Standing ovation for Mrs Thatcher

Maggie the magnificent—this was the unanimous verdict on Mrs Thatcher of the guests at the Finchley and Friern Barnet Conservative Association dinner dance who gave the Opposition leader, their constituency MP, a standing ovation after her off-the-cuff speech.

A relaxed Mrs Thatcher, among her own and without the prying eyes of the television cameras or photographers, at Selborne Hall, Southgate, on Saturday, was in the form that would dispel any doubts among the waverers of the electorate who query her public performances and her ability to sock it to em.

She was critical of Jim Callaghan and Co. and their current performance, talked about their confrontation with the trade unions, hit out at the closed shop and urged moderates on both sides of the political fence to overthrow the minority militants.

She called the first weeks of 1979 the confrontation between the wreckers and the democratic society.

There was one light note when dancing began. Mrs T. went behind the bar to chat to staff at Selborne Hall and went through a door with the number “10” above.

“An omen?” she queried—but there were no photographers present to record the moment.

Also missing was Roland Freeman, the GLC representative for Finchley and Friern Barnet. He was shortlisted for the safe Tory seat of Daventry, which was decided that day. But the vote went to former Labour Cabinet Minister Reg Prentice.

The MP was welcomed by constituency chairman Councillor John Tiplady, and Mrs T. opened her speech with the joke: “This is the year you are going to Tip-er-lady into office.

“About time too,” she added. The Tory motto, she said, was “cheer up, Labour can't last for ever.” The description “frozen fog” did not just apply to the weather.

“Things can't go on like this,” she told her supporters, adding that she had been disappointed when the James CallaghanPrime Minister did not call an October election but, she now realised, it would have been fought on the issue of confrontation between the Conservatives and the unions, she now did not mind.

Mrs Thatcher said there were not millions of irresponsible trade unionists— “there are, say, 25,000” —and the majority had to be mobilised. The Labour Government just sat back and let events take their course.

The closed shop was one of the weapons they had used to make people strike and refuse to cross picket lines, and emergency regulations should have been used rather than let the power go to strike committees.

The William RodgersMinister of Transport should have issued orders for goods to move.

She said that four trade unions contributed £1½m. to Labour Party funds, £360,000 of that sum coming from the National Union of Public Employees.

Ninety per cent of Labour funds came from unions— “we put out the flags if we get money from individual firms,” she said. The union money was the reason Labour could not satisfactorily deal with the present problems. More than 100 MPs were sponsored by unions.

“The vast majority of trade unionists are with us,” claimed Mrs T. “You should see my postbag. They are saying we are right.”

The majority of trade unionists were moderates and the decent ones would win as they had nothing to fear and everything to gain.

She accused Labour of “reshuffling the shekels” and said there was not any more money unless more was produced. Labour should have created wealth instead of just hitting at profit.

There was loud applause when she said the present Government allowed idlers to earn as much as those who worked.

“We have got to tip the balance from the militants,” she said. “Without free enterprise there would not be freedom.”

Mr Tiplady said these was a glimmer of light in the dark weeks of 1979— “as grim as any we have known” —as Mrs Thatcher showed she had her finger on the pulse of the nation.

“She will guide us away from the anarchy we face,” he said. [end p1]

(2) Barnet Press, 2 February 1979

Militants will kill society—Thatcher

Militant union wreckers are using the freedoms of our democratic society to destroy it.

The Government is too weak-kneed to get to grips with the problem because the unions are the paymasters of the Labour Party, Opposition Leader Mrs. Margaret Thatcher told a Tory dinner.

But speaking personally she admitted that the current union anarchy is working in her favour. “It's just as well we didn't have an election in October,” she said.

The present round of disputes has filled the Opposition Leader with new fire and confidence.

She was in aggressive form at the Finchley and Friern Barnet Conservative Association dinner on Saturday evening. She delivered a scathing attack on the “wreckers” and the impotence of Labour—and received a standing ovation for her efforts.

She cracked a number of pointed jokes:—the fog not only applies to the weather forecast but also to the Government; Healey has a brain like a computer, it makes spectacular mistakes; four years as Opposition Leader is too much for anyone and thank God it cannot go on much longer.

But Mrs. Thatcher was full of contempt for the 15,000 to 25,000 union militants, the “wreckers” who, she said, are confronting the sick, the needy as well as business and their own members who do not wish to strike.

“The majority of our 12m union members are quiet, honest and decent people,” she stressed.

“But the Government have sat back and let the wreckers get on with it.” The law had changed, she added, to give the wreckers more power—strengthened the closed shop which is one of the fear and intimidation weapons used to make people come out on strike.

The Opposition Leader said that a state of emergency should have been declared long ago so that certain essential goods could have been delivered under the law.

“And now Mr. Callaghan relies on us to be more responsible than he has ever been. Labour is not the party to help us,” she said.

She said that well over 90 per cent of Labour Party funds comes from the unions. She gave this as a reason for the Government's impotence.

She criticised general Labour philosophy as she sees it—concentration on the distribution of wealth as opposed to the creation of it, “enabling the idlers to earn as much as possible,” and the stifling of private enterprise.

Cr. John Tiplady proposed the toast to Mrs. Thatcher and spoke of her TV broadcast last week as a glimmer of light in the darkness. He added: “She has the finger on the pulse of the nation.”

After a roast beef dinner members danced to Dick Davis and his band.

There was an array of guests at the function at the Selborne Hall, Southgate, including a number of Tory councillors, entertainments organiser Mr. Ron Thurlow and his wife Sue, Joyce Foster, Greater London area women's advisory committee chairman; Mrs. Thatcher's agent, Mr. Roy Langstone and Mr. and Mrs. W. Vokes.