Speeches, etc.

Margaret Thatcher

House of Commons PQs

Document type: Speeches, interviews, etc.
Venue: House of Commons
Source: Hansard HC [181/737-42]
Editorial comments: 1515-1530.
Importance ranking: Major
Word count: 2270
Themes: Autobiographical comments, Parliament, Conservatism, Employment, Elections & electoral system, General Elections, Privatized & state industries, Community charge (“poll tax”), Leadership, Conservative (leadership elections), Transport, Strikes & other union action
[column 737]

PRIME MINISTER

Engagements

Q1. Mr. Haselhurst

To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 27 November.

The Prime Minister (Mrs. Margaret Thatcher)

Mr. Speaker—[Hon. Members: “Hear, hear.” ] Mr. Speaker, this morning I had a number of meetings. After my duties [column 738]in this House, I shall continue to reply to some of the 30,000 letters that have so far been delivered to Downing street in the past few days.

Mr. Haselhurst

If this is to be the last occasion on which my right hon. Friend answers questions from the Dispatch Box, may I express the appreciation of Conservative Members—[Hon. Members: “Oh.” ]—and, I hope, of the whole House, for the skill, command and courtesy with which she has dealt with questions over the past 11 years?

Is my right hon. Friend aware that Stansted airport's new terminal is to open in March next year, that the main roads serving it will not be available until 1995 and that the rail links serving it will not be of adequate capacity until that same year? Does my right hon. Friend agree that, if we are to get more public acceptance among communities that have major developments thrust upon them, it would be better if essential infrastructure came sooner rather than later?

The Prime Minister

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his kind words. Stansted airport is close to the M11. I understand that the British Airways Authority is building a dual carriageway to connect the new terminal to the M11 and that it should be ready by March next year. I understand that British Rail is building a track to connect the terminal to the Liverpool Street station line and has already ordered rolling stock. That, too, should be ready by March next year. I hope that that will satisfy the last question by my hon. Friend that I shall answer.

Mr. Kinnock

Would the Prime Minister be good enough to tell us which of the policies that she leaves to her successor she now thinks should be scrapped?

The Prime Minister

I am happy that my successor will carry on the excellent policies that have finished with the decline of socialism, brought great prosperity to this country, raised Britain's standing in the world and brought about a truly capital-owning democracy.

Mr. Kinnock

If the Prime Minister thinks that nothing should be changed, can she tell us why on earth all those now competing for her job are desperately wriggling around trying to find a way out of the poll tax trap?

The Prime Minister

On the contrary, I really rather thought that they were keeping the poll—the community charge—[Hon. Members: “Oh.” ]—the community charge or community policy and, whatever review they have, the result will be infinitely better than going back to the rates, which of course would be the worst of all worlds.

Mr. Kinnock

As this may conceivably be the last time that the Prime Minister answers, may I say to her that her honest approach to the poll tax is commendable? She is demonstrating that there are two, and only two, honest approaches: one is to keep the poll tax intact, as she wants, and the other is to abolish it entirely, as we shall do.

The Prime Minister

No, that is not correct. As with any new tax, one always both reviews it and continually amends it. I should have thought that the right hon. Gentleman would know that after all this time.

Dame Jill Knight

May I voice the profound regret felt by millions in this country, and thousands of millions outside, that my right hon. Friend is not to continue in her high office? Is she aware of their acknowledgement of her [column 739]unrivalled service in turning back the tide of socialism, ending the brutal tyranny of the militants in the trade unions and re-establishing Britain as a great power? Finally, may I ask my right hon. Friend to reflect——

Hon. Members

Too long.

Mr. Speaker

Order. The hon. Lady is coming to an end.

Dame Jill Knight

Finally, may I ask my right hon. Friend to reflect with pride that a thousand years from now, when every other Member of the House is dead dust, she alone will have a hallowed place in the history books?

The Prime Minister

I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for her