The day I met Maggie

      Margaret Thatcher died on 8 April 2013. I had the honour to meet her in her first term of office as British Prime Minister - I recall in 1980 a slightly stooping ordinary looking woman dressed in a light blue twin set scuttling into Kensington Town Hall carrying a handbag as the audience stood to greet her.

     Anyone handing out an award to 100 people might be pushed to say anything original and immediate to each and it is unlikely they would compare notes afterwards which would be interesting. As I stood on the stage waiting for my cue I was briefed that I had 18 seconds to converse with her. I walked on to the announcement  'Jeremy Broun visited furniture designers, manufacturers and retailers in Sweden, Finland and Italy'. As she handed over the medal and I shook her hand she softly whispered 'well done, I hope you taught them a thing or two'. I was too mesmerised by the occasion to say anything more than 'thank you' but on exiting down the stairs I immediately thought why didn't I say 'on the contrary, ma'am, I was there to learn from them '. I had bought a pea green flared felt suit for the occasion, far too tight around the shoulders and crutch to comfortably wear much again so I mothballed it my 'Maggie Thatcher suit'.

I was 33 years old and making innovative handmade furniture in a tiny cramped underground workshop without natural light. My ideas were too forward looking for the hidebound British market so indeed it was a huge shot in the arm for me to win the Churchill scholarship that took me away from 'Little England' and discover my ideas were shared abroad but also that I would soak up much of Scandinavian and Italian culture in my chosen field. 

   However, now some 33 years on I have observed how the spin on history changes and Maggie became a hate figure to younger generations whose parents she encouraged to pursue individual plight. But the dominant opinion today is largely second hand opinion and I suspect the hate has another agenda. People forget how much Margaret Thatcher not just led but echoed a change in attitude in Britain. She was a person  of her time and greed was already in the air. She held the view that encouraging individual enterprise and reward would benefit society but in so doing may have ironically destroyed a sense of community. But she, like others was contradictory. I'm not a politically educated or inspired person but am bound to hold views about welfare, education and commerce, a complex and conflicting mix in itself.  Yes she was not entirely right (longterm) in my opinion to sell off Council houses (reducing the safety net for genuinely needy) and clearly wrong over the Poll Tax and I do remember events that happened at the time. She was surely right to stand up to the unions who were crippling this country and engaged in blatant class war. There is no universal right that anyone born into an occupation in a particular community can continue that for ever. Migration and change is the story of civilisation and as an individual I have personally had to adapt and adjust to suddenly and unfairly losing valued jobs in the area I trained. Also I have a 'Facebook culture' thrust on me to conform to whether I like it or not and the destruction of letter writing, the art of communication, arguably ruined by emails! These things destroy sense of community also. Arguably miners communities could have been protected but at what cost to the economy? The strikes were self-interested causing chaos and misery for millions of ordinary Britons.   
      Margaret Thatcher was above all a world player with unique influence on a par of Churchill (who fought for freedom we abuse). She got dialogue with Gorbachov and charmed Reagan, cementing ties with the USA and helping break down the Iron Curtain. We seldom question the impact of American culture on our own culture today? She also (astoundingly) clawed back an EEC rebate that still remains largely intact today.

     Margaret Thatcher was arrogant and had audacity, clearly attributes of a strong leader! Inevitably power corrupts and she did became too extreme and I guess history will paint a divided view but then Britain today since Thatcher has become more divided, more greedy with political opposition betraying its roots and it is easy to pin the blame on just one person. One thing I learned on that day I met the Prime Minister was never to judge a woman with a handbag, appearances are deceptive! Margaret Thatcher RIP.