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| Margaret Thatcher biography reveals passions across the years | Margaret Thatcher biography reveals passions across the years |
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| If the opening salvoes of Charles Moore's authorised biography of Margaret Thatcher prove a reliable guide, the former prime minister – who died two weeks ago – will emerge as a more calculating figure than previously realised – over her political ambitions, money and even the price of a handbag. But she will also appear more personally vulnerable, persistently more innocent about the ways of the world and guilty of a youthful grammatical weakness: the use of "between you and I". | If the opening salvoes of Charles Moore's authorised biography of Margaret Thatcher prove a reliable guide, the former prime minister – who died two weeks ago – will emerge as a more calculating figure than previously realised – over her political ambitions, money and even the price of a handbag. But she will also appear more personally vulnerable, persistently more innocent about the ways of the world and guilty of a youthful grammatical weakness: the use of "between you and I". |
| In a striking account of her well documented efforts to persuade her supposedly closest foreign ally, President Reagan, to support Britain's campaign against Argentina's Falklands invasion in 1982, Moore reveals that Thatcher's memoirs "grossly understate" her sense of betrayal at Washington's willingness to endorse the Peruvian peace plan to avoid taking sides. She was also shocked at what she felt was Reagan's cynical detachment from her own analysis: a fight for the principles of democratic self-determination they both claimed to cherish. | In a striking account of her well documented efforts to persuade her supposedly closest foreign ally, President Reagan, to support Britain's campaign against Argentina's Falklands invasion in 1982, Moore reveals that Thatcher's memoirs "grossly understate" her sense of betrayal at Washington's willingness to endorse the Peruvian peace plan to avoid taking sides. She was also shocked at what she felt was Reagan's cynical detachment from her own analysis: a fight for the principles of democratic self-determination they both claimed to cherish. |
| "When she came to write her memoirs, she decided not to mention it because of the sour taste it left: she wanted to give a more positive account of her relations with Reagan," writes Moore, who has enjoyed access to Thatcher's private and official papers – including letters – since 1997 as well as extensive interviews with her and her friends. The angry letter she wrote to Reagan about his betrayal had to be toned down because "she did not dare" send it. | "When she came to write her memoirs, she decided not to mention it because of the sour taste it left: she wanted to give a more positive account of her relations with Reagan," writes Moore, who has enjoyed access to Thatcher's private and official papers – including letters – since 1997 as well as extensive interviews with her and her friends. The angry letter she wrote to Reagan about his betrayal had to be toned down because "she did not dare" send it. |
| The Argentinian junta's rejection of the peace plan opened the way to a military reconquest of the islands (with Thatcher weeping at the end of her bed over news of British casualties). But her enforced acceptance of a weak compromise – "out of desperation" for tactical diplomatic reasons – left her with a "bad conscience," that she glossed over in The Downing Street Years, according to Moore. | The Argentinian junta's rejection of the peace plan opened the way to a military reconquest of the islands (with Thatcher weeping at the end of her bed over news of British casualties). But her enforced acceptance of a weak compromise – "out of desperation" for tactical diplomatic reasons – left her with a "bad conscience," that she glossed over in The Downing Street Years, according to Moore. |
| In the first two serialised extracts from Not for Turning (Volume I, to be published on Tuesday, Allen Lane, £30) in this weekend's Daily and Sunday Telegraphs – Moore is a former editor of both newspapers – a parallel can be drawn with young Margaret Roberts's first romance. It was a previously unknown (essentially chaste) relationship with Tony Bray whom she met through Tory student politics at Oxford in late 1944. | In the first two serialised extracts from Not for Turning (Volume I, to be published on Tuesday, Allen Lane, £30) in this weekend's Daily and Sunday Telegraphs – Moore is a former editor of both newspapers – a parallel can be drawn with young Margaret Roberts's first romance. It was a previously unknown (essentially chaste) relationship with Tony Bray whom she met through Tory student politics at Oxford in late 1944. |
| She attached more significance to the relationship than he did and even took him home to meet her family in Grantham – but when he joined the army in occupied Germany he decided to let it fizzle out. It wasn't that her family was too poor, it was too serious, Bray told Moore from the nursing home where he now lives. But he kept the Palgrave's Golden Treasury of poems she gave him until he lost it in the 1980s. | She attached more significance to the relationship than he did and even took him home to meet her family in Grantham – but when he joined the army in occupied Germany he decided to let it fizzle out. It wasn't that her family was too poor, it was too serious, Bray told Moore from the nursing home where he now lives. But he kept the Palgrave's Golden Treasury of poems she gave him until he lost it in the 1980s. |
