The funeral of Margaret Thatcher today is the perfect excuse to consign her to the history books.
Ever since her death was announced nine days ago, newspapers, television programmes and the internet have been full of commentators saying you either loved or loathed her.
But there were many like me who didn’t take to her, but admired her courage and resolution.
Almost anyone under 40 will wonder what all the fuss was about as they would have been children when she was in power.
Big issues of the day, such as the Falklands war, the miners’ strike and the Westland helicopter scandal now all seem to belong to another age.
Margaret Thatcher was regarded as inflexible but she could be sensible and subtle.
A good example was her wish to reform the law, which was never carried out because she balked at taking on ranks of solicitors and barristers.
She also never attempted to privatise either the Post Office or the railways, regarding them as better off in public hands.
I met her several times at party conferences in Brighton, particularly when an IRA bomb destroyed The Grand in 1984.
Like many others, I was struck by her public ruthlessness and personal kindness.
On that fateful morning with five colleagues dead or dying and others being rescued from the rubble, she was concerned about her friends but utterly determined in demanding that the conference should continue.
She had already lost one MP, Airey Neave, to the IRA and was later to lose another in Eastbourne, MP Ian Gow.
Many observers said she was lucky in her enemies, citing Arthur Scargill, General Galtieri and the IRA.
I’d agree about the first two but the assassination of Mr Gow led to her downfall. The resulting by-election was won by David Bellotti, a Liberal Democrat.
By this time later in 1990, Tory MPs were feeling panicky about several controversial issues including the poll tax and Europe.
The Eastbourne result sent them into a frenzy. Margaret Thatcher was challenged as party leader by Michael Heseltine and had to stand down.
It was a victory for the IRA but not for Heseltine who lost the leadership fight to John Major.
As for Bellotti, he became a hate figure for many Albion fans because of his role at the club in selling the old Goldstone ground.
I often think, on hearing older Tory MPs praising Margaret Thatcher, that they ended her political career rather than the public, which voted her in three times at elections.
Her reputation suffered badly once she was out of office. She could not help interfering over Europe once John Major was in power.
Eventually she succumbed to senility and it is interesting to note the only other post-war prime minister to suffer a similar fate was Harold Wilson, who was also a heavy drinker of spirits.
She had a long and lonely decline, the last decade being spent without her loyal husband, Denis, who made a good age but who was much older than her.
It was noticeable that neither of her children was with her or even in the country when she died, even though she was too ill to be cared for at home.
Instead she died in the luxurious but impersonal surroundings of the Ritz Hotel.
Like many other prominent politicians, such as Winston Churchill, she put her country first, well before her family. It was a mistake not repeated by her successors, notably Tony Blair and David Cameron.
Even her funeral has divided the nation, with some people planning to disrupt it and many saying she does not deserve so much ritual.
Although some on the Left have said vile things about her, I doubt if she would have been offended, regarding them simply as wrongheaded and rude.
Many of her detractors have only succeeded in making themselves look mean-minded and venal – such as George Galloway whose party name Respect must be something of a sick joke.
Let’s now regard Margaret Thatcher as a figure from the past to rank alongside Churchill, Lloyd George and Attlee as influential premiers of the last century.
In 2013, I welcome a more consensual approach. The fact that we are now governed by a coalition shows that some politicians, unlike her, are prepared to come together in a bid to tackle today’s problems.
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