Speeches, etc.

Margaret Thatcher

Remarks refusing to predict outcome of leadership election

Document type: Speeches, interviews, etc.
Venue: 19 Flood Street, Chelsea
Source: Daily Express , 3 February 1975
Journalist: Michael Evans, Daily Express
Editorial comments: Time unknown. MT was photographed sweeping the front patio/garden at 19 Flood Street, published with the caption “Sweeper Margaret”.
Importance ranking: Minor
Word count: 237
Themes: Conservative (leadership elections)

Margaret hots up her challenge

The two chief contenders for the Tory leadership were At Home yesterday—though celebrating the day of rest in different style.

Edward Heath, in bright blue and white checked shirt and green-flecked country-style suit, spent the morning working before going out to lunch.

Margaret Thatcher, in the bright orange and yellow kitchen at her Chelsea home, was busy weighing things in the balance.

Flour and eggs, to be precise. Just enough to make a sponge cake.

Meanwhile at his Belgravia house, Mr. Heath smiled charmingly.

He had no time for chatter on the odds in the leadership stakes. But he did remark on the sad state of the house, bombed in December and still boarded up outside, though more presentable now inside.

The cake

Back in Chelsea Mrs. Thatcher was preparing food for her family when they returned from the country: roast chicken and a joint of beef, plus that sponge cake.

“I'm wary of making predictions,” she said, “because things change so quickly.”

Whatever her chances, Margaret Hilda Thatcher, 49-year-old M.P. for Finchley, has certainly worked hard to get her face across to the public.

At the beck and call of photographers yesterday she swept the path, ironed two shirts, prepared her food and undertook numerous other household chores to prove she really is just another ordinary housewife full of responsibilities for her family.