4Q THE SATURDAY EVENING POST November, '75

support had been dwindling rapidly in Scotland), she has suc- ceeded in reassuring at least some of these grass-root supporters who felt themselves increasingly ignored by Mr. Heath's London policymakers. Many felt the party's severe moral defeat in Febru- MARGARET ary 1974 had been unnecessarily precipitated by their Govern- ment's stubborn resistance to the striking miners' union on the basis of an unworkable prices-and-incomes policy. THATCHER As Mr. Heath's controversial Education Secretary, Mrs. Thatcher was asked in the less unsettled political climate of 1973 if she wanted to be Prime Minister. "No, I shouldn't," she re- BRITAIN'S FIRST LADY plied. "I'm quite often asked this. I think the first woman Prime Minister in this country will have quite a difficult time. I don't PRIME MINISTER ? wish to be that person and I don't think there's any chance of it." "In politics if you want anything said, ask a man; Why did she change her mind two years later? A new style of if you want anything done, ask a woman." leadership, she said, rather than new policies, was needed. Since for reasons of loyalty no front-runner was willing to stand against London—A financial adviser left the room. Mrs. Margaret Thatch- Mr. Heath at the beginning of a bitter, possibly three-round lead- er, Leader of Her Majesty's Opposition, relaxed, sat down, shuck- ership contest, she felt obliged to do so herself. She has denied, ed her shoes and put her stockinged feet on the tweed settee in however, any calculated ambition. A combination of opportunity the sunniest corner of her long, paneled office in the Palace of and duty presented itseJf and she took it. Westminster. Earlier in the afternoon she had spoken in the She agreed with Adlai Stevenson's dictum that "self-govern- debate in the Chamber of the House of Commons on the pre- ment is for those who have learned self-discipline," with the vious week's European referendum. implication that the leaders of the self-governing must have the The debate was the first, experimental radio broadcast from discipline to act decisively. the Chamber. Its editing, though, had not satisfied Mrs. Thatcher. Apart from Norman St. John-Stevas, former Minister of Arts^ "Too noisy, too confusing," she said. She had, nevertheless, and Sir Keith Joseph, a former Housing Minister and now her shrewdly used the moment to compliment her party's recently chief policy advisor, none of Mr. Heath's Shadow Cabinet voted deposed leader Edward Heath on his role in taking Britain into for Mrs. Thatcher in the first ballot. A majority of the Shadow Europe before a national audience not usually so attentive to the Cabinet believed that Mr. Heath had to go but favored a concilia- proceedings of the House. Mrs. Thatcher is not a politician to miss an opportunity for conciliation. She had spent the past four months, since a decisive win in February's elections for the Conservative Party leadership, cam- paigning almost continuously in the country. Now, however, apart from an urge to put her feet up after an unusually hot working day, she showed no other obvious signs of exhaustion or diminished enthusiasm. Excluding Mr. Heath, four of the five men who stood against Mrs. Thatcher in the leadership contest have now accepted posts in her Shadow Cabinet. Though she denies it, Mrs. Thatcher is a unique phenomenon in British political life. By a combination of opportunism, deci- siveness and tactical skill, she became, aged forty-nine and having earlier been only the second Conservative woman Cabinet Minis- ter, the first woman to lead a British political party. Every Tory leader since Arthur Bonar Law in 1922 has led a government, and if this trend continues, she will (possibly around 1980) make history as Britain's first woman Prime Minister. Face to face, she is smaller and better looking than her photo- graphs. She long ago abandoned the hats which, in the eyes of opponents, caricatured her as the southern English Tory lady fit only for garden parties and opening country fetes. She is better dressed, dramatically slimmer, and her hair, set once a week, several shades fairer than when she entered Parliament sixteen years ago. She fixes the questioner with sharp gray-blue eyes, sits straight and answers carefully in a tone softer than her authoritarian public voice. (She was taught elocution as a girl.) She tends to be impatient with imprecise questions and sharp with opponents who abandon an argument before her. A good listener, she rarely repeats herself and dislikes being told anything twice. In her first regional tours as party leader, during which she drew crowds as regularly as the royal family (everyone is curious to see Mrs. Thatcher), she passionately restated the old Tory gospel of initiative, self-reliance and the free-market economy to supporters dispirited by the loss of two successive general elec- tions and the subsequent confused dissension over Mr. Heath's leadership. Judging from the crowds who mobbed her in Edinburgh (Tory

