Margaret Thatcher: The Authorized Biography

by Charles Moore

  Bailey, Matthew and Cowley, Philip, ‘Choosing the Lady: Another Look at the Leadership Contest of 1975’, Conservative History Journal, issue 1, Summer 2003

  Blundell, John, ‘Margaret Thatcher’s Revolution: How it Happened and What it Meant’, Economic Affairs, vol. 26, no. 1, 2006

  Cooper, James, ‘The Foreign Politics of Opposition: Margaret Thatcher and the Transatlantic Relationship before Power’, Contemporary British History, vol. 24, no. 1, 2010

  Evans, Stephen, ‘The Not So Odd Couple: Margaret Thatcher and One Nation Conservatism’, Contemporary British History, vol. 23, no. 1, 2009

  Jefferys, Kevin, ‘Britain and the Boycott of the 1980s Moscow Olympics’, Sport in History, Vol. 32, No. 2, 2012

  King, Anthony, ‘The Outsider as Political Leader: The Case of Margaret Thatcher’, British Journal of Political Science, vol. 32, no. 3, 2002

  Lehman, John, ‘The Falklands War: Reflections on the Special Relationship’, RUSI Journal, Vol. 157, No. 6, 2012

  Scott-Smith, Giles, ‘ “Her Rather Ambitious Washington Program”: Margaret Thatcher’s International Visitor Program Visit to the United States in 1967’, British Contemporary History, vol. 17, no. 4, Winter 2003

  Notes

  CHAPTER 1: GRANTHAM

  1. Interview with Muriel Cullen (née Roberts). 2. Sermon notes prepared by Alfred Roberts, The Thatcher Papers, Churchill College, Cambridge, THCR 1/9/8. 3. Ibid. 4. Interview with Mary Grylls (née Wallace). 5. Margaret Thatcher, The Path to Power, HarperCollins, 1995, p. 5. 6. Maggie: The First Lady (Brook Lapping Productions for ITV and PBS, 2003). 7. Interview with Lady Thatcher. 8. Interview by Miriam Stoppard, Woman to Woman (Yorkshire Television), 19 Nov. 1985 (http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/105830). 9. Interview with Lady Thatcher. 10. Interview with Muriel Cullen. 11. Ibid. 12. Woman to Woman. 13. Ibid. 14. Interview with Carol Thatcher. 15. Ibid. 16. Interview with Muriel Cullen. 17. Interview with Lady Thatcher. 18. Ibid. 19. Thatcher, The Path to Power, p. 9. 20. I bid. 21. Interview with Lady Thatcher. 22. THCR 1/9/8. 23. Patricia Murray, Margaret Thatcher, W. H. Allen, 1980, p. 22. 24. THCR 1/9/8. 25. Interview with Lady Thatcher. 26. Ibid. 27. Woman to Woman. 28. Murray, Margaret Thatcher, p. 22. 29. Interview with Jean Dean (née Farmer). 30. Interview with Muriel Cullen. 31. Ibid. (see also Chapter 5). 32. Ibid. 33. Interview with Margaret Wickstead (née Goodrich). 34. Interview with Pamela Thomas. 35. Interview with Muriel Cullen. 36. Interview with Margaret Wickstead. 37. Interview with Lady Thatcher. 38. Woman to Woman. 39. Letter to Muriel, 30 July 1944. 40. Letter to Muriel, 20 Aug. 1944. 41. Interview with Jean Dean. 42. Private information. 43. Interview with Carol Thatcher. 44. Interview with Pamela Thomas. 45. Interview with Lady Thatcher. 46. Interview with Margaret Wickstead. 47. Interview with Rita Wright (née Hind). 48. Interview with Shirley Ellis (née Walsh). 49. Maggie: The First Lady. 50. Several conversations with Lady Thatcher. 51. Maggie: The First Lady. 52. Interview with Kenneth Wallace. 53. Interview with Mary Grylls. 54. Interview with Kenneth Wallace. 55. Interview with Mary Grylls. 56. Interview with Kenneth Wallace. 57. Interview with Madeline Hellaby (née Edwards). 58. Maggie: The First Lady. 59. Interview with Jean Dean. 60. Conversation with Lady Thatcher, as reported by David Heathcoat-Amory. 61. Letter to Muriel, 30 July 1944. 62. Thatcher, The Path to Power. 63. Interview with Nellie Towers, Maggie: The First Lady. 64. Thatcher, The Path to Power, p. 3. 65. Maggie: The First Lady. 66. Woman to Woman. 67. Interview with Muriel Cullen. 68. Grantham Journal, 11 July 1936. 69. Thatcher, The Path to Power, p. 21. 70. Ibid., p. 25. 71. Interview with Lady Thatcher. 72. Ibid. 73. Ibid. 74. Ibid. 75. Grantham Journal, 28 Jan. 1939. 76. Ibid. 77. Interview with Lady Thatcher. 78. Ibid. 79. Ibid. 80. Letter from Edith Mühlbauer to Alfred Roberts, 21 Jan. 1939. 81. Letter from Edith Mühlbauer to Alfred Roberts, 23 Mar. 1939. 82. Interview with Lady Thatcher. 83. Interview with Muriel Cullen. 84. Ibid. 85. Interview with Madeline Hellaby. 86. Interview with Mary Grylls. 87. Ibid. 88. Interview with Kenneth Wallace. 89. Ibid. 90. Interview with Muriel Cullen. 91. Interview with Lady Thatcher.

