Can I first thank Aurum Press for inviting me to this reception to celebrate the launching of books associated with my 10th anniversary?
It seems very strange that we have already come through ten years. I do not think any of us could have foreseen in 1979 that ten years later we would be here celebrating this anniversary. But then I well remember that I could never have thought in 1959 that I would even be a Parliamentary Secretary, let alone a Secretary of State for Education, let alone a Leader of the Opposition, let alone a Prime Minister.
So we could not possibly have foretold the future but it is really very nice indeed to have now these two books: “The Revival of Britain” , which does, as Tom has said, set out the thinking behind everything that we have done because I well remember when I was in opposition and we were working all of this out, one academic saying to me, and somewhat in surprise, “It will be the first time that we have had policies, all of a piece, depending upon certain principles” . [end p1]
And to my eternal credit I was very surprised, surprised because I had thought automatically that that was what politics were all about and I am glad that we did manage to set out the policies all of a piece, each depending on fundamental principles, and when we say that we have had the revival of the British economy, I know full well that it is not so much economic measures which have done it, it is the knowledge of human nature and what makes people want to work harder and the kind of taxation policies which will appeal to them.
The other book, I understand, I have seen, has all of the visuals about those ten years at No 10 and throughout the country and indeed throughout the wider world.
Now I hope that this little bit of business will go very well for Aurum Press, thank Tom for what he has done. I think that it might be quite good to think about putting a bit more business in their way in 1999. That is not a coded message, as you know full well I am incapable of ever getting a message into code, it is much simpler to do it straight out. But I hope that we will be able to think about putting a little bit more business your way.
In the meantime, we shall obviously have to carry on doing the things we have been doing because we believe in them, helping the strength of the economy to go on, believing in a rule of law, doing all we can for that, believing in Britain's role in the world, trying ever more to influence things in other countries the way we believe in, and above all doing everything possible to maintain peace, through a strong defence, because although we take it for [end p2] granted, that in fact is the thing which enables us to make most advances in all other directions.
May I thank you very much for coming? I am getting a taste for anniversaries and I hope we shall meet again.
Thank you.