Margaret Thatcher, chemist, lawyer, M.P., potential prime minister, haggles with a con- stituent over the gap between political promises and the hard tealities of workaday London. THE SAJVRD/IY EVENtNC POST 41 tory leader like Mr. William Whitelaw, the architect of the power- sharing compromise between Catholics and Protestants in North- em Ireland. Mrs. Thatcher clinched the leadership by a huge poll of back- bench MP's in the first ballot. Some, fearing Mr. Heath's survival more than Mrs. Thatcher's seemingly improbable victory, voted for her hoping, with the Shadow Cabinet, that in the second or third ballot a man like Whitelaw would emerge the eventual win- ner. However, so large was Mrs. Thatcher's majority in the first ballot that by the second round she had gained an unbeatable moral advantage. Mrs. Thatcher's steady, but largely unremarked, preparation for the Tory leadership began in the early Sixties when, as the By John Pym young, assured new Member of Parliament for suburban Finch- ley, north London, she caught the attention of Prime Minister Macmillan who quickly gave her a junior post in the then Minis- try of Pensions. ("Dogsbody" was her later description of t h e job.) For Mrs. Thatcher, the middle-class daughter of a dressmaker miles north of London in the flat fen country of Lincolnshire. and a small-town storekeeper, this appointment exactly suited Her father, Alfred Roberts, the son of a bootmaker, was a book- her talents. Before her election to Parliament, experience as a ish Methodist lay preacher who sat on the local council and later barrister in that most exacting branch of jurisprudence, tax and became town mayor. He was the shining example of the sort of patent law, had given her a keen appetite for the minutiae of person—hard-working, judicious, high-principled—with whom pension legislation. Margaret, the second of his two daughters, was later to identify One Minister whom she served at the time remembered her herself. impressive grasp of complicated details. "She used to deal with "We were brought up in a very religious background. There rather delicate personal matters with immense tact," he said. was more than just having to work to live, there was work as a "There was no doubt that she was bound for higher things." duty," she once said. "Caring for others ran very, very strongly, Margaret Hilda Thatcher was born in 1925 above the family's so there was a tremendous amount of voluntary work." Mr. grocer's store in the market town of Grantham, some hundred Roberts, who had started as an apprentice grocer at the age of

The House of Commons leaves the leader of the Conservative Party little lime for her own house in Finchley, a wealthy neighborhood of barristers, brokers and surgeons. 7H£ SATURDAY EVENING POST November, '75 twelve, retired with two of his own stores rooms in Dartford, commuting daily to consistently for the abolition of hanging in Grantham. Their home, though without her job and campaigning in the evenings. and in favor of the abortion bill, she a bath or hot running water, was spotless. She nursed the seat through two general opposed divorce reform and did not vote Margaret, a pretty girl with bobbed elections, creditably pushing up the Con- on homosexual law reform. She remained hair, was in her turn a shining example of servative poll. silent on Home and Foreign Office affairs. the person her father might have been had Denis Thatcher, a wartime major in the She was most at home dealing with he not been forced to leave sehool and Royal Artillery, ten years her senior and finance; and perhaps her greatest victory earn a living. at the time director of his family's paint as Education Secretary was boosting the Although Sunday papers were forbid- firm, was a member of Dartford Conser- school building program by preventing the den, the Roberts home was always full of vative Association. They met when he Treasury from drastically cutting her library books and political discussion. A offered her a lift after a meeting. (Was it Department's budget. This achievement year ahead of her age at elementary love at first sight? Mrs. Thatcher was was, however, overshadowed in the public school, Margaret was at the top of her asked later. "No, there were two elections eye by a highly unpopular decision (which grammar school every year but one {when to fight first.") He and Margaret married she had opposed in Cabinet) to end free she was second). Games captain and a two weeks before the 1951 election, after school milk to children under eleven. This good hockey player, Margaret would have which she resigned the constituency and economy was designed to raise nine mil- been head girl had she not won a scholar- they moved to a London apartment. lion pounds ($21 million) a year toward ship to Oxford to study chemistry. After studying law in her spare time, the replacement of dilapidated nine- Her sister Muriel recalled those years: another research job and a period as per- teenth-century primary schools. "Margaret set her sights on Oxford and sonal assistant to the director of the Joint Nowadays, with her children off her Dad backed her. Her head- hands (Carol is following her mistress said it would be