Celebrating Margaret Thatcher Day

There are many things for which Margaret Thatcher is remembered – the handbags, the handbagging (see “Pierre, you’re being obnoxious. Stop acting like a naughty schoolboy”, on Pierre Trudeau, 1981) – but with current tension between Argentina and Britain rising, her successful campaign against the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands in 1982 is the legacy that we find ourselves recalling at present, and we’re not alone. For today is Margaret Thatcher Day in the Falklands.
As the historic conflict is remembered, and memories of victory celebrated, it seems a prudent time to get your hands on a copy of Memories of the Falklands, edited by Iain Dale. Thirty years after the Falklands War, those deeply affected by its horrors and its glories – islanders, soldiers, politicians – pool their most vivid memories to produce a poignant and graphic reminder of the Argentinian occupation of the islands and their liberation by the British Task Force.
Contributors include Sir Rex Hunt, Governor of the Falklands at the time of the invasion; political and diplomatic figures such as Margaret Thatcher, Major-General Julian Thompson, Sir John Nott, Cecil Parkinson and David Owen; men on the front line such as Simon Weston and Denzil Connick; journalists like Max Hastings and Simon Jenkins; and many of the islanders themselves, for whom life would never again be the same.
With stunning photographs of the campaign and its aftermath, Memories of the Falklands provides a unique reminder of an extraordinary episode in British history.
Why not also celebrate Margaret Thatcher Day with The Margaret Thatcher Book of Quotations (there’s a whole section on the Falklands!)?
Margaret Thatcher enthrals whenever she speaks. Her political career has spanned five decades and her influence on world politics is undeniable. From followers she inspires devotion; from detractors she induces unprecedented venom – but they listen all the same. Margaret Thatcher is the most quoted British political leader since Winston Churchill and in this unique collection Iain Dale and Grant Tucker have picked out her most memorable remarks. Never far from emitting a scathing rebuke she possesses a facility for the spoken word rivalled by few others. Some quotes are funny, many are inspirational, most are thoughtful – but they are all unforgettable.
Alongside Margaret Thatcher’s own words, the book contains many quotes from her political allies and opponents, as well as from foreign leaders who were often on the end of a good handbagging. On her resignation some said we would never see her like again. So far they have been proved right. With a talent for the perfect response, Maggie’s whiplash tongue has ensured that her magnetism endures.
Happy Margaret Thatcher Day!