A Woman Leader and Beyond, 1975–97

Abstract

When news came out that Thatcher had been elected leader of the Conservative Party, the Labour leadership, for the most part, was delighted. They were convinced that she would be a serious disadvantage to the party, and cabinet members were heard to cry: ‘We’re home and dry!’¹ Certainly, Margaret Thatcher found herself in an extremely difficult position as leader of a divided party that had just been through a bruising leadership battle and as a woman in a man’s world. She was highly suspicious of most members of the shadow cabinet she had inherited from Heath, and there is little doubt that they were equally dubious about her. Thatcher’s major asset was probably her own popularity, and in particular that of her aggressive speaking manner with the backbenchers — but politics is a notoriously changeable business. Her major preoccupation was to solidify her position in the party and establish a power base. To do this, Thatcher combined in a remarkable fashion sweet femininity and hectoring aggression. Barbara Castle, although sitting on the opposite side, could not resist being enthusiastic:

Margaret’s election has stirred up her own side wonderfully — all her backbenchers perform like knights jousting at a tourney for a lady’s favours, showing off their paces by making an unholy row at every opportunity over everything the Government does … She sat with bowed head and detached primness while the row went on: hair immaculately groomed, smart dress crowned by a string of pearls. At last she rose to an enormous cheer from her own side to deliver an adequate but hardly memorable intervention with studied charm .²