Saying Goodbye to Baroness Thatcher

Yesterday I was at the funeral of Mrs Thatcher. Not in St Pauls I'm not that important, a member of opposition, a former member of her government, friend or some hanger on that shouldn't be there*. No, I was lining the route of procession then celebrating her life with members of our party and the Freedom Association/Bow Group.

My day involved a lot changes from bus to train to bus and train for a very long time. But I was on the Grantham line for a while.

The Procession itself was very well attended. I arrived at 9:30ish and everywhere was at least, mostly more, two deep. By the time the gun carriage came past the streets were full. I walked past the demonstration at Ludgate Circus, where 200 communists and anarchists handing out copies of the socialist worker had congregated. Someone was on top of a telephone box for some reason and they were all quite nasty; but 10,000s had turned up to say goodbye to Mrs Thatcher far outnumbering these extremists. The protesters were only there because Thatcher destroyed their vision of a socialist UK.

We saw some quite famous people. Guy Bentley, my NUCA friend and the biggest Libertarian this side of the Atlantic, pointed out people from lots of groups and think tanks. Also Jacob Rees-Mogg, in a great top hat, and Jeremy Clarkson walked past. I said hello to them and both greeted me back, which is very nice.

The Procession itself was very good. One chap had brought a step ladder and said, jokingly, he would charge 10p a photo on top of it. Lady Thatcher would have been pleased. I caught a glimpse of the coffin and felt saddend by the fact I never met her, Mrs Thatcher politically meant a lot to me. Remember though that Thatcherism lives on, today it is even stronger than when she was in power.

A Cunning Idea

The Best Picture I got of the Iron Lady

I then went to the event organised by the Freedom Association where lots of people were present including some NUCA members. MPs who were there at the time of Thatcher or are now in Parliament came to say how she changed Britain forever. We will never know how awful the 1970s were for this country and that's precisely because the UK was saved from high inflation and uncontrollable Trade Unions by the great lady. Also speaking were MEPs (including two of mine), think tank leaders, Oliver Cooper, and UKIPers who were strangely preaching loyalty. I find this UKIP prescence weird because all of them just hated David Cameron, so they're not really loyal. Mrs Thatcher would have hated this.

NUCA Friend, Alex Bright, enjoying the 'soapboxing'.

So what did I learn/emphasise more now because of this event. Well Thatcherism is not dead, if anything it is growing in popularity. Everyone in the Tory Party has to like or pretend to like Thatcher. Next, David Cameron needs to do better. Some speakers spoke frankly about how bad DC actually is as a leader. Essentially they said because of our huge debt we probably need a new Thatcher soon. Finally never ever give in. When times look bad if you fight hard enough they will change, but never just think things will change.

Conor Burns MP, a close friend of Mrs Thatcher, gave an excellent speech saying why he preferred to be with the foot soldiers of Thatcherism.

The event was packed and lasted several hours, my thanks go to the organisers of the event. 

Strangely the day was actually very good. Mrs Thatcher is now properly at peace and we celebrated what she did and what she meant to the people. Hopefully now we as a party can actually try live up to what she meant.

*Someone I know who Mrs Thatcher would have turned in her grave if she knew he was there.