im- mother into the law), Mrs. possible because the school Thatcher's family life is less didn't teach Latin, but Mar- hectic. Had she ever had diffi- garet wasn't deterred. She culty bringing up a family and turned up at school one day working full time? "No, but I with a check from Father to was fortunate in having my cover the exam fee to Somer- home, constituency and the ville College. Then she sought House of Commons in a small out the classics master at the triangle." boys' school and took the five- Mrs. Thatcher, who at the year Latin course in less than a moment writes all her own year to pass the exam." speeches, manages on four or Oxford opened her life. She five hours of sleep a night and had never been to a dance be- does most of her political fore going up. Although the background work in the small debating club, the Oxford hours. To clear her mind she Union, was barred to women reads detective novels. She in her day, as president of the gets up around 6:30 a.m. to university Conservation Asso- prepare breakfast for her hus- ciation Miss Roberts found no band, now a retired director of difficulty controlling her com- a large oil company, who de- mittee of recently de-mobbed liberately keeps well out of soldiers. the political limelight. Before Mrs. Thatcher's first direct becoming Tory leader, she political activity for the Con- liked to organize the running servatives had been folding of their London home in Chel- pamphlets in Grantham Hall sea, shopping and on occasion during the 1935 general elec- painting and decorating it her- tion. But it was not until Mar- self. garet came home from Oxford Mrs. Thatcher does not be- one Christmas vacation just lieve that being a good-looking after the war that a Parliamentary career Iron Council, Mrs. Thatcher was called to woman greatly influenced her career. She was proposed. the Bar at London's Lincoln's Inn in denies, too, ever having met anti-feminism "I remember the moment quite clearly. 1954, a few months after the birth of her in the Tory Party. She has little tradi- I was making coffee in the kitchen with twins Carol and Mark. tional reverence for men. *'Oh, that's a friends after a party—that's what one did When she finally entered Parliament in typical man's question." How had she in those days. Someone said, *Of course 1959 for the secure Conservation seat of become leader? "Merit," she replied you'll go into politics, won't you?' And it Finchley, Mrs. Thatcher was the first of sharply. "In politics, if you want anything occurred to me that, of course, I would." her contemporaries to be given a junior said, ask a man," she told a predominant- But that had to wait. Graduating from ministry. The Tories lost the 1964 elec- ly male press conference. "If you want Oxford with second-class honors, she had tion, and for the next six years she was a anything done, ask a woman." to earn a living and took a job in indus- front-bench Opposition spokesman on Mrs. Thatcher is clearly confident of trial research. Although the chemical in- housing, economic affairs, power and reaching 10 Downing Street. But, while dustry seemed to have a bright future in transport. But it was as Education Secre- she hopes to remain Conservative leader the postwar years. Miss Roberts's real tary that she caught the British public's for the next fifteen to twenty years, so ambition was to study law. attention for the first time. rapidly did she achieve the position that At the age of twenty-four, working in Apart from the notable maiden speech her exact political stand on many issues, Manningtree, Essex, on ways of fixing a in the Commons, which she used to intro- particularly foreign affairs, is less clear. new sort of plastic to metal and wood, she duce her own Private Member's Bill for Her past links her to the right. was adopted as prospective Tory candi- the admittance of the press to local coun- Mrs. Thatcher objects on principle to date for the safe Labor seat of Dartford, cil committee meetings, in the Sixties public enterprise and has in the past talk- across the Thames in the neighboring Mrs.Thatcher spoke on none of the major ed of reducing the public sector of the county of Kent. She at once moved to issues of social reform. Though she voted Continued on page 86 86 THE SATURDAY EVENING POST November, '7S

Thatcher To make... continued from pa£e 43 economy. The food and housing sub- Mrs. Thatcher said in 1968 and still cuisine sidies used by the Labor Govern- firmly believes, "is to make the Gov- ment, she believes, conceal with dis- ernment reduce the area of decision astrous effect the true cost of re- over which it presides and conse- supreme: sources. "It enables us to be more quently leave the private citizen to wasteful than we otherwise would participate by making more of his Take—one kitchen, add—you, combine with—one copy of be. Where a firm makes a profit, this own decisions. What we need now is is an indication that the resources it a far greater degree of personal re- is using are providing a service that's sponsibility and decision." valued by its customers. Where a She receives formidable briefs