Portillo was MP from 1984 though, in the middle of Thatcher's reign of terror. So he could conceivably taken over instead of Major.
I'm not sure how likely that ever was, I just remember when I was a kid there being some chatter about it.
Portillo was MP from 1984 though, in the middle of Thatcher's reign of terror. So he could conceivably taken over instead of Major.
I'm not sure how likely that ever was, I just remember when I was a kid there being some chatter about it.
Major was challenged for the Tory leadership by John Redwood in I’m going to say 1995. The whole “put up or shut up” thing, and lost quite badly (as was expected). Other than that, there wasn’t any real threat to his premiership. Portillo had been in Major’s government from the 1992 election right through till 1997 (where he was defence secretary).Originally Posted by Letters
I think he was always seen as a rising star in the party, so there might have been speculation that he might have become prime minister at some point, but wasn’t really a window in which it was just round the corner
I think it's that I'm thinking of. I seem to remember there being some speculation about this when I was quite young.
I also remember when Thatcher resigned - pre-internet of course. And yet somehow the news spread like wildfire and everyone seemed to know almost immediately.
I think it was covered in HIGNFY, which tells you something about how long that show has been going!
I still have my copy of that day's Evening Standard with 'Thatcher Resigns' on the front cover
I remember they announced it on the tube as well, generally to cheers although a few people looked a bit grumpy about it
I remember the Thatcher resignation even though I was only 7 at the time, I didn’t know anything about it other than the woman who had been the country’s leader wasn’t going to be anymore.
The thing which is funny is that although she’s seen as this legendary figure in the Tory party now, it’s fair to say that she was never really liked by the old Tory guard of upper class toffs who had ran the party, merely tolerated and as soon as the polls were looking bad for her…the knife was stuck in.
or to put it another way the 'one nation' Tories who had some semblance of realising that there was, in fact a thing such as society and the old, vulnerable, single mothers etc shouldn't be left to die or suffer in silence...
Or as Neil Kinnock put it...
It wasn’t even a matter of one nation Tories vs Monetarism
The Thatcherite ideology was largely accepted even by those who were more one nation Tories (Ken Clarke and Heseltine served in her cabinet)
It was a class thing and a bit of misogyny to boot.
They also didn’t like the pin striped spivs, who were new money.
Ted Heath’s government had already been a pre-cursor to what happened under Thatcher with cut backs and the belligerence against the Unions
Thatcher was a strange one, she held utterly to the idea that one should pull themselves up by their boot straps. And that feeling pity for the less fortunate was patronising to them. She was from upper working class/lower middle class background and came from extreme Methodist upbringing where she was taught that if you could not afford something, you simply went without.
The absolute single mindedness of this view, made her incredibly unsympathetic
There were things about her personality wise that were admirable, highly intelligent, very good work ethic, relished debate and challenge. I disagree with most of her policy decisions (though I think her decision to sink the Belgrano was correct) but she was a competent and capable individual which is a rare thing in politics these days
Last edited by HCZ_Reborn; 04-07-2024 at 02:31 PM.
The Belgrano sinking was a disgrace, it was outside the exclusion zone, you couldn't have picked a more clear case of where she was in the wrong
The thing about Thatcher is she had a plan for the country, she had ideals and principles. You can violently disagree with them but at least she had some.
Johnson's only strategy was "become Prime Minister", he had no plan about what to do when he got there.
Sunak I kinda feel has more of a plan. If Starmer does then it's not particularly obvious. But he'll win by default (the two sweetest words in the dictionary).
I'd have been 16 when Thatcher resigned so she was the only PM I'd known - I was alive when she came to power but, being 4, I didn't take much interest before that. It was massive news when she resigned. Her biggest issue in the last few years was her unwillingness to compromise on anything. She stopped listening to people.
(EDIT to fix the error)
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