Remarks visiting Toxteth housing estate ("I’m glad I’ve seen it")

Document type:	Speeches, interviews, etc.
Venue:	Minster Court, Toxteth, Liverpool
Source:	Liverpool Echo, 2 October 1984
Journalist:	Peter Rogers, Tim Phelps and Andrew Edwards, Liverpool Echo, reporting
Editorial comments:	0930-1110. There is some additional material in the Liverpool Daily Echo. MT visited a youth club on the estate and talked against a background of loud music to five unemployed youngsters who experienced that they were converting the briefing into a refuge for drug addicts. "So many people we know are on heroin", she was told. "On heroin?" Mrs Thatcher almost whispered, sounding shaken. Then she declared: "It’s terrible. If we can find the people who are peddling it, they should have really stiff penalties".
Importance ranking:	Minor
Word count:	835
Themes:	Environment, Housing, Law & order

Gizza House Maggie!

Catherine, 62, gives the Premier taste of life in rundown tenament

A Tearful pensioner took the Prime Minister into her slum flat today and pleaded: “Please get me a house.”

Mrs. Catherine Langton (62), took Mrs. Thatcher on a tour of her rotting Toxteth tenement. Then she said goodbye with a kiss on the Premier's cheek.

The Prime Minister and Mrs. Langton came face-to-face as Mrs. Thatcher encountered one the few demonstrators on her hush-hush tour of Liverpool.

Mrs. Veronica Hoase, of Langley Way, Toxteth, shouted at the Premier to inspect the appalling housing conditions in the area.

Then Mrs. Langton stepped in. She told the unruffled Premier: “I'll stand by you. No one will touch you while I'm here.”

Mrs. Langton, who has been on the housing waiting list for years, took Mrs. Thatcher into her Prince William Street flat.

She was spared no detail—and even shown the blocked toilet.

Distressing

Mrs. Thatcher said: “It's very distressing to see how such nice houses can get into this condition.”

Mrs. Langton said: “I asked her if she could get me a new house, it wouldn't have to be a new one, just somewhere away from here.

“She was very nice and I thought she was very polite and listened to what I had to say.”

Stepping through the litter and dereliction, Mrs. Thatcher told hecklers: “I'm glad I've seen it.

“Thank you for talking to me. I wouldn't have know unless I'd seen it.”

One man shouted to her from a first floor window: “Go inside the blocks—see the rats.”

She shouted back: “I've been inside” .

Derelict

As the motorcade passed Joliffe Street, the Toxteth Wimpey “dream home” development taken over by the council, Mrs. Thatcher stopped to see the property which has already burned out.

Then it was on for a glimpse of the Anglican Cathedral precinct scheme from the top of the site office before calling in at the Barratt Minister Court development, where derelict flats have been turned into luxury homes.

There she found resi [end p1] dents David Connolly, conductor of the Birkenhead Operatic Society, hard at work completing a musical score for tonight's dress rehearsal of a show song reviews.

She was clearly impressed by his diligence and told him: “You are a rare person” .

Earlier the Prime Minister was a surprise breakfast-time visitor at the Toxteth home of Joe and Rose Murphy.

Mr. Murphy said: “She took us by surprise. We had no idea she would want to have a look round our home.

“She asked us how long we had lived here and she seemed very impressed by it all.”

An R.A.F. Andover of the Queen's Flight flew the Prime Minister and Environment Secretary Patrick Jenkin into Liverpool Airport just after 9.30 amid security reminiscent of a Royal visit.

They were met by a five-car motorcade, with a strong police escort, and whisked away ignoring red traffic lights for a drive through the depressed inner-urban areas of Speke and Dingle.

Compliment

The first top was the new Grafton Crescent housing cooperative where Mrs Thatcher stepped out of her black Daimler and immediately met startled eight-yar-old Jenny Ryan. “You are a tall girl for your age,” she told the speechless youngster.

Residents, rehoused in February from Caryl Street tenements to the scheme they pioneered themselves knew a VIP was coming but were not told it would be Mrs Thatcher until early today.

Mrs. Thatcher, wearing a grey winter coat, matching shoes, a pearl necklace and earrings, talked to a group of residents who had come out to watch her arrival.

Mrs. Patty Pritchard said: “She thought the houses were lovely, and complimented us on their design and condition.

“She seemed to be very nice, and wanted to know everything about the estate that we could tell her. I'm not saying if I support her or not, but you have to be hospitable, don't you.”

Security

Mrs. May Foster (71), was anxious to show the Prime Minister around her home.

“I don't bother much with politics in fact I don't vote at all, but it was nice to see her here and I'm very pleased she came to look at my home. She was very polite and I was impressed by her,” said Mrs. Foster.

Mrs Thatcher's verdict on the house: “It just shows what can be done with a certain amount of money.”

The Premier's visit—her first to the city since the aftermath of the Toxteth riots—was planned at the last minute to coincide with Mr. Jenkin 's pre-arranged tour

This afternoon the Prime Minister was visiting the new Albert Dock development, accompanied by Mr. Jenkin, before moving on to Huyton for a Conservative party engagement.