PRIME MINISTER PUTS BY-ELECTION DEFEAT ASIDE TO SPEND DAY IN CONSTITUENCY

Mrs Thatcher kept her national concerns strictly hidden when she made her constituency visit to two old people's homes on Friday.

Despite the failure of the Conservatives to hold onto the Eastbourne seat left empty by the assassination of Ian Gow MP, a personal friend of Mrs Thatcher's, the prime minister appeared as though nothing had happened.

She strolled in the garden of the newly-renovated Beach Lodge in Hendon Lane, Finchley, and looked around the sheltered accommodation at the Homefield Estate, East Finchley.

Beach Lodge has just been refurbished by Barnet Council to meet the government's “home life” standards, and will house 25 elderly people.

Mrs Thatcher, who was selected as Conservative candidate for Finchley in 1958, the year Beach Lodge was originally opened, officially reopened it on Friday, and presented the first ten residents with an oil painting for their lounge.

She complimented the home on its atmosphere.

“These beautiful old houses have a kind of security and confidence and homeliness which is not always present in some of our more modern houses,” she told residents, managers of the home and councillors including Mayor of Barnet Roy Shutz.

Oldest resident Grace Thomas, 99, gave Mrs Thatcher a bunch of flowers.

After a shee of cake baked in the shape of the house, the prime minister moved on to the Homefield Estate, which is funded by the Finchley charities.

Again she harked back to the olden days, likening the 88 sheltered flats and houses to a village community.

“It does look beautiful, but more than that is the whole village atmosphere it has which some of us were once accustomed to. It was something we lost when they put everything up into tall blocks,” she told a hall full of residents.

Mrs Thatcher, who opened the older half of the estate before she became prime minister, officially opened the second half on Friday by unveiling a plaque. She then presented a cheque for £1,000, raised by her anniversary ball last year.

She got her second bunch of flowers from William Harrison, the oldest resident at 92, before sitting down to afternoon tea and moving on to look round the homes of residents Jessie Vobe and Violet Crouchley.