Following in Thatcher's footsteps

Celebrating the great life and achievements of Margaret Thatcher, born 100 years ago, on 13th October 1925. The principles she upheld are as relevant as ever.

[Following in Thatcher's footsteps @simplysimontfa]

On the centenary of her birth, here is my tribute to Margaret Thatcher @annarileynews @GBNEWS @ThatcherCentre #Thatcher #thatcher100 #ThatcherFest

[Andy63 🇬🇧❤️travelling the world @TryingTraveller]

The last PM we had with balls

[Bud Gibson @TheReconCast]

“The Iron Lady” Margaret Thatcher and 22 SAS after the Iranian Embassy Siege.

[Margaret Thatcher @realmrsthatcher]

The essence of the well-dressed woman is never to be exaggerated. Appearance is the first impression people get of you. And it does matter. It matters tremendously when you represent your country abroad.

I have bought about two suits a year since I have been here. In the last two years, the shoulders have been a little wider, the tops of the sleeves a little more important. That's the only sort of genuflection I make to fashion. When I don't know what to wear for a great occasion, I tend not to wear anything new.

When I addressed the United States Congress, for example, I wanted to wear something that was familiar, absolutely classic, that always looked good, and so I went straight for a light wool suit.

[Omid Djalili @omid9]

I am flabbergasted. This was yesterday Feb 19th. Instead of being solemn and broken, the people are using joy as moral resistance and celebration as defiance.
The #IranianRevolution2026 continues.
#IranMassacre

[Following in Thatcher's footsteps @simplysimontfa]

@wallaceme It gives new meaning to the term, 'lounge lizard'.

[Ben Goldsmith @BenGoldsmith]

My late uncle Teddy Goldsmith was among the first @TheGreenParty candidates. I wonder how many former and current Green supporters out there are feeling as revolted as I am to see what was the only party of the environment ditching all that to cash in on rising sectarianism and virulent antisemitism in Britain?

The Greens, led by the ultimate ‘as-a-Jew I can confirm it’s fine to do in the Jews’ @ZackPolanski (real name David Paulden), look increasingly like the new Blackshirts, organising door-knocking sessions to make lists of Jews and their friends.

Depressing af.

[Margaret Thatcher @realmrsthatcher]

Socialism is a dangerous, but undeclared, enemy of freedom—and I do not just mean the socialist command economy but all those attitudes which socialism fosters: dependence, passivity, conformity, envy, lack of personal responsibility and lack of initiative.

The battle against socialism is more than the attempt to replace economic error by economic truth. It is a battle for moral and spiritual values. It is precisely socialism which promotes universal dependency on the State and the neglect of all primary duties.

In place of the culture of dependency we must emphasise the moral rightness of enterprise and the absolute value of responsibility.

We must encourage people to take charge of their own lives, and to live honestly and openly, fulfilling their duties and respecting the rights of others.

[Tom Harwood @tomhfh]

I thought we had a human rights lawyer for Prime Minister?

But we don’t. We have a quisling. A pathetic little man who is desperate to evict a native population from their homeland because he’s embarrassed they like our flag.

[Following in Thatcher's footsteps @simplysimontfa]

The plot to topple Britain’s next Right-wing government has already begun

https://t.co/9SlXiNJw3h

[Omid Djalili @omid9]

The BBC is letting itself be used as a propaganda outlet for Iran’s regime

Excellent piece by @DannyCohen former controller of BBC1.

“This is why Iranian dissidents have used the acid phrase “Ayatollah BBC”. It is not because they imagine a secret love affair between Broadcasting House and the clerics. It is because they recognise an outcome: the world’s most trusted broadcaster producing something that a theocratic, propaganda-driven regime could happily file under “normal life continues”.

And why is this offensive and appalling? Because even now #IranMassacre is trending as it is still happening.

https://t.co/yHiMJWN5dR

[Peter Just @exPremiers]

🗣️ She 'would be making a “major European speech"' in a couple of months' time.

🗓️ So Margaret Thatcher's office advised the British Embassy in Holland on this day, 18 February, in 1992.

📘 'Margaret Thatcher: Life After Downing Street' covers the Hague speech in depth.

[Stephen Pollard @stephenpollard]

This last comment about Thatcher makes me think of a story my dad (a civil servant) told me. He was in a meeting in No 11 with Nigel Lawson, when the power went. Lawson suggested they move to No 10. A room was found and the meeting continued. Then there was a knock on the door, and Mrs Thatcher walked in, carrying a pot of tea with biscuits. As she poured the tea, she said, with a smile: “What sort of hostess would I be if I didn’t offer you all a cup of tea?”

[Matt Ridley @mattwridley]

He tries to cancel elections,
cracks down on free speech,
censors social media,
wants to abolish juries,
smears journalists,
expels political opponents from the upper house of Parliament,
reintroduces blasphemy laws.

The most illiberal prime minister since Pitt the younger.

[Margaret Thatcher @realmrsthatcher]

'There had never been a cabinet with so many Jewish men - me, Michael Howard, Leon Brittan. I wondered why, and the conclusion I came to is not that she had a thing for Jews, but that she was one of those rare politicians without the faintest whiff of antisemitism.

She had a protestant work ethic and felt that everybody should have the opportunity to make their own way by their own efforts, and that no one should stand in the way of people bettering themselves. So when groups appeared to have ancient privileges of one kind or another, she would go for them - such as the restrictive practices of the legal profession. She wasn't a class warrior.

One wouldn't say Margaret was totally humourless, but her sense of humour was not highly developed. She did once make me laugh. I showed her a new commemorative coin, and said approvingly at the head on the coin: "Ooh, she looks just like Rita Hayworth!" '

― Nigel Lawson

[Following in Thatcher's footsteps @simplysimontfa]

Labour isn't working

[Matt Vickers MP @Matt_VickersMP]

🚨24% more people are out of work since Labour came to power.

Businesses are closing at the fastest rate since the world economic crash.

Rachel Reeves has taxed employers until the pips squeak - and this is the result. 👇

Devastating.

[Following in Thatcher's footsteps @simplysimontfa]

@wallaceme Growing up in Cardiff, I well remember the 'Johnny Onions', as they were known. They were Frenchmen straight out of central casting, long before 'Allo 'Allo! https://t.co/jRx2w9BNpx

[Adrian Hilton @Adrian_Hilton]

I thought this Starmer-Merz photo might have been AI generated, but it isn't. It's such an unfortunate shot, which conveys so much. We radiated parity once, if not greatness.

[Daniel Hannan @DanielJHannan]

You cancel elections. You remove opponents from the legislature. You demand compulsory ID cards. You jail people for saying the wrong thing. Now you crack down on independent media platforms. What’s next? Mass internments?

[Margaret Thatcher @realmrsthatcher]

It is still possible for a nation to be subjugated by a dominant, determined minority, bent on extinguishing the flame of freedom, in the name of some false but plausible slogan.

Prevention lies not only in the willingness of peoples to be vigilant in defence against tyranny; it consists of being prepared to live our lives together, in their becoming so enmeshed through trade and co-operation that to turn on one another would be unthinkable and impossible.

[Following in Thatcher's footsteps @simplysimontfa]

A history lesson in one's pocket. Beautiful coins which helped people do basic arithmetic - and so beloved that they were given affectionate names: coppers, thrupenny bits, tanners, bobs, florins etc. Decimalisation boosted inflation, too - everything was rounded up by retailers. It was an act of vandalism by the craven British state, along with the destruction of our traditional counties.

[Daniel Hannan @DanielJHannan]

Fifty-five years ago #OTD we sundered ourselves from our fathers, replacing our handsome and ancient coinage with a decimal system.