The friendly rivals

All smiles as Mrs T. and Mr P. get together

•Mrs Margaret Thatcher is a candidate against Mr Heath in Tuesday's ballot for the Conservative Party leadership. Dennis Signy meets the 49-year-old MP for Finchley and Friern Barnet among her supporters … and one possible opponent.

The Atmosphere on the surface was genteel and respectable when Mrs Margaret Thatcher joined Finchley and Friern Barnet Conservative Association for their annual dinner dance at Selborne Hall, Southgate, on Saturday.

But the dinner-jacketed and evening-gowned guests in the hall at Ye Olde Cherry Tree were aware of an undercurrent of tension, even drama, as what is usually a conventional social event got under way.

For not only were the World in Action television team recording the evening's jollifications … Mrs Thatcher was sitting next to a possible rival for the Tory Party leadership.

Back in July, Mr James Prior, Opposition spokesman on Employment, accepted the invitation to propose a toast to the Finchley and Friern Barnet Association.

And it is no secret that he is a supporter of the present incumbent, Mr. Heath, in the leadership stakes.

Arc lights glared and camera crews and television personnel jostled among the rows of diners as the speeches began.

Suggesting

Mr Prior told them: “It is rather extraordinary that we are here tonight with Margaret a candidate and the Press even suggesting that my name might be in too.

“I don't think anyone—least of all Margaret or myself—would have guessed last July what we were letting ourselves in for this evening.”

Mr Prior referred to his “enormous admiration” for Mrs Thatcher and said they had been great friends and good colleagues in the Commons.

Mr Prior underlined that Mr Heath had set in train the procedure for the Parliamentary Party to choose a leader. This was always a difficult time for a party that quite rightly prided itself on its unity and loyalty and which was expected by supporters to show both.

At about the time Mr Prior was on his feet the first edition of the Sunday Times was announcing his support for Mr Heath, and other papers were naming him as a possible candidate against Mrs Thatcher in a second ballot.

Standing

Mr Prior went on: “Over the next few days, what is important is to show that we can approach the election in a constructive, responsible and friendly atmosphere, one free from rancour, and that we point out forcefully and visibly to the country that we have men and women in our party of the highest calibre, well equipped to lead our party and our country too.”

Mr Prior got a standing ovation at the end of his speech. So did Mrs Thatcher when she replied to the toast. The atmosphere couldn't have been friendlier.

Mrs Thatcher said that she and Mr Prior both knew it was tough near the top in politics. Then she referred to the leadership fight.

“If Jim came in he's got the right name for a candidate—Prior,” she quipped.

Then, on a more serious note, she added that if Mr Prior joined the fight, and won, she would be happy to serve with him.

Mrs Thatcher smilingly told the guests that Mr Prior had one great advantage over her, “he can be imitated by Mike Yarwood.”

Mike Yarwood might find some difficulty with a Mrs Thatcher impression, she added, and brought the house down by the last line: “But they could bring in Danny La Rue.”

That was as sensational as the speeches went, on the leadership issue. The TV team kept it up afterwards, though, shooting film of Mr Prior and Mrs Thatcher at the bar or dancing together.

There was Mrs Thatcher dancing with her husband, Denis, and cameras catching guests in various poses. World in Action will be a must in North London on Monday, at 8.30 p.m., on Thames Television.

My lips are sealed about a chat I had with Mr Prior on the outcome of the Heath-Thatcher vote—except to say that he reckons she will one day disprove her words to me not so long ago that a woman will not be Prime Minister of this country in our time.

The fact that Mrs Thatcher introduced me to Mr Prior as “a jewel” does not influence my thinking. Viewing her as I know her from her constituency appearances, I reckon the Tory Party could do worse than put an X against Margaret's name on Tuesday. [end p1]

&lsq;Labour are like Roman slaves&rsq;

Socialist Ministers have come to office more effectively bound to the power of certain trade unions than Roman slaves to their masters.

This was one of Mr. Prior 's themes in his speech proposing the toast. “The more we see of this Labour Government, the more we realise that Labour is now the party of the big battalions and the Conservative Party is the protector of the individual,” he said to an accompaniment of “Hear, hear” calls.

Mr Prior went on: “It is true that economic reality is catching up on them, but they are still capable of doing enough in their period of office to change the nature of society in a way which I believe is wholly repugnant to most ordinary citizens, and which will be difficult to put right in future years. The Socialist attitude stems from the industrial situation.”