  CHAPTER 2: SCHOLARSHIP GIRL

  1. Letter to Muriel, 25 July 1941. 2. Letter to Muriel, 20 Sept. 1941. 3. Ibid. 4. Margaret Thatcher, The Path to Power, HarperCollins, 1995, p. 21. In her memoirs, Lady Thatcher mistakenly attributes these festivities to the Silver Jubilee of King George V, which also took place in 1935. 5. Interview with Jean Dean (née Farmer). 6. Letter from Lorna Smith, 2003. 7. George Gardiner, Margaret Thatcher: From Childhood to Leadership, William Kimber, 1975, p. 20. 8. All above quotations from interview with Jean Dean. 9. Letter to Mr and Mrs Jack Farmer, 7 Mar. 1974. 10. Interview with Shirley Ellis (née Walsh). 11. Letter to Muriel, Dec. 1941. 12. Letter to Muriel, 20 Sept. 1941. 13. Letter to Muriel, Oct. 1941. 14. Grantham Journal, draft obituary of Lady Thatcher. 15. All these quotations are from Thatcher, The Path to Power, pp. 9–10. 16. Letter to Muriel, 30 July 1944. 17. Letter to Muriel, Oct. 1941. 18. Ibid. 19. Letter from Lorna Smith, 2003. 20. Grantham Journal, obituary of Lady Thatcher. 21. Interviews with Amy Ormond (née Wootten), Pauline Harrison (née Cowan) and Betty Robbins (née Spice). 22. Interview with Lady Thatcher. 23. Ibid. 24. Ibid. 25. Ibid. 26. Interview with Rita Wright (née Hind). 27. Interview with Lady Thatcher. 28. Interview with Rita Wright. 29. Letter from Lorna Smith, 2003. 30. Ibid. 31. Interview with Rita Wright. 32. Interview with Lorna Smith. 33. Interviews with Madeline Hellaby (née Edwards) and Margaret Wickstead (née Goodrich). 34. Letter to Muriel, Dec. 1941 (undated). 35. All quotations from Margaret’s school reports come from copies in the possession of KGGS library. The author is grateful for the school’s permission to see and publish them. 36. Patricia Murray, Margaret Thatcher, W. H. Allen, 1980. 37. Grantham Journal, obituary of Lady Thatcher. 38. KGGS archives. 39. Letter to Shirley Ellis, 6 July 1990. 40. Thatcher, The Path to Power, p. 18. 41. Ibid. 42. Letter to Muriel, Oct. 1941. 43. Interview with Jean Dean. 44. Interview with Rita Wright. 45. Ibid. 46. The History of Kesteven and Grantham Girls’ School, 1910–87, pamphlet, 1987. 47. Interview with Lady Thatcher. 48. Letter to Muriel, Oct. 1941. 49. Russell Lewis, Margaret Thatcher: A Personal and Political Biography, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1975, p. 12. 50. Interview with Muriel Cullen. 51. Thatcher, The Path to Power, p. 34. 52. Letter from Lorna Smith. 53. Interview with Madeline Hellaby. She says the aim of getting higher education was understood and accepted. 54. Interview with Mary Grylls (née Wallace). 55. Interview with Lady Thatcher.

