Tribute to “The Iron Lady”, Margaret Thatcher (#14)

Lady Margaret Thatcher was an exceptional leader. She was England’s first woman Prime Minister, and came to power at a very difficult time in Britain’s history. There was no defined major crisis such as a Great War, or some other singularly attention-grabbing high-profile event to focus the nation’s attention on, as Winston Churchill had, when he took office. Instead, in a sense, Margaret Thatcher faced a much more difficult situation for a leader to deal with, an across-the-board national decline, resultant lack of confidence and a sense of entrenched general malaise. 

England was suffering from the long inevitable let down from the heady heights of near impossible achievements during World War II. This post war unravelling of its intense wartime pride, focus and energy, had slowly but steadily dissipated and morphed into a destructive sense of entitlement, lack of focus, lack of direction, and a general spirit sapping sense of hopelessness, as its stature in the post-war World steadily diminished. 

As the Country had turned its attention to being a peace-time nation, dealing with mundane matters of just living, it had gone into a consistent year on year slow decline, which successive governments had tried to lift it out of but had been singularly unsuccessful. The current Prime Minister of England, David Cameron, in his tribute to Lady Margaret Thatcher in the British Parliament had modified the quote –“comes the hour, comes the man” – to – “comes the hour, comes the Lady”. Lady Margaret Thatcher had truly been the “Woman of the Hour”.

She came to the Prime Minister’s office facing many personally daunting challenges: being a woman in a men’s bastion of ultimate political power; being England’s first woman Prime Minister; being inexperienced for the position; and being a right wing conservative in a left leaning World. She knew that not only were the eyes of her country upon her, but that the eyes of the World would be watching her, and waiting to see her if she failed. Under such pressure a lesser person would have balked and turned cautious, not willing to take extraordinary risk, not wanting to stick their neck out, and certainly not wanting to upset any established apple carts. But not #MargaretThatcher, she came to office determined to correct the problems as she perceived them, and in the manner that she saw they needed to be corrected. With ‘ne’er- adoubt’ in spite of the many daunting challenges facing her, and with a single-minded zeal she took the task on, and reversed England’s decline to a spectacular degree.

Her many accomplishments are well known, as are her well publicized weaknesses, but what we want to comment on in our tribute to her, is her unflinching determination, her extraordinarily selfless motivation to true public service, and her uncompromising integrity. As a politician, a breed particularly well known for their preference for the ‘art of the compromise’, especially where their own personal political well being is at stake, and at times is at variance with the public or national interest, Margaret Thatcher was singularly uncompromising. 

To the very bitter end, betrayed by her own cabinet, she remained true to herself, her beliefs and her Country. One may not have agreed with her policies, or at times with her methodologies, but her steadfast, uncompromising commitment to her vision and beliefs, as to what was best for England and its people, not what was best for her, is an incredibly rare quality in a politician, person or a leader, and is to be truly admired. 

We salute that strength of unwavering conviction, and her unflagging indomitable spirit. #RIP