Top security at the Tory ladies' lunch

High security surrounded the Firs banqueting hall in Winchmore Hill as Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher arrived for lunch on Friday.

Finchley's MP was guest of honour at the annual luncheon of Finchley and Friern Barnet Conservative Association women's committee at the start of a whistle-stop constituency tour.

Wearing a light blue suit, the Premier chatted and joked with constituency workers before settling down to a dinner of mushroom soup and roast beef with all the trimmings.

Fellow guests were thoroughly searched before going into The Firs, and the area was closed to public parking.

Guests included prospective Euro-MP for London North, Bob Lacey, and representatives from other constituencies.

After lunch, Mrs. Thatcher was welcomed by the women's committee chairman, Sue Thurlow. “Words cannot convey the love and pride we all have for you” , she told the Prime Minister.

She praised Mrs Thatcher's courage in returning to Brighton after the IRA bombing.

Mrs Thurlow concluded that if the Premier did wish to stand down her constituency would back her all the way and lay the foundations for the next Prime Minister of the Tory Government.

And the Prime Minister took a leaf out of American presidential candidate George Bush 's book when it came to extolling the virtues of the NHS Health Service.

She admitted that some things did sometimes go wrong with the health service, but adopted Bush 's tactic when challenged by Dukakis about the Iran-Contra scandal during the first presidential debate.

Said Mrs Thatcher: “Bush said ‘I'll take responsibility for that one thing that went wrong if you give me credit for everything that has gone right’.

“I will take responsibility for the few things that have gone wrong providing me and my government get credit for the eight million patients who are treated by the NHS every year,” she said.

Mrs. Thatcher said the Youth Training Scheme was the best in Europe, and emphasised her government's success in producing a better education system and enabling people on council estates to buy their own homes.