PM cool on crisis eve

Cameramen from ITV were outside the hall recording Mrs Thatcher's arrival for the evening's news bulletins.

She was accompanied by a full security team and police checked all guests and handbags.

There was no hint of anything out of the norm as Mrs Thatcher ate a Florida cocktail, minestrone soup ( “ministrone” said the menu), supreme of chicken Veronique and black cherry and Kirsch trifle.

And Mrs Thatcher, occasionally using spectacles, was in relaxed, even aggressive, mood as she made her speech.

Her theme was that she and her Government were busily running the country while all around them seemed to be discussing the “storm-in-a-teacup” Westland issue.

Mrs Thatcher rates her constituency dinner alongside the Finchley Carnival and the Grange Estate old folks' Christmas party as a must to attend, crisis or no crisis or vying international calls from the USA or the Soviet Union.

“It's marvellous to come when you can say ‘that was the week, that was’, she said as an opening gambit.

She was also light-hearted enough to get a laugh when she said it was a pleasure to be at Selborne Hall where she did not have to make half her speech in French. This was a reference to her visit last week for the Channel Tunnel signing.

She said if all went well there would be a tunnel in seven years. It was a project that had been talked about since Napoleon 's time that will now benefit the present generation.

It was said that one found one's way to salvation by surmounting problems, she said.

Mrs Thatcher also said she was sorry former Cabinet Minister Leon Brittan “has had to go as a result of a member who wasn't playing as a member of the team” .

That was her only reference to Michael Heseltine.

Mrs Thatcher said the Opposition was making so much of a small issue to divert from their policies. She invited her audience to look at the Liverpools and the Lambeths.

She listed other issues since Christmas: — A Green Paper on rates. [end p1] — The Popplewell report on football. — Lord Roscoe's report on changes in the law. — The visit from the Prime Minister of Israel. — Visitors from Nigeria. — The Channel Tunnel.

“Life has gone on day-to-day. Westland is a very small issue” , she added.

There was the good news that 70,000 new jobs had been created in the past two years, more than in any other European country.

There was more home ownership. More share ownership. Low inflation. A better balance of payments.

“We shall continue in the way we have, that I promise you” , she said to applause.

Mrs Thatcher mentioned the Royal Yacht Britannia's contribution to the evacuations from Aden. She described it as: “quite an operation and a demonstration of the staunchness of the British people” .

And her closing line to lead in to a standing ovation was: “Once again Britannia rules the waves” .