Interviewer
Prime Minister, you said this week that you see as one of your greatest achievements the fact that you have helped to restore Britain's international reputation. Yet at home the opinion polls are showing that there is a feeling amongst many people that the quality of life within Britain has disimproved over the last ten years and that you personally are quite unpopular. Are you disappointed by that?
Prime Minister
But it just has not got worse has it? It just has not. Most people are better off. More people own their own houses. Many people have more savings. Almost all, with particular exceptions, have a higher standard of living. There are always some people who encounter misfortune. But their incomes are way up on what they were many years ago because they have worked for it. [end p1]
The standard of social services is way up on what it was ten years ago and we should not have a much better reputation abroad as a reliable ally and knowing where we are going unless we had in fact had great economic achievements and great social service achievements to our credit.
Interviewer
Why do you think then this image seems to persist that you are somehow uncaring and insensitive?
Prime Minister
I have no idea. I think it is that some people wish to put forward that image. It is totally incorrect. Do you think I would go through some of the great difficulties I have if I really did not care about my country and its people?
Interviewer
You have made it clear Prime Minister that you intend to go on, that there is still quite a lot of work to be done. What are your main priorities now over the coming years?
Prime Minister
Well, we have still to put into operation fully the last manifesto which is enlarging opportunity and really putting a great deal of emphasis on education and the educational and training [end p2] opportunities afterwards, and bring that opportunity and better conditions to the inner cities, which have not so far fully benefitted from it.
And the greater prosperity is really extending to every corner of the country. This is enabling people to take advantage of things.
We now also are trying to make the Health Service even better. It is good, people forget that, these people who have not seen the fantastic work it does, it is good, we hope to make it even better. There are always other things to do.
People always want a higher standard of living, that is natural and there is nothing wrong with it, of course you do, and of course they want to travel more and see more of the world. All of those things have to be dealt with and we know now more about the environment, the global environment and the things we must do to keep that and to improve it.
Interviewer
You mention the NHS. That has remained a problem area for you and for the Conservatives in general. It looks as if your anniversary may well be marked by the loss of the Vale of Glamorgan, we will have to wait and see. [end p3]
Prime Minister
Do not be too pessimistic, I hope we shall win the Vale of Glamorgan.
Interviewer
On the NHS, this view which is often suggested that you have said that the NHS is safe in Conservative hands, and yet in opinion polls your rating again on the NHS is always quite poor. What is the problem?
Prime Minister
The problem is at getting over the facts. Let me give you a few. For every pound the last government, in its last year, spent on the Health Service, we have spent three pounds. It is not Government that spends it, the people by their efforts and work have earned more money. Therefore, although tax rates have gone down, we have been able to collect more in tax amounts and plough it back into more doctors, at higher pay, more nurses, at higher pay, more and better hospitals which are equipped with modern things and treating more patients.
That in fact is a very very good record. They cannot argue with a record on the facts. Yes of course there are improvements, we do not want patients who have to go to out-patient treatment to have to hang about for five or six hours before a doctor sees them. [end p4]
We do not want them to have to have difficulty if they would like, for example, to change their doctor. There are many many things we want doctors and nurses to have more say in how the hospitals are run so they can be self-governing within the Health Service.
We want doctors, if they wish, to be able to take their whole budget under their own control so that they can manage it as they wish. This will all be better for patients. It takes some getting across. When we have got it into operation I think people will realise that it is better because you know if you ask the people in hospitals what they think of the Health Service, they cannot be appreciative enough, they think it is wonderful, and they are right.
Interviewer
Are you the type of leader who will know when it is time to step down, to give someone else an opportunity?
Prime Minister
I think so. That has always been my belief. I think it has been absolutely wonderful to have ten years here. It has meant that when we had the courage to do the difficult things, that we were able to keep our policies for long enough for the results to show through and we have never resorted to the politics of expediency. [end p5]
We think our people deserve the long-term policies which enable them to show their paces, and that is what they have done.
I think there is something more for me to do and I shall carry on in exactly the same way as I have. We try to make the best use of each day, of its opportunities, of its challenges, and always plan for the future and try to involve as many people as we possibly can.
That has been the great delight of this anniversary. Yesterday we had the 1922 Committee Lunch, the Conservative Party Committee Lunch, and also many old friends and colleagues came back who were in the House of Commons and it was marvellous to see them again and they all love to come back into the present political scene. It was a lovely atmosphere.
Interviewer
You seem to suggest there that when you eventually do retire you will be the type of politician who would like to come back and mingle with the present leadership.
Prime Minister
There will always be work for me to do and I shall just find it. [end p6]
Interviewer
You obviously want Thatcherism to continue long after you are no longer at No 10. Do you have your eye on any possible successor, are you grooming anybody in particular?
Prime Minister
It is not for me to choose my successor. It will be the Party that does that. I came from the back, if you remember, right from the back. No-one could have predicted it, it was never planned by me, it happened that way. And I know that it is my task to give as many of our young people as possible a chance at some time in the future. So they have to be brought on so that when the time comes the Party will choose who it wants.
And if I were to say: “I think so and so or so and so would be marvellous” , it would almost be the kiss of death to that person because if you are trying to push someone the Party will not take it.
Interviewer
Finally, you were obviously very pleased to see your grandson this week, do you think his arrival will change you, soften your edges perhaps? [end p7]
Prime Minister
Michael ThatcherHe is lovely. I have always been passionately interested in the future, always passionately interested in people having opportunity. You give them a good education, opportunity, and if they have a real good family behind them that is the greatest inheritance you can ever give to them.
One is always thinking, and now I have a very real child, grandchild, to think about, what will life be like for them? The most important thing is to try to keep peace and then try to deal with the disease and poverty that is in the world and keep people working, enterprising, with their vitality to create the wealth that will eventually help to solve these problems and to keep the research going. We owe a lot to our scientists. They find the new remedies, they find the things about the environment, they find the new processes which have enabled us to enjoy a standard of living undreamed of by our parents and grandparents.
Interviewer
And when your grandson grows up, do you think he will be proud to say that his grandmother was Mrs Thatcher?
Prime Minister
Well, I would like to think so. Michael ThatcherHe had his first visit here at the age of nine weeks and I hope that he will be a little bit proud of that.