With the breakfast to cook and 1,000 invitations a month …

The lady's in big demand

The north west tour which Margaret Thatcher began yesterday is longer and fuller than any she has undertaken in England since becoming Tory leader 90 days ago.

Today, Mrs Thatcher was in Manchester, underlining the priority she attaches to this region.

This priority is merely a reflection of a basic rule of politics beyond quibble this century—that Lancashire holds the key to No 10 Downing Street.

But Labour is as aware of the North West's importance as Mrs Thatcher. While she is on walk-about in Lancashire and Cheshire, socialist eyes will be watching carefully.

At Westminster the new Labour intake from Lancashire is working hard to retain a grip on marginal constituencies won in the two General Elections of 1974.

The blunt fact is she could put Harold Wilson in terror of his political life at an election right now if Lancashire restored to the Conservatives the seats held by them when she became an MP.

At the time of her maiden speech—Friday, May 5, 1960—these currently Labour held seats were Tory territory: Moss Side, Blackley and Wythenshawe in Manchester; Garston, Kirkdale, Toxteth and West Derby in Liverpool; Stockport North and Stockport South; Bolton E* Preston North and Preston South; Heywood and Royton; Middleton and Prestwich; Bury and Radcliffe; Bebbington and Ellesmere Port.

“Jimmy Watt, Eric Johnson, Eveline Hill, John Bidgood, John Leavey—I remember them well,” she said of now-departed Tories from Lancashire.

She sat on a yellow ochre couch in her official room—spacious and high-ceilinged—at the Commons. A bowl of primulas stood on a glass-topped table. Beside the flowers, there was a document she scorns—the Ryder Report on British Leyland.

In a small outer office, her 28-year-old blonde secretary, Caroline Stephens, worked under a hand-written notice reading: “As soon as the rush is over I'm going to have a nervous breakdown. I asked for it, I owe it to myself and nobody is going to deprive me of it.”

Bright, well-groomed Miss Stephens works among overflowing wastepaper baskets, stacked teacups and a veteran kettle. Tory MPs walk in and out but strangers are accompanied by George the attendant.

Mrs Thatcher's three-windowed room is quiet and immaculate, with a view of Old Palace Yard. The small mahogany desk at which she works is placed near the long table at which the Shadow Cabinet sits.

How does the Leader of the Opposition look at the first 100 days near completion? Lively, unruffled and interested in everything.

“The pace is fantastic,” she said candidly. “There's far more to do than I've ever done before. Far more than in my first days as Education Secretary. Of course, in Government the whole of the Whitehall machine is there to provide back-up support.”

With the end of the tour today, Mrs Thatcher will plunge into a Wednesday featuring the annual Conservative leader's luncheon at the Savoy Hotel and requiring her attendance immediately afterwards at the Commons defence debate.

She goes to Paris on Thursday for talks with the French President and his ministers spread over two days. She was in Luxembourg last week and in Turkey during the week before that.

Part of the diary pile-up stems from engagements inherited from Edward Heath which she is determined to honour.

She has had over 35,000 letters since February. Invitations pour in at a rate exceeding 1,000 a month.

New polish

How does she analyse the situation in Lancashire where it is all important to be on best terms with people?

“The prospects are excellent,” she said crisply. “More and more people are going to realise that Labour policies are not good policies. What Britain should be is a land of flourishing and profitable industry, not of perpetually subsidised industry. This not a land of problem people. Overwhelmingly they want to do a full day's work for a reasonable return.”

As I crossed the big carpet on the way to the door, she said, “What do you think of the room?”

Touching the oak panelling reaching halfway to the ceiling, she said: “This is the most important improvement. I got them to clean and polish the panels, making them lighter instead of dark like my desk. It's lovely wood, lovely wood.”

As a final point, I said: “Do you still make the family breakfast?”

She looked at me incredulously. And she slowly said: “Mum makes the breakfast. Fresh fruit and a cooked dish. Currently, they prefer scrambled eggs to fried. It makes a mess of even non-stick pans.”