Everyone wants to be immortal. Few are. Margaret Thatcher is. Why? Because her values are timeless, eternal. Tap anyone on the shoulder anywhere in the world, and ask what Mrs Thatcher believed in, and they will tell you. They can give a clear answer to what she “stood for”.
How did she do it? Lady Thatcher knew that in politics, as in law, the jury seeks motive and intent. This is why she told Philip Larkin that her favourite line of his poetry was: “Your mind lay open like a drawer of knives.”
On the day of her election victory, 30 years ago today, Lady Thatcher's mind lay open. She had a definite motive – Britain can be great again – and the intent to bring it about. To prove it, she developed all the winning arguments of our time. She presented a wonderful ‘ism': Conservatism.