| In the battle of the posthumous biographies, former Thatcher speech-writer and researcher Robin Harris is publishing a book whose title includes the same "Not for Turning" tag (Bantam Press, £20). Moore was quick to assert his authority by contradicting ex-Telegraph colleague Harris's claim in last week's Daily Mail serialisation that she graduated from Oxford without ever having had any romantic interests. "Neither obviously wifely, nor deeply maternal'' she appeared disinclined to marry at all, Harris asserts. Far from being a gold-digger, she planned to finance her own political career. | In the battle of the posthumous biographies, former Thatcher speech-writer and researcher Robin Harris is publishing a book whose title includes the same "Not for Turning" tag (Bantam Press, £20). Moore was quick to assert his authority by contradicting ex-Telegraph colleague Harris's claim in last week's Daily Mail serialisation that she graduated from Oxford without ever having had any romantic interests. "Neither obviously wifely, nor deeply maternal'' she appeared disinclined to marry at all, Harris asserts. Far from being a gold-digger, she planned to finance her own political career. |
| That is not the picture Moore paints after reading her letters, many to her older, less ambitious sister Muriel – on whom she palmed off an early suitor, Essex farmer, William Cullen (they remained married for nearly 50 years). As with her Oxford balls and dinners with Tony Bray she notes what she ate and drank ("Moussec in case you don't know is a sparkling champagne") as well as wore in the new, more sophisticated world she was experiencing for the first time. | That is not the picture Moore paints after reading her letters, many to her older, less ambitious sister Muriel – on whom she palmed off an early suitor, Essex farmer, William Cullen (they remained married for nearly 50 years). As with her Oxford balls and dinners with Tony Bray she notes what she ate and drank ("Moussec in case you don't know is a sparkling champagne") as well as wore in the new, more sophisticated world she was experiencing for the first time. |
| This time it was the boyfriend who was smitten. By now 24 and a Tory candidate, young Roberts had decided she would not be a farmer's wife (though she checked out the farm), but allowed Cullen to buy her "a nice black calf handbag" for £7.15p. " I'll have to hang on with William for a while now!" she said. | This time it was the boyfriend who was smitten. By now 24 and a Tory candidate, young Roberts had decided she would not be a farmer's wife (though she checked out the farm), but allowed Cullen to buy her "a nice black calf handbag" for £7.15p. " I'll have to hang on with William for a while now!" she said. |
| As with her career as a cabinet minister under Edward Heath and her later decision to challenge him for the Tory leadership in 1975, Moore confirms there was calculation in her media availability and party strategy. | As with her career as a cabinet minister under Edward Heath and her later decision to challenge him for the Tory leadership in 1975, Moore confirms there was calculation in her media availability and party strategy. |
| He considers her victory was not simply a "peasants' revolt" of middle class activists. Many Tory grandees who would not normally have considered a woman leader "rather took to her character", especially her courage. | He considers her victory was not simply a "peasants' revolt" of middle class activists. Many Tory grandees who would not normally have considered a woman leader "rather took to her character", especially her courage. |
| By this time she was long married to a man she described to Muriel as "a Major Thatcher (aged about 36, plenty of money) … not a very attractive creature, very reserved but quite nice.'' He was unpopular with his staff at Atlas Paints – "far too belligerent in dealing with them and they naturally don't like it" wrote his future wife. | By this time she was long married to a man she described to Muriel as "a Major Thatcher (aged about 36, plenty of money) … not a very attractive creature, very reserved but quite nice.'' He was unpopular with his staff at Atlas Paints – "far too belligerent in dealing with them and they naturally don't like it" wrote his future wife. |
| The marriage proved to be the linchpin, emotional as well as financial, to her glittering career. | The marriage proved to be the linchpin, emotional as well as financial, to her glittering career. |
| The Thatchers were comfortable middle class rather than rich and Margaret did kindnesses to the struggling divorcee who lived next door, as both biographers confirm she often did for individuals she knew. She and Denis split the household bills and as prime minister she never stopped saying: "I had to make my curtains." | The Thatchers were comfortable middle class rather than rich and Margaret did kindnesses to the struggling divorcee who lived next door, as both biographers confirm she often did for individuals she knew. She and Denis split the household bills and as prime minister she never stopped saying: "I had to make my curtains." |
| One hint of upwardly mobility that emerges from early family letters is her use of "between you and I," sometimes known as "the nob's pronoun" because it is supposed to sound posher. | One hint of upwardly mobility that emerges from early family letters is her use of "between you and I," sometimes known as "the nob's pronoun" because it is supposed to sound posher. |
| As a cultivated Etonian, Moore knows "between you and me" is correct. When quoting her letters he cannot resist inserting a (sic) after encountering the error – which is common among upwardly mobile Labour politicians too. | As a cultivated Etonian, Moore knows "between you and me" is correct. When quoting her letters he cannot resist inserting a (sic) after encountering the error – which is common among upwardly mobile Labour politicians too. |
| • This article was amended on 22 April 2013. The publisher of Charles Moore's biography of Margaret Thatcher is Allen Lane, not Charles Allen. | • This article was amended on 22 April 2013. The publisher of Charles Moore's biography of Margaret Thatcher is Allen Lane, not Charles Allen. |
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