There is No Alternative (54 page)

A number of people who were close to Margaret Thatcher spoke to me off the record, and in doing so greatly helped me to form a more complete mental picture of her. I thank them all for their time and insight.

For all the reasons I've named in this book, the world owes Margaret Thatcher a great debt. Historians are more indebted to her still. Lady Thatcher was under no obligation to give her personal papers to anyone. Indeed, she could have sold them to the highest bidder or burnt them had she thought it prudent. She instead donated them to the British people. This is proof of the depth of her commitment to the ideal of an open society, not to mention an extraordinary testimony to her confidence in her own character. You do not hand over to historians and journalists 3,000 boxes of papers, many of which you have not seen since the day they crossed your desk, if you are not
certain
that you have always conducted yourself with irreproachable integrity. Think about it: Would you?

A final word for my agent, Daniel Greenberg. For reasons that will be obvious to him, I acknowledge his work on my behalf with particularly profound feeling. No words are quite adequate to express what needs to be said, so I will choose the simplest ones. Thank you, Daniel. Not a day has passed when you have not been in my thoughts.

The scholarly literature about Thatcher and Thatcherism is vast. I've not endeavored here to provide a complete guide to it. These are merely a few suggestions for readers who are now on fire to deepen their acquaintance with Thatcher and her epoch.

If you're looking for a more traditional biography of Margaret Thatcher, John Campbell's two volumes are the gold standard.
The Grocer's Daughter
covers the years from 1925 to 1979.
The Iron Lady
treats her life until 2003. I particularly recommend the first seven chapters of
The Grocer's Daughter
. This is an unauthorized biography, but Campbell has received excellent cooperation from the key players.

Charles Moore, formerly the editor of the
Daily Telegraph,
is now working on Thatcher's authorized biography. He has had access to all of her papers. No one else has. His book will be published upon her death. I would say that I cannot wait to read it, but given what this implies, I would prefer to wait for a very long while.

Thatcher's memoirs—again, two volumes—are wonderful.
The Path to Power
treats her life until 1979;
The Downing Street Years
covers her premiership. If you have time for only one, read
The Downing Street Years
. Critics have been snotty about her memoirs, as indeed they are snotty about her generally, but they are snotty for no reason: These books are lively, revealing, arch, wise, and beautifully written. Also invaluable is
Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World
, her treatise on international affairs.

As for other memoirs of this period, no one should shuffle off this mortal coil before reading Alan Clark's diaries. There are three volumes:
Into Politics, In Power,
and
The Last Diaries.
I'm not sure that you'll come away from them with a much deeper understanding of Margaret Thatcher, but you'll certainly better understand the environment in which she was obliged to maneuver. (Clark describes Michael Heseltine, for example, as the kind of person “who bought his own furniture”—a remark from which an entire book about the British class structure could be derived.)

The View from No. 11,
by Nigel Lawson, is the most important memoir of economic policymaking during this period. No one ever wished it longer, but you'll have no further questions about the Exchange Rate Mechanism dispute after you finish it.

Although it is now hard to come by, I also recommend John Hoskyns's diary,
Just in Time: Inside the Thatcher Revolution.
Shrewd, detailed, and too rarely read. On Thatcherism as an ideology, Shirley Robin Letwin's
The Anatomy of Thatcherism
is unusually sophisticated and interesting.

If you'd like to know more about Arthur Scargill, Paul Routledge has written an excellent eponymous biography. It is of course unauthorized. Scargill is apparently now preparing his own autobiography. I expect his perspective on the miners' strike will be different from mine.

For the Falklands, nothing comes close to Sir Lawrence Freedman's two-volume
Official History of the Falklands War
. It's the best, most thoroughly sourced, and most comprehensive work extant on the subject.

On Thatcher's role in the Cold War, I suggest John O'Sullivan's book,
The President, the Pope and the Prime Minister: Three Who Changed the World
. I would argue that the book should have had half as much pope and twice as much prime minister, but in O'Sullivan's defense, he has already written a great deal for and about Margaret Thatcher. He was her speechwriter and subsequently played a large hand in the writing of her memoirs.

For a sturdy academic account of Thatcher's economic policy, try
Mrs. Thatcher's Economic Experiment
by William Keegan. It is accessible but critical. Martin Holmes's
The First Thatcher Government
is somewhat more sympathetic. David Smith's
From Boom to Bust
deals with the later period. Robert Skidelsky's anthology,
Thatcherism,
contains a useful selection of essays about her economic policies, both for and against.

The Margaret Thatcher Foundation offers free access to thousands upon thousands of source documents on its Web site, as well as many interesting photos and video clips. If you are at all curious about this epoch, you'll pass many happy hours there. Likewise, if you're seeking a comprehensive, up-to-date bibliography, check there. The Foundation is preparing one right now. It will probably be ready by the time you read this.

