcher’s memoirs among your five books? Are they not much of a read? Politicians’ memoirs often aren’t. She brought that totally un-hypocritical sense of virtue, energy and hard work into her view of political life” These are the arguments that Mrs Thatcher set out in her Bruges speech. I went to Bruges with her that day. I read the speech on the plane going over and I remember just saying to the journalist next to me, ‘Enoch wrote this 20 years ago. This is Enoch.’

Margaret Thatcher: The Autobiography – HarperCollins

But when Mikhail Gorbachev emerged as a potential leader of the Soviet Union, she invited him to Britain in December 1984 and pronounced him a man she could do business with.She did not soften her criticisms of the Soviet system, making use of new opportunities to broadcast to television audiences in the east to put the case against Communism.Nevertheless, she played a constructive part in the diplomacy that smoothed the break-up of the Soviet Empire and of the Soviet Union itself in the years 1989-91. Offering a riveting firsthand version of the critical moments of her premiership – the Falklands War, the miners' strike, the Brighton bomb and her unprecedented three election victories, the book reaches a gripping climax with an hour-by-hour description of her dramatic final days in 10 Downing Street. The economy continued to improve during the 1983-87 Parliament and the policy of economic liberalisation was extended. The government began to pursue a policy of selling state assets, which in total had amounted to more than 20 per cent of the economy when the Conservatives came to power in 1979. The British privatisations of the 1980s were the first of their kind and proved influential across the world. Robin is a very clever man. He’s a highly intelligent, highly educated man, who was ‘present at the creation.’ And then he followed the story through. That’s the advantage of his book—it’s based on immersion in the life of Mrs Thatcher. It’s a more spontaneous book. The final chapters on the Falklands were especially interesting as they reveal how close it all came to going horribly wrong.

These are the Dead Sea Scrolls of Powellism. This is Powellism, red in tooth and claw. It’s got the Birmingham speech in it and other speeches on immigration which, by the way, are really worth reading for people who believe Powell was a racist, because Powell doesn’t talk about race once. All he talks about is immigration and he doesn’t specify who’s doing the immigrating. So, it’s useful for that reason. But, anyway, Charles brings all that out in the books and if you read them you will—slightly dangerous thing to say—know everything you need to know about her. Above all, Charles has presented to the world a completely honest and accurate account of Margaret Thatcher.

Margaret Thatcher: The Authorized Biography, Volume Three Margaret Thatcher: The Authorized Biography, Volume Three

Overall, this is a book well worth reading for those who have a interest in political biography or wish to understand Thatcher better. It may not change your views of her, but the time invested in reading this volume will be worth your while.British policy in Northern Ireland had been a standing source of conflict for every Prime Minister since 1969, but Margaret Thatcher aroused the IRA's special hatred for her refusal to meet their political demands, notably during the 1980-81 prison hunger strikes. Mrs Thatcher had a real understanding of her massive responsibilities towards this country. This is something that her present successor does not have. She really understood how crucial it was that this country function properly. And she understood that, as a stateswoman, she had the ultimate responsibility for ensuring that everything went well here. You see that in things such as her reaction to the invasion of the Falkland Islands—‘I’m not going to let some jumped-up fascist from Argentina go in there and oppress our people, even if we have to strain every possible sinew to prevent it.’ A complete, detailed account of Margaret Thatcher's life and career in politics, from Grantham to No. 10 Downing Street. Everyone knows the one-liners she produced and the public image she cultivated. This book goes beyond the image and reveals the real Thatcher: her doubts and fears, her womanhood, her pragmatism, her occasional pettiness. Moore does so in a nuanced way, careful to judge her in her own times and the challenges of her days and not necessarily through the all too comfortable lens of today. Personally, I found the asterisks and extra notes, which this volume contained aplenty, rather redundant at times. It is truly a definitive account.