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| Lady Thatcher tribute: MPs serve up a gigantic sticky toffee pudding | Lady Thatcher tribute: MPs serve up a gigantic sticky toffee pudding |
| (6 months later) | |
| Watching the Commons tribute to Margaret Thatcher was like being suffocated inside a gigantic sticky toffee pudding, but one with nasty bogeys planted inside. There was much of the "Margaret Thatcher who was lucky enough to know me", especially from her own side of the House. | Watching the Commons tribute to Margaret Thatcher was like being suffocated inside a gigantic sticky toffee pudding, but one with nasty bogeys planted inside. There was much of the "Margaret Thatcher who was lucky enough to know me", especially from her own side of the House. |
| The Tory benches were packed, and more than half the Labour party had turned up. The barrack room lawyers' bench was empty. But who can blame the truants? If they had made the trip to pay tribute to that woman, the Dennis Skinners of this world would have never been allowed to forget it. Nor did we see Gordon Brown, the only former PM still in parliament, though his wife Sarah was in the gallery. | The Tory benches were packed, and more than half the Labour party had turned up. The barrack room lawyers' bench was empty. But who can blame the truants? If they had made the trip to pay tribute to that woman, the Dennis Skinners of this world would have never been allowed to forget it. Nor did we see Gordon Brown, the only former PM still in parliament, though his wife Sarah was in the gallery. |
| David Cameron pulled it off. After a sombre start ("next Wednesday she will be placed on a gun carriage" he intoned, and we thought how she would love to have appeared everywhere riding on a field gun, especially at cabinet), the prime minister described the sheer terror she inspired through the civil service – "she was a giant octopus, shaking Whitehall to seek every answer to every question and every problem". | David Cameron pulled it off. After a sombre start ("next Wednesday she will be placed on a gun carriage" he intoned, and we thought how she would love to have appeared everywhere riding on a field gun, especially at cabinet), the prime minister described the sheer terror she inspired through the civil service – "she was a giant octopus, shaking Whitehall to seek every answer to every question and every problem". |
| And he resuscitated a favourite old joke: a junior minister is hurrying somewhere. A colleague reminds him Rome wasn't built in a day. "Yes, but Margaret Thatcher wasn't foreman on that job!" | And he resuscitated a favourite old joke: a junior minister is hurrying somewhere. A colleague reminds him Rome wasn't built in a day. "Yes, but Margaret Thatcher wasn't foreman on that job!" |
| Ed Miliband had the tougher task – to meet the occasion without enraging his party. He recognised that all the party leaders now were raised in the 1980s, when she dominated British politics like, as someone inevitably said, a colossus. | Ed Miliband had the tougher task – to meet the occasion without enraging his party. He recognised that all the party leaders now were raised in the 1980s, when she dominated British politics like, as someone inevitably said, a colossus. |
| Few Tories present had served in her Cabinet except Ken Clarke, Peter Lilley and Malcolm Rifkind. There was William Hague, now former Tory leader for more than a decade, who in 1977, after making his famous speech at the age of 16, received the most wondrously condescending pat on the back from the lady herself. Much good it did him. | Few Tories present had served in her Cabinet except Ken Clarke, Peter Lilley and Malcolm Rifkind. There was William Hague, now former Tory leader for more than a decade, who in 1977, after making his famous speech at the age of 16, received the most wondrously condescending pat on the back from the lady herself. Much good it did him. |
| Miliband caught the right tone: "I disagreed with what she did, but I respect what she meant to many, many people. We remember a prime minister who defined her age." And he had a sideswipe at Cameron: "She believed in climate change, long before anyone would have thought of hugging a husky." | Miliband caught the right tone: "I disagreed with what she did, but I respect what she meant to many, many people. We remember a prime minister who defined her age." And he had a sideswipe at Cameron: "She believed in climate change, long before anyone would have thought of hugging a husky." |
