Mrs Thatcher lifts the lid on her ‘hoard’

This is the innocent stock of food which brought a storm about the head of Tory First Lady Mrs. Margaret Thatcher.

“My cupboard is not a hoard in any sense of the word. It is a store cupboard,” said the 49-year-old Shadow Cabinet minister.

Harsh criticisms like “snatching the food out of pensioners’ mouths” have made her angry. Stocking up with tins of food is simply sensible buying for a housewife when the pound in her purse is shrinking, she retorts.

‘Only Natural’

“I have a family of five who are in and out of the house at all times of the day and night demanding food at a moment's notice. It is only natural to keep a stock in.”

But Mrs. Thatcher the politician—a possible contender for the Conservative leadership—knows there is some political damage to redress after that apparently harmless magazine interview when she advised housewives to keep a well-stocked cupboard.