THE firm loses money, this is an indica- from her advisers, and is reluctant to tion that the resources could be bet- ai^ue in the House or in public unless NEW YORK TIMES ter used by other industries." she has marshaled all pertinent facts The needy should be given a for the attack. She won a notable framework of support, while self- victory in this respect during the COOK BOOK respecting people should be encour- Commons debate on the 1966 Bud- aged to stand on their own feet, and, get, in preparation for which she if they wish, to own their homes and read every Budget and Finance Bill pay their own medical bills and put speech of the preceding twenty their children through school. years. Women in British political "The way to get more personal life, Mrs. Thatcher observed, are not i nvolvement and participation," allowed to make mistakes. S Lite Before the Mast continued fron\ page 58

to the taffrail that same afternoon, down in the stern sheets. with a round turn and two half- 1 now looked about me, and COOK hitches, by its best painter. Of course heard another; leaning over the gun- I expected the vessel would drag the wale, I got a glimpse of a man, strug- boat down with her, for I had no gling, quite near the boat. 1 caught knife to cut the painter. There was a him by the collar, too; and had to gang board in the boat, however, drag him in very much the same way which lay fore and aft, and I thought I had done with Lewis. This proved BOOK this might keep me afioat until some to be Lemuel Bryant, the man who of the fleet should pick me up. To had been wounded by a hot shot, at clear this gang board, then, and get it York, while the commodore was on Edit..! bv into the water, was my first object. 1 board us. His wound had not yet ran forward to throw off the lazy healed, but he was less exhausted painter that was coiled on its end, than Lewis. He could not help me, and in doing this I caught the boat's however, lying down in the bottom painter in my hand, by accident. A of the boat, the instant he was able. pull satisfied me that it was all clear! Someone on board must have cast For a few moments, I now heard off this painter, and then lost his no more in the water; and I began to chance of getting into the boat by an scull again. By my calculation, I Serves—gourmet food as a matter of course. accident. At all events, I was safe, moved a few yards, and must have A quality cook book for daily use. and 1 now dared to look about me. got over the spot where the schooner My only chance of seeing was dur- went down. Here, in the flashes, I ing the flashes; and these left me saw many heads, the men swimming The New York Times Cook Book is 717 pages bursting almost blind. I had thrown the gang in confusion, and at random. By this with nearly 1,500 recipes tantalizingly illustrated in color board into the water, and I now call- time, little was said, the whole scene ed out to encourage the men, telling being one of fearful struggling and and black and white. All kinds of dishes, for all seasons frightful silence. It still rained; but and all occasions-traditional American recipes as well as them I was in the boat. I could hear many around me, and, occasionally, the flashes were frequent, and less the cream of cuisine from twenty other countries. Wines I saw the heads of men, struggling in fierce. They told me, afterward, in and use of herbs, spices and garnishes are also clearly the lake. There being no proper place the squadron, that it thundered aw- to scull in, I got an oar in the after fully ; but I cannot say 1 heard a clap, dealt with. Completely indexed and cross-referenced, this after 1 struck the water. The next fine book is authored by Craig Claiborne, former Food ruUock, and made out to scull a lit- tle, in that fashion. 1 now saw a man man caught the boat himself. It wasa Editor of The New York Times. quite near the boat; and, hauling in mulatto, from Martinique, who was the oar, made a spring amidships, Mr. Osgood's steward; and I helped catching this poor fellow by the col- him in. He was much exhausted, ^ This cornucopia of cuUnary excellence costs only $9,95. Send to lar. He was very near gone; and I had though an excellent swimmer; but ^^ a great deal of difficulty in getting alarm nearly deprived him of his strength. He kept saying, "Oh! Mas- TRADING POST him in over the gunwale. Our joint weight brought the boat down so ser Ned—oh! Masser Ned!" and lay P.O. Box 1144 • Indianapolis, Indiana 46206 down in the bottom of the boat, like Please send^. copies of The New York Times Cook Book. Enclosed is a low that she shipped a good deal of water. This turned out to be Leonard the two others; 1 taking care to shove check or money order for $9.95 each. Lewis, the young man who had help- him over to the larboard side, so as to Na me ed me to clew up the fore-topsail. He trim our small craft. Address could not stand, and spoke with dif- 1 kept calling out to encourage City ficulty. I asked him to crawl aft, out of the water, which he did, lying the swimmers, and presently I heard State Zip a voice, saying, "Ned, I'm here, close Continued on pmie 99