  CHAPTER 3: LOVE AND WAR AT OXFORD

  1. Interview with Mary Grylls (née Wallace). 2. Interview with Margaret Wickstead (née Goodrich). 3. Margaret Thatcher, The Path to Power, HarperCollins, 1995, p. 37. 4. Papers relating to the compilation of Lady Thatcher’s memoirs, The Thatcher Papers, Churchill College, Cambridge, THCR 4/4. 5. Thatcher, The Path to Power, p. 38. 6. Ibid. 7. See interview with Pamela Mason (née Rhodes), a fellow Somervillian, who says that Margaret ‘gave a brown impression’, Maggie: The First Lady (Brook Lapping Productions for ITV and PBS, 2003). 8. Interview with Rachel Kinchin-Smith. 9. Interview with Mary Grylls. 10. Letter to Muriel, Sept. 1944. 11. Interview with Lady Thatcher. 12. Letter to Muriel, Sept. 1944. 13. Interview with Betty Robbins (née Spice). 14. Letter from Joan Bridgman (née Parker); Letter from Jean Darmon (née Southerst). 15. Interview with Amy Ormond (née Wootten). 16. Letter from Mary Williamson (née Mallinson). 17. Interview with Pauline Harrison (née Cowan). 18. Interview with Betty Robbins. 19. Maggie: The First Lady. 20. Letter from Jean Darmon. 21. Letter from Mary Williamson. 22. Letter to Muriel, June 1946. 23. Letter from Mary Williamson. 24. Information provided by Lady Oppenheimer (née Helen Lucas Tooth). 25. Interview with Betty Robbins. 26. Private information. 27. Nicholas Wapshott and George Brock, Thatcher, Macdonald, 1983, p. 46. 28. Interview with Pauline Harrison. 29. THCR 4/4. 30. Interview with Lady Thatcher. 31. Letter to Muriel, 19 Apr. 1945. 32. THCR 4/4. 33. Interview with Betty Robbins. 34. Interview with Pauline Harrison. 35. Letter from Dorothy Hodgkin to Tony Epstein, 23 Aug. 1988, Bodleian Library, Oxford. 36. Interview with Betty R
obbins. 37. Hugo Young and Anne Sloman, The Thatcher Phenomenon, BBC Books, 1986, p. 17. 38. Ibid. 39. Interview with Lady Thatcher. 40. Wapshott and Brock, Thatcher. 41. Interview with Betty Robbins. 42. Thatcher, The Path to Power, pp. 78–9. 43. Ibid. 44. Letter to Muriel from Walton Street, Oxford, 1947 (undated). 45. Conversation with Romilly, Lady McAlpine. 46. Letter from Jean Darmon. 47. THCR 4/4. 48. Ibid. 49. Interview with Amy Ormond. 50. Ibid. 51. Interview with Pauline Harrison. 52. Interview with Mary Grylls. 53. THCR 4/4. 54. Thatcher, The Path to Power, pp. 50–51. 55. Ibid. 56. THCR 4/4. 57. Ibid. 58. Interview with Lady Thatcher. 59. Ibid. 60. Ibid. 61. THCR 4/4. 62. Ibid. 63. Ibid. 64. Letter to Muriel, 25 Mar. 1945. 65. Speech in Sleaford, 25 June 1945, reported in Sleaford Gazette, 29 June 1945 (http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/100817). 66. Letter from Liz Barrington to Muriel, 17 July 1945. 67. Thatcher, The Path to Power, p. 46. 68. THCR 4/4. 69. Thatcher, The Path to Power, p. 46. 70. THCR 4/4. 71. Ibid. 72. Oxford University Conservative Association Policy Sub-Committee report, Michaelmas Term 1945, kindly lent to the author by Michael Kinchin-Smith. 73. THCR 4/4. 74. Speech at Federation of University Conservative and Unionist Associations Conference, 28 Mar. 1946, reported in Isis, 1 May 1946 (http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/100818). 75. THCR 4/4. 76. Thatcher, The Path to Power, p. 48. 77. Ibid. 78. Conversation with Lord Rees-Mogg. 79. Interview with Sir Michael Oppenheimer. 80. Private information. 81. Interview with Lady Thatcher. 82. THCR 4/4. 83. Conversation with the late Duke of Buccleuch. 84. THCR 4/4. 85. Letter to Muriel, Oct. 1946. 86. Letter to Muriel, May 1947. 87. Letter to Muriel, Jan. 1947. 88. Conversation with Max Findlay. 89. Ibid. 90. Letter to Muriel, May 1947. 91. Letter to Muriel from Galley Hill, Darenth Road, Dartford, probably late 1949. 92. Conversation with Max Findlay. 93. Letter to Muriel, 15 May 1947. 94. Interview with Kenneth Wallace. 95. Letter to Muriel, 20 Aug. 1944. 96. Letter to Muriel, 3 Jan. 1945. 97. Interview with Margaret Wickstead. 98. Ibid. 99. Interview with Tony Bray. 100. Ibid. 101. Ibid. 102. Letter to Muriel, 25 Mar. 1945. 103. Interview with Tony Bray. 104. Letter to Muriel, 25 Mar. 1945. 105. Ibid. 106. Interview with Tony Bray. 107. Letter to Muriel, 19 Apr. 1945. 108. Interview with Tony Bray. 109. Ibid. 110. Interview with Muriel Cullen. 111. Interview with Tony Bray.