Illustrated

He said the Government attitude on the Finance Bill, which Mrs Thatcher was fighting, and the Trades Union and Labour Relations Amendment Bill, which he was opposing, illustrated the Socialist lack of concern for the individual—“indeed their positive dislike for the individual, his hopes and aspirations.”

If people protested at what Labour did, the reply was that we must accept the way of the world—collectivism.

“So, it appears, on that basis the individual can be scorned, trampled on or swept aside. It is this way of the world which finds a Socialist Secretary of State for Employment. Michael Foot, once thought to be a libertarian, quite happy to enact provisions in the Trade Union and Labour Relations Bill which pose a grave threat to the freedom of the Press.

Individual

“Because seemingly the closed shop cannot in any circumstances be wrong, this erstwhile apostle of the common man is prepared to deliver into the hands of a single union the power to determine what shall and what shall not appear in our newspapers and by whom it shall be written.

“The freedom of individual expression has never before been put at such risk. We say &lsq;No&rsq; to this Socialist way of the world.”

Mr Prior, who is MP for Lowestoft, said the individual today seemed dwarfed and ineffective. He had begun to wonder whether it mattered any more to voice an opinion, to work harder, to do his best for his family, to make a stand for quality and good service.

Society had become impersonal. Schools were bigger, the head teachers further away. The local authority was bigger, the council offices less accessible. “The State looms larger in your life—its officials as remote as ever,” said Mr Prior.

The struggle could not be fought in Parliament alone. Nor could it be fought through the usual political battlefields, because much of the power that Parliament required had gone elsewhere.

“So our first target must be to redress the balance and restore the authority of Parliament. And that can only be carried out if enough people are made aware of the dangers and are then propared to do something about it.

Issue

“It can be done if the millions of moderates, the so-called silent majority, keep silent no more. In factory, in field, in the streets and in our homes we have a battle to, wage—it is against that small minority whose aim is to undermine our society, our law, our Parliamentary democracy.

“This is the great issue of our time. It is right that it should be championed by our party.”

From A to F

Mrs Thatcher, in reply to Mr. Prior 's speech, spoke about the need for a successful taxation system to enable people to stay in this country, and about communications.

This was something the Conservative Party could be better at, she said. They must learn to improve. “You can't convert people by keeping quiet,” added Mrs Thatcher.

Her speech covered the alphabet from A to F—ability, business, communications, disabled, economy and Finchley and Friern Barnet Conservatives.

“We're a wonderful group of people,” she said. “Modest as well,” said a guest in a stage whisper.

Mrs Thatcher praised her agent, Mr Roy Langstone, and his wife, Barbara—“a tower of strength”—and thanked the dinner organisers, Ron and Sue Thurlow.

She pointed out that the flowers on each table were handmade by Mrs Renee Sapsted, wife of the association's chairman, Councillor Jimmy Sapsted.

The guests, welcomed by Councillor Sapsted, included the association president, Mr Henry Oppenheim, and his wife, Sally, who is Tory MP for Gloucester, and a former councillor, Mrs Ena Constable, who received the MBE in the New Year honours. [end p2]

Next, the question of who should lead the Conservative Party: Last night, Lord Carrington—a former cabinet minister and a powerful voice in the party—came out firmly in favour of Mr. Heath. In a statement before leaving for a trip abroad, he said Mr. Heath was the right choice because of “his stature in the world, his resolution to solve the country's problems, and his determination that Britain will again stand on its own feet”. Earlier, the Shadow Chancellor, Mr. Carr, had said that he too was backing Mr. Heath. One of the other contenders for the leadership, Mrs. Margaret Thatcher, spoke last night at the Annual Dinner of party workers in her North London constituency of Finchley. In an apparent reference to the issue, she told her audience that whatever happened over the next few days, she was grateful for their support. She described Sir Keith Joseph—who'd earlier pledged his support for her—as “a valued friend”. “His support is very powerful,” she said, “I wouldn't have stood if he had”. A guest speaker at the dinner was the Opposition Employment spokesman, Mr. James Prior, who has himself been mentioned as a possible candidate. Mr. Prior said there was no great idealogical divide in the party—merely differences of opinion and emphasis.