Blighty

MARGARET THATCHER was part of British poliltical life for 33 years and was mentioned in hundreds of Economist articles. Here are a few highlights from our coverage of her career. 

The first mention came in a piece about one of Harold Macmillan's cabinet reshuffles in October 1961:

Mrs Margaret Thatcher gets the junior job at Pensions because she is of the same gender as Dame Patricia Hornsby Smith [her predecessor in the role].

The second mention, five years later, came during the Conservative Party annual conference in October 1966:

As prime minister from 1979 to 1990, Margaret Thatcher transformed Britain and left an ideological legacy to rival that of Marx, Mao, Gandhi or Reagan

SEVERAL prime ministers have occupied 10 Downing Street for as long as, or even longer than, Margaret Thatcher. Some have won as many elections—Tony Blair, for one. But Mrs Thatcher (later Lady Thatcher), Britain’s sole woman prime minister, remains the only occupant of Number 10 to have become an “-ism” in her lifetime. She left behind a brand of politics and a set of convictions which still resonate, from Warsaw to Santiago to Washington, DC.

What were those convictions?

BRITONS are increasingly opting for an alternative send-off. Funeral directors and coffin-makers are taking note

David Miliband, Britain's former foreign secretary, has announced that he is resigning as MP to take the reins of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in New York. Pondering the news, your correspondent alights on three observations–each suggesting that his role in British politics is far from over.

1) A wonk across the water

The announcement took Westminster by surprise.

AS BRITAIN'S chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne delivers his budget statement to parliament, our correspondents assess its political and economic implications

ON MARCH 20th 2003 Britons woke to footage of fireballs over Baghdad. The first cruise missiles, launched from American ships in the Persian Gulf, had hit the city some five hours before. Tony Blair, the prime minister, addressed the nation:

"The threat to Britain today is not that of my father's generation. War between the big powers is unlikely. Europe is at peace. The Cold War already a memory. But this new world faces a new threat: of  disorder and chaos born either of brutal states like Iraq, armed with weapons of mass destruction, or of extreme terrorist groups. Both hate our way of life, our freedom, our democracy.

“All of a sudden, down came the roof,” narrates an old man, his voice trembling with emotion, as he tells of a horrific mining accident. Ken Loach, the director, promptly cuts to a clip of aristocrats in top hats hunting with horses. As filmmakers go, Mr Loach is not overburdened by nuance.

The film in question, “The Spirit of ‘45”, is a deeply sentimental panegyric to the Labour government that came to power at the end of the Second World War.