Able Archer

Accents

Afghanistan: Soviet invasion of Soviet withdrawal from United States and

Africa

Alcoholism

American Constitution

Anarchy

Andropov, Yuri

Argentina: communications of coup in Falkland Islands ownership by Falklands War popularity in
General Belgrano
and navy of surrender of.
See also
Falklands War

Armament: in Europe Gorbachev, M., on Soviet Union Thatcher, M., on United States.
See also
Disarmament; Exocet missile; Nuclear arms; Satan missile

“Arthur Scargill Walks on Water,”

Ascension Island

Asia

Attractiveness, Thatcher's

Graham, A., on

Hoskyns, J., on Kinnock

on Mitterand on

Australia

Austria

Baghdad

Bank of England

BBC World Service

Benn, Anthony

Berlin Wall

Berlinski, Claire

Big Bang

bin Laden, Osama

Birmingham

Blair, Tony: on EEC Iraq War and legacy of Thatcherism on Walker on at World Economic Forum Yorkshire miners on

BNP.
See
British National Party

Bordeaux, Michael

Boudicea

Brezhnev, Leonid

Britain agriculture in Central Intelligence Agency on economy of in EEC Europe and Falkland Islands ownership by foreign policy of

Britain
(continued)
: Germany and Gorbachev, M., on Grantham identity of investments in Iran and Kissinger on Libyan embassy in navy of Paris and Post Office of postwar census in power of in sixties stagflation in strikes in subsidies in trains in underclass in unemployment in United States and.
See also
Birmingham; British Disease; London; Orgreave, South Yorkshire; Yorkshire

British Disease

British National Party (BNP)

British Nationality Act

Brize Norton Air Force base

Brown, Gordon

Bruges, Belgium

Brussels, Belgium

Bush, George: Ingham on State of the Union speech by Thatcher, M., and Walker on

Callaghan, James “Jim,”

Capitalism: miners and Scargill on

Carlton Club

Carter, Jimmy

Castro, Fidel

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA): on Britain, United States relationship with on Soviet Union, United States relationship with

Centre for Policy Studies

Chamberlain, Neville

Charisma Hoskyns, J., on Hoskyns, M., on Kinnock on

Chequers: Gorbachev, M., meeting at Sovietologists' meeting at

Chernenko, Konstantin

Chiang Kai-shek

China: democracy in mining in

Chirac, Jacques

Churchill Room

Churchill, Winston: Hitler assessment by Howard on Howe on perception of Thatcher, M., on

Civil Contingencies Unit

Clark, Alan: affairs of on Class War on Gow on Thatcher, M., downfall

Class

Clause 4

Clement, Tony

Clinton, Bill

Clinton, Hillary

Coal.
See
Miners; Mining

Coal and Electricity Generating Board

Coal strike, 1984 end of government preparation for Lawson's mine openings during miners' dissent from miners' impoverishment in mining after pit closures after police in Scargill's Soviet Union tours during Soviet Union support of stockpiling for timing of violence in Walker's alternative to.
See also
Flying pickets; National Coal Board; National Union of Mineworkers; Nottinghamshire; Orgreave, South Yorkshire; Scargill, Arthur “King Arthur”

Cold War: end of Powell, Charles, on Reagan on SDI and Thatcher, M., on Thatcher, M., Soviet visit and in United States

College of Europe at Bruges

Committee to Celebrate the October Revolution

Common Market

Communist Party of Great Britain

Community Charge.
See
Poll tax

Congress of Europe

Conservative Group for Europe

Conservative Manifesto, 1979

Conservative Party: communications strategy of on EEC membership free-market economics proposal of Howe's resignation from Kinnock on on miners research department of Thatcher, M.'s resignation from Thatcher, M.'s unpopularity in women and.
See also
Conservative Manifesto, 1979

Constitution: American European of Iraq

Containment

Contract law

Council houses

Crime

Cuba

Currency: British European Soviet

Delors, Jacques

Department of Health and Social Security (DHSS)

d'Estaing, Valéry Giscard

Disarmament: Gorbachev, M., proposal for Labour Party demands for Thatcher, M., on

Diva

“Dress to Kill” (Izzard)

Dublin European Council

Eastern Europe destabilization of Soviet missiles in

Economics: of Britain contractionary free-market Keynesian Kinnock on Labour Party of Scargill of Socialism of Soviet Union specialization in supply-side of Thatcher, M. of Thatcherism of United States

Economists: Hoskyns, J., on Howe on inflation and Keynesian on money measurement on readjustment period Thatcher, M., criticism by

Education

El Salvador

Electrician's union

Electricity industry

Emergency, state of

Employment Act (1982)

Energy: coal alternatives globalization of mining importance for state of emergency on subsidization of.
See also
Oil; Walker, Peter

Equality

Europe: armament in Britain and Howe on.
See also
Eastern Europe; France; Germany; Italy; Madrid; Netherlands

European Commission

European Constitution: referendums on rejection of

European Economic Community (EEC) Blair on Britain in Chirac and Conservative Party on Delors and Germany in Kinnock on Labour Party on Mitterand and Powell, Charles, on subsidies in Thatcher, M., on

European Exchange Rate Mechanism

European Union Berlinski on financial aid from Thatcher, M., on

Euroskepticism

“Evil Empire” (Reagan)

Exclusion zone

Exocet missile

Expansionary policy

Fabian Society

Falkland Islands land mines in oil in ownership of

Falklands War Argentinean communications in Argentinean popularity of Argentinean surrender British naval response to East Falkland battle in effects of Mitterand on peace plan for Powell, Charles, on Reagan's response to ships sunk in start of Thatcher, M., on United Nations response to United States response to

FCO.
See
Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Female roles Boudicea diva flirt housewife matron shrew

Financial aid: from Britain from European Union Lewis on for miners Thatcher, M., on

Fiscal policy

Flying pickets: Ingham on interview with in Nottinghamshire pay of at Saltley coke depot Scargill on

Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO)

Foreign exchange controls

Fountainebleau Summit

France Britain and European Constitution rejection in Paris Socialism in Thatcher, M., on

Free-market economics Conservative Party campaign for Thatcher, M., on in Thatcherism

Friedman, Milton article by Joseph and unemployment fix of

Frost, David

Galtieri, Leopoldo arrest of Haig and strategy of on Thatcher, M.

Gandhi, Indira

Gandhi, Sonia

Gates, Robert

Gender in politics.
See also
Female roles; Women