AN OLD MAN REMEMBERS A DAY WITH THATCHER

Forty-five years ago I was told by my office to drive Margaret Thatcher around the West Midlands. I was a callow youth of twenty-six with a battered old Mazda.

She was kind, funny, and quite unpretentious.

We arrived in central Coventry to be greeted by screaming, obscenity-yelling members of the West Midlands Socialist Workers Group.

Most people would have found the experience daunting. 

When we got back in the car I commented how upsetting it must have been for her.

I can never forget the radiant look on her face.... "my dear, I love it: when they shout and scream at me I know they are frightened of me"

I recall this event of forty-five years ago as I read of the antics of the present contenders for leadership. They all claim to be 'heirs to Thatcher'.

Mrs. Thatcher would give none of them even the most junior of ministerial jobs: she would have seen them as second rate.