  CHAPTER 4: ESSEX GIRL

  1. Papers relating to the compilation of Lady Thatcher’s memoirs, The Thatcher Papers, Churchill College, Cambridge, THCR 4/4. 2. Margaret Thatcher, The Path to Power, HarperCollins, 1995, p. 62. 3. Letter to Muriel, 17 Nov. 1947. 4. Letter to Muriel, 17 Feb. 1948. 5. Letter to Muriel, probably early Nov. 1947 (undated). 6. Letter to Muriel, 21 Oct. 1947. 7. Letter to Muriel, probably June 1948 (undated). 8. Ibid. 9. Letter to Muriel, 3 Mar. 1948. 10. Letter to Muriel, 18 Aug. 1948. 11. Letter to Muriel, 28 Sept. 1947. 12. Letter to Muriel, probably Oct. 1947 (undated). 13. Letter to Muriel, 28 Sept. 1947. 14. Interview with Brian Harrison. 15. Letter to Muriel, probably Oct. 1947 (undated). 16. Letter to Muriel, 27 Apr. 1948. 17. Ibid. 18. Letter to Muriel, 17 Nov. 1947. 19. Letter to Muriel, 11 May 1948. 20. Letter to Muriel, probably Apr. 1948 (undated). 21. Letter to Muriel, probably June 1948 (undated). 22. Letter to Muriel, 17 Feb. 1948. 23. Interview with Tony Bray. 24. All above quotations from letter to Muriel, 18 May 1948. 25. All above quotations from letter to Muriel, early Sept. 1948 (undated). 26. Letter to Muriel, 8 Dec. 1948. 27. Letter to Muriel, 4 Jan. 1949. 28. Letter to Muriel, 16 Feb. 1949. 29. Interview with Tony Bray. 30. Ibid. 31. Letter to Muriel, 23 Nov. 1948. 32. Letter to Muriel, 19 Jan. 1949. 33. Interview with Brian Harrison. 34. Interview with Tony Bray. 35. Letter to Muriel, probably Sept. 1948 (undated). 36. Letter to Muriel, 18 Aug. 1948. 37. Letter to Muriel, 11 Oct. 1948. 38. Ibid. 39. Thatcher, The Path to Power, p. 63. 40. Ibid. 41. Interview with Ken Tisdell. 42. Interview with Shirley and Alan Wells, and June Wood. 43. TCHR 4/4. 44. Letter from Beryl Cook to J. P. L. Thomas, Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party, 1 Feb. 1949, THCR 1/1/1. 45. Letter from Marjorie Maxse to J. P. L. Thomas, 1 Feb. 1949, THCR 1/1/1. 46. This, and all ensuing quotations from Margaret Roberts’s references come from the Conservative Central Office files, copies at THCR 1/1/1. 47. Letter to Muriel, 22 Sept. 1948. 48. Ibid. 49. Letter to Muriel, 14 Nov. 1948. 50. Ibid. 51. Letter to Muriel, 4 Jan. 1949. 52. Letter to Muriel, 18 Jan. 1949. 53. Letter to Muriel, 16 Feb. 1949. 54. Ibid. 55. Letter to Muriel, 23 Feb. 1949. 56. Ibid. 57. Ibid. 58. Speech at adoption meeting, 28 Feb. 1949, reported in Erith Observer, 4 Mar. 1949 (http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/100821). 59. Ibid. 60. Letter to Muriel, 17 Mar. 1949. 61. Interview with Sir Denis Thatcher. 62. Ibid. 63. Letter to Muriel, 17 Mar. 1949. 64. Letter to Muriel, 13 Mar. 1949.

