Free Margaret Thatcher: The Authorized Biography by Charles Moore

prevent her without quite having the courage to tell her why. Eventually, Adam Butler solved the problem by saying, ‘Doesn’t it sound a bit too clubby, Margaret?’ (Interview with Lord Dobbs.) Perhaps the best-known example was her statement in a 1983 television interview that she was ‘always on the job’ (
Aspel & Company
, LWT).

* Mrs Thatcher was aware of this tendency in herself. She told the
Observer
in an interview conducted nine days later, ‘This animal, if attacked, defends itself’ (
Observer
, 18 February 1979).

* A significant factor in Mrs Thatcher’s political success was that quite large numbers of men fell for her. The Scottish genealogist Sir Iain Moncreiffe of that Ilk was the only man known to have made an indecent suggestion to her while she was Prime Minister, but many harboured a romantic devotion which teetered on the edge of the sexual. Sir Hector (later Lord) Laing, the chairman of United Biscuits, would send her notes which he requested be placed under her pillow. Kingsley Amis, the novelist, described Mrs Thatcher as ‘one of the best-looking women I had ever met … The fact that it is not a sensual or sexy beauty does not make it a less sexual beauty, and that sexuality is still, I think, an underrated factor in her appeal (or repellence)’ (Kingsley Amis,
Memoirs
, Hutchinson, 1991, p. 316). Brian Walden reported David Owen as saying to him: ‘The whiff of that perfume, the sweet smell of whisky. By God, Brian, she’s appealing beyond belief’ (interview with Brian Walden). Alan Clark, when asked by the present author about the nature of his love for Mrs Thatcher, said: ‘I don’t want actual penetration – just a massive snog.’

* Bernard Ingham (1932–), educated Hebden Bridge Grammar School; reporter,
Yorkshire Post
, 1952–61;
Guardian
, 1961–5; director of information, Department of Employment, 1973; Department of Energy, 1973–7; chief press secretary to the Prime Minister, 1979–90; knighted, 1990.

* Carter cites this diary entry in
Keeping Faith
, his memoirs, published in 1982. However, in the fuller version of his diary,
White House Diary
, that appeared twenty-eight years later, he deleted the final sentence (suggesting that Mrs Thatcher would ‘be a good prime minister’) from the published text. Carter’s refusal to admit that he had once harboured positive thoughts about her prospects indicates his own attitude to Mrs Thatcher in later life.

* Tim Congdon (1951–), educated Oxford University; economist. On economics staff,
The Times
, 1973–6; economist, L. Messel and Co., 1976–86; founder, managing director, Lombard Street Research, 1989–2001, chief economist, 2001–5.

* Mrs Thatcher had first struck up a friendship with Oldfield during her days in opposition. With Callaghan’s approval Oldfield had met her on several occasions to offer seminars about the intelligence world and help ‘preserve a politician from falling into pitholes’ (Richard Deacon,
‘C’: A Biography of Sir Maurice Oldfield
, Macdonald, 1985, p. 187).

* The Security Service, MI5, had conducted an operation against Robinson, leaking to Edwardes and others the minutes of a secret meeting Robinson held with the Midland District Committee of the Communist Party of Great Britain in September 1979 to plan the subversion of the BL Recovery Plan (see Andrew,
The Defence of the Realm
, p. 672).

* ‘A new verb has entered the Washington lexicon,’ declared the
New York Times
. ‘It is said to be possible to “Thatcherize” an economy. The verb is not precisely defined, but many see it as a bad thing to do. Since “Thatcherization” bears a conservative label, some people fear that our new conservative President will lead us down the same disagreeable path.’ (
New York Times
, 1 Mar. 1981.)

* In the same month, Labour produced a policy document entitled ‘The People and the Media’, calling for legal controls on what newspapers could publish. Such threats,