Margaret Thatcher

By David Owen
The Independent, Jaunary 7, 2012

Edited by Andy Ross

Meryl Streep's portrayal of Margaret Thatcher is brilliant. The film takes us into the cabinet room, where we witness the Iron Lady's open display of personal contempt for Sir Geoffrey Howe, previously her Chancellor of the Exchequer and Foreign Secretary.

Contempt was in Greek mythology the least attractive feature of the hubris of leaders who had become overwhelmingly confident in their own judgement and dismissive of the views of others. The symptoms and signs of it I have called "hubris syndrome".

Hubris is followed by nemesis, and so it turned out for Margaret Thatcher. On 13 November 1990, Howe made a personal statement to the Commons, a full-frontal attack, the speech of an assassin. But I very much doubt that hubris syndrome is an early sign of dementia.

Many of those dedicated to guarding the flame of Thatcherism resent this film. They do not like its framing the story with an old lady whose mind is being progressively destroyed. For them she must remain a heroine. But the general public is becoming ever more aware of brain disease.

Ronald Reagan was nearly 70 on taking office in 1981. Many Americans thought he was suffering from dementia while still in power. In November 1994, he announced that he was one of a million Americans afflicted with Alzheimer's disease. He died in 2004, much respected.

Margaret Thatcher's political legacy is formidable. There is no need to fear Streep's depiction of her dementia. The film gives her a touching humanity. Dementia can afflict the brightest and the best.

AR  Thatcher's fame and fall constitute a classic case of hubris.
 

Thatcher Was Right

Daniel Finkelstein
The Times, January 11, 2012

Edited by Andy Ross

Meryl Streep plays Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady. It is an astonishing performance and it is embedded in a rather good film. But in paying homage to Mrs Thatcher's strength of character, the film misses the most important feature of her resolve and determination: it was put to the service of the right ideas.

I found Mrs Thatcher's public style arrogant and unyielding. But on the very big questions she faced — the economy, the trade unions, the Falklands and the Cold War — she was right and her determination was an asset. Otherwise her resolve was disastrous.

The Labour governments that preceded Mrs Thatcher's had many strong characters in them. But they were in thrall to an intellectual error — that the world was small enough to be amenable to central planning and control. It was not strength but sense that marked out the Thatcher regime.

In the Cold War she was called The Iron Lady by the Red Star newspaper of the Soviet Army because of her anti-Soviet rhetoric. It was intended it as an insult. She understood immediately that unflinching opposition to the Soviet Union was something to be proud of. When leadership is right, it is good that it is strong.