| Most Labour speeches could be summed up by misquoting 1066 And All That: she was "wrong but resolute, right but ridiculous." So it was that Labour MPs felt they had had enough when Nick Clegg started speaking, and began talking among themselves. He recalled, against the noise, that she was far more pragmatic than she ever let on. He had detested her "no such thing as society" line, but realised she wasn't being cynical or striking a pose; "she believed what she said." | Most Labour speeches could be summed up by misquoting 1066 And All That: she was "wrong but resolute, right but ridiculous." So it was that Labour MPs felt they had had enough when Nick Clegg started speaking, and began talking among themselves. He recalled, against the noise, that she was far more pragmatic than she ever let on. He had detested her "no such thing as society" line, but realised she wasn't being cynical or striking a pose; "she believed what she said." |
| Then Nigel Dodds of the Democratic Unionist party proved what we always guessed: she was detested by all sides in Northern Ireland – for the Anglo-Irish agreement, the IRA hunger strike, take your pick. | Then Nigel Dodds of the Democratic Unionist party proved what we always guessed: she was detested by all sides in Northern Ireland – for the Anglo-Irish agreement, the IRA hunger strike, take your pick. |
| Malcolm Rifkind said she agreed in consensus, provided it was a consensus behind her own view. And he recalled what many ministers said: she often spoke about the government as if she had nothing to do with it. Ministers who took decisions she disliked were "they", nothing to do with her. | Malcolm Rifkind said she agreed in consensus, provided it was a consensus behind her own view. And he recalled what many ministers said: she often spoke about the government as if she had nothing to do with it. Ministers who took decisions she disliked were "they", nothing to do with her. |
| Then the first big horrid bogey. Angus Robertson of the Scottish National party spoke briefly but bitterly. Scots would never forgive or forget the poll tax. But she had created a sense of solidarity and community "and for that we should grateful". This was praising with loud damns. Lilley dismissed those who could not face the harsh realities that she had tackled. "Those who hated being proved wrong transferred their hatred on to her." That was, he concluded, all the fault of the previous Labour government – a familiar tale. | Then the first big horrid bogey. Angus Robertson of the Scottish National party spoke briefly but bitterly. Scots would never forgive or forget the poll tax. But she had created a sense of solidarity and community "and for that we should grateful". This was praising with loud damns. Lilley dismissed those who could not face the harsh realities that she had tackled. "Those who hated being proved wrong transferred their hatred on to her." That was, he concluded, all the fault of the previous Labour government – a familiar tale. |
| Gerald Kaufman rose. We were astounded. He was in a dark suit and a black tie. It was unheard of, like seeing Ronald McDonald in a charcoal onesie. | Gerald Kaufman rose. We were astounded. He was in a dark suit and a black tie. It was unheard of, like seeing Ronald McDonald in a charcoal onesie. |
| Then Tories told us how much she had admired them. Gerald Howarth recalled, at sumptuous length, how she had come to agree with him on Europe and on education. "She did end the cold war!" he exclaimed, since Reagan and Gorbachev have been written out. | Then Tories told us how much she had admired them. Gerald Howarth recalled, at sumptuous length, how she had come to agree with him on Europe and on education. "She did end the cold war!" he exclaimed, since Reagan and Gorbachev have been written out. |
| At last a few unreconstructed Old Labour folk stuck in a black, funereal boot. Michael Meacher listed her many mistakes. Diane Abbott remembered "there is another side to the glories the other side had spoken of" and David Winnick spoke about her "indifference and brutal contempt for those who had lost their jobs." So, miraculously, in the end everyone was happy. Which isn't always true at funereal obsequies. | At last a few unreconstructed Old Labour folk stuck in a black, funereal boot. Michael Meacher listed her many mistakes. Diane Abbott remembered "there is another side to the glories the other side had spoken of" and David Winnick spoke about her "indifference and brutal contempt for those who had lost their jobs." So, miraculously, in the end everyone was happy. Which isn't always true at funereal obsequies. |
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