  CHAPTER 5: DARTFORD AND ROMANCE

  1. Interview with Patricia Greenough (née Luker). 2. Interview with Lady Thatcher. 3. Interview with Patricia Greenough. 4. Ibid. 5. All the above quotations come from conversations with former Dartford Young Conservatives Shirley and Alan Wells, June Wood, Ken Tisdell and Gwen Morgan. 6. Ibid. 7. Interview with Patricia Greenough. 8. Letter to Muriel, 20 May 1950. 9. Letter to Muriel, 29 Sept. 1949. 10. Papers relating to the compilation of Lady Thatcher’s memoirs, The Thatcher Papers, Churchill College, Cambridge, THCR 4/4. 11. Interview with Lady Thatcher. 12. Letter to Muriel, 29 Sept. 1949. 13. See Dartford Chronicle, 7 Oct. 1949. 14. Speech debating with Labour candidate (Norman Dodds), 25 Nov. 1949, reported in Erith Observer, 2 Dec. 1949 (http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/100845). 15. Interview with Shirley Wells. 16. Speech to Belvedere Conservatives, 23 Apr. 1949, reported in Erith Observer, 29 Apr. 1949 (http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/100824). 17. Speech to Dartford Young Conservatives, 13 Aug. 1949, reported in Dartford Chronicle, 19 Aug. 1949 (http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/100831). 18. Speech to Bexley Conservative Women, 15 Sept. 1949, reported in Kentish Independent, 23 Sept. 1949 (http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/100836). 19. Speech to Erith Conservative Women, 9 June 1949, reported in Kentish Independent, 17 June 1949 (http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/100828). 20. Speech to Dartford Conservatives, 31 Mar. 1949, reported in Dartford Chronicle, 8 Apr. 1949 (http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/100822). 21. Speech to Erith Conservative Women, 9 June 1949, reported in Kentish Independent, 17 June 1949 (http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/100828). 22. Article in Evening Post, 27 Jan. 1950 (http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/100855). 23. Speech to Dartford Young Conservatives, 13 Aug. 1949, reported in Dartford Chronicle, 19 Aug. 1949 (http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/100831). 24. Letter to Muriel, probably early May 1949 (undated). 25. Speech to Dartford Rotarians, 3 Jan. 1950, reported in Dartford Chronicle, 6 Jan. 1950 (http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/100851). 26. Information from Margaret Phillimore (née Pottle). 27. Letter to Muriel, 13 Mar. 1949. 28. Ibid. 29. Letter to Muriel, 23 Mar. 1949. 30. Ibid. 31. Letter to Muriel, May 1949 (undated). 32. Ibid. 33. Letter to Muriel, 23 May 1949. 34. Letter to Muriel, probably Apr. 1949 (undated). 35. Ibid. 36. Letter to Muriel, 23 May 1949. 37. Letter to Muriel, probably June 1949 (undated). 38. Letter to Muriel, 1949 (undated). 39. Letter to Muriel, mid-July 1949 (undated). 40. Letter to Muriel, 21 July 1949. 41. Ibid. 42. Letter to Muriel, early July 1949 (undated). 43. Letter to Muriel, Oct. 1949 (undated). 44. Ibid. 45. Letter to Muriel, probably early Jan. 1950 (undated). 46. Ibid. 47. Letter to Muriel, probably mid-Jan. 1950 (undated). 48. Letter to Muriel, 14 Feb. 1950. 49. Interview with Muriel Cullen. 50. Letter to Muriel, 10 Mar. 1950. 51. Ibid. 52. Ibid. 53. Interview with Muriel Cullen. 54. Interview with Andrew Cullen. 55. Interview with Muriel Cullen. 56. Interview with Jane Mayes (née Cullen). 57. Interview with Josie Henderson. 58. Interview with Judy, Lady Percival. 59. Interview with Josie Henderson. 60. Letter to Muriel, probably early Jan. 1950 (undated). 61. Letter to Muriel, probably mid-Jan. 1950 (undated). 62. Letter to Muriel, 14 Feb. 1950. 63. Letter from Anthony Hancox. 64. General election address, 3 Feb. 1950 (http://margaretthatcher.org/document/100858). 65. All above quotations from Gravesend and Dartford Reporter, 28 Jan. 1950 (http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/100856). 66. The train times are marginally diffe
