Speeches, etc.

Margaret Thatcher

Press Conference in Edinburgh

Document type: Speeches, interviews, etc.
Venue: Edinburgh
Source: The Times, 22 February 1975
Journalist: Ronald Faux, The Times, reporting
Editorial comments: Time unknown.
Importance ranking: Minor
Word count: 877
Themes: Union of UK nations, Conservative Party (organization)

Thatcher ‘walkabout’ stopped by huge crowd in Edinburgh

Mrs Thatcher, in her first major public appearance since being confirmed as leader of the Conservative Party, was mobbed by thousands of people in Edinburgh yesterday, and had to abandon a “walkabout” in a shopping centre. She confessed herself “totally astonished” by the reception.

Six policemen accompanying her tried unsuccessfully to hold back the crowd of more than 3,000 that packed the arcade of the St James Centre, near Prince's Street. At least three women fainted, and others had to be helped clear.

More police arrived and, with party officials, made a wall about Mrs Thatcher as she retreated to a car after having taken refuge in a jeweller's shop. There were a few shouts of “bring back Ted” , but the reception was overwhelmingly warm.

Mrs Thatcher said afterwards: “I have never seen anything like it, anywhere. It was a fantastic reception. I was not worried about myself but I was worried about the safety of people who were being pressed against the shop windows.”

The new leader had arrived earlier at Edinburgh airport to the tune of “A Man's a Man for a' That” , played by a wry-minded piper. The high priority given to a Scottish visit clearly reflected the alarm felt about the party's performance north of the border and its mauling by the Scottish Nationalists.

The number of Scottish Conservative seats at Westminster fell from 23 in 1970 to 16 at the election last October, when the Scottish National Party gained 11 seats and came second in more than 30 others, it pushed the Conservatives into third place in the number of votes polled.

So it was a Tory faithful eager to hear about plans to halt the decline that met Mrs Thatcher yesterday. With a large sprig of heather in her buttonhole, she told a press conference that she would take questions from north of the border first.

The first was predictable—what did she think about devolution for Scotland? She replied that the Conservative Party was absolutely in tune with the theme of devolution. As for the details, she stood by the last party manifesto, and denied that that represented any change of view by her.

Would she change the leadership in Scotland? What was she going to do about the party's performance there? Mrs Thatcher retorted that 10 days in office was not enough time to produce major policy decisions. “You would be the first to jump down my throat if I did come up here with ready-made solutions” , she said. “I will be back again, soon.”

She parried demands for greater detail of the exact form of Scottish Assembly the Conservatives would prefer, and turned questions about what the party would do on aid to industry into an attack on what the Government was failing to achieve. She hoped to be able to reverse the trend towards nationalism and noted the inconsistent way the Nationalist MPs at Westminster had voted, sometimes, she said, not in the interest of Scotland.

Perhaps it was unfair to expect so newly fledged a party leader to respond in a way satisfying to observers of the Scottish scene. One reporter inquired whether her answers meant there would be less positive attack. “You must regard it as willingness to learn and listen” , Mrs Thatcher replied, and peremptorily closed the conference.

After her hectic “walk-about” Mrs Thatcher addressed about 600 party officials, MPs and supporters at a luncheon, and won the loudest cheers when, on the subject of education, she said:

“We will do everything we can to keep the direct grant service. The country is not so strong in its education that we can afford to close down good schools. Where we have good schools of any kind, let us keep them.”

She also got a tumultuous reception at a rally in Glasgow last night. More than 1,800 people stood and cheered as she entered the main city hall and another 600 in two overflow halls heard her speech relayed by loudspeakers.

A party official could not remember any prominent Conservative ever receiving such a reception.

Mrs Thatcher said a Scottish Assembly must be a top priority to ensure that more decisions affecting Scotland were taken in Scotland by Scotsmen. “But let there be no doubt that any such change must be within the framework of preserving the unity of the United Kingdom,” she added.

“We want British influence in the world, and if we were to fragment Britain, that influence would diminish, and the influence of each part of the United Kingdom would diminish together with the contribution we can make to world affairs. We must all learn not to look smaller but to enlarge our vision of the world and the contribution we can make to it.”

Mrs Thatcher said the Conservatives had always been British nationalists. In Scotland there was a hard battle ahead, but she was convinced they could win.

“We will not succeed, and would not deserve to succeed, if we sought the support of the people of Scotland by pretending to be, or seeming to be, partly a Liberal party, partly a socialist party and partly a Scottish national party. We stand as Conservatives for Conservative policies.”

On party policy towards crime and punishment, Mrs Thatcher said: “I believe the balance has been tilted too far towards concern for the law breakers, and insufficient attention has been paid to the interests of the law abiding. So long as I am leader of the party the Conservatives will stand firmly for law and authority and will wage war against the law breakers.”