rent from those furnished by Mrs Phillimore (see note 26 above). 67. Dartford Chronicle, 10 Feb. 1950. 68. THCR 4/4. 69. Ibid. 70. Ibid. 71. Dartford Chronicle, 3 Mar. 1950 (http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/100874). Mick Jagger was a pupil at the school shortly afterwards. 72. Speech on first anniversary as Conservative candidate for Dartford, 9 Mar. 1950, reported in Erith Observer, 17 Mar. 1950 (http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/100875). 73. Letter to Muriel, probably May 1950 (undated). 74. Interview with Lord Renton. 75. Letter to Muriel, probably early July 1950 (undated). 76. Letter to Muriel, probably Sept. 1950 (undated). 77. Letter to Muriel, 1950 (undated). 78. Letter to Muriel, Mar. 1950 (undated). 79. Letter to Muriel, probably spring 1951 (undated). 80. Letter to Muriel, 20 May 1950. 81. Letter to Muriel, probably May 1950 (undated). 82. Letter to Muriel, 20 June 1950. 83. Letter to Muriel, late Aug. or early Sept. 1950 (undated). 84. Letter to Muriel, probably May 1950 (undated). 85. Letter to Muriel, probably early July 1950 (undated). 86. Quotations and information from letter to Muriel, 20 June 1950. 87. Ibid. 88. Quotations from letter to Muriel, 28 Feb. 1951. 89. Interview with Lady Thatcher. 90. Letter to Muriel, May 1951 (undated). 91. Ibid. 92. Letter to Muriel, 28 May 1951. 93. Letter to Muriel, May 1951 (undated). 94. Letter to Muriel, 23 May 1951. 95. Letter to Muriel (undated). 96. Ibid. 97. Letter to Muriel, 23 May 1951. 98. Letter from Alfred Roberts to Muriel, 28 Jan. 1951. 99. Letter from Alfred Roberts to Muriel, 7 May 1951. 100. Interview with Muriel Cullen. 101. Letter from Alfred Roberts to Muriel, 8 Aug. 1951. 102. Interview with Lady Thatcher. 103. Interview with Muriel Cullen. 104. Letter to Muriel, 28 Feb. 1951. 105. Letter to Muriel, 28 May 1951. 106. Letter to Muriel, probably May 1951 (undated). 107. Letter from Alfred Roberts to Muriel, 25 Sept. 1951. 108. Letter to Muriel, probably Oct. 1950 (undated). 109. Daily Express, 11 Oct. 1985. 110. Interview with Mrs Josie Henderson. 111. Interview with Muriel Cullen. 112. Conversation with Lady Thatcher. 113. Letter to Muriel, 20 Jan. 1954. 114. Interview with Mrs Josie Henderson. 115. Letter to Mrs Josie Henderson from Margaret Thatcher, 20 Mar. 2000. 116. Interview with Sir Denis Thatcher. 117. Interview with Lady Thatcher. 118. Interview with Sir Denis Thatcher. 119. Interview with Lady Thatcher. 120. See Margaret Thatcher, The Path to Power, HarperCollins, 1995, p. 66. 121. Ibid. 122. Interview with Lady Thatcher. 123. Ibid. 124. Ibid. 125. Quotations from interview with Sir Denis Thatcher. 126. Ibid. 127. Ibid. 128. See Carol Thatcher, Below the Parapet: The Biography of Denis Thatcher, HarperCollins, 1996, p. 51. 129. Ibid. 130. Conversation with Lady Thatcher. 131. Interview with Cynthia Crawford. 132. Speech in Belvedere, 15 Oct. 1951, reported in Erith Observer, 19 Oct. 1951 (http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/100917). 133. Interview with Patricia Greenough. 134. THCR 4/4. 135. Interview with Sir Clive Bossom. 136. Interview with Lord Deedes. 137. Letter to Muriel, probably Sept. 1950 (undated). 138. Interview with Sir Clive Bossom. 139. Letter to Muriel, 23 May 1951. 140. Letter to Muriel, 20 May 1950. 141. Speech to Dartford Conservatives, 10 July 1950, reported in Dartford Chronicle, 14 July 1950 (http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/100885). 142. Speech to Chislehurst Young Conservatives, 25 Sept. 1950, reported in Dartford Chronicle, 29 Sept. 1950 (http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/100890). 143. Dartford Chronicle, 29 Dec. 1950 (http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/100896). 144. Speech to Dartford Free Church Council, 30 May 1951, reported in Dartford Chronicle, 8 June 1951 (http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/100905). 145. Speech at adoption meeting, 8 Oct. 1951, reported in Erith Observer, 12 Oct. 1951 (http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/100911). 146. Letter to Muriel, 28 Feb. 1951. 147. Thatcher, The Path to Power, p. 69. 148. THCR 4/4. 149. Speech in Crayford, 22 Oct. 1951, reported in Dartford Chronicle, 26 Oct. 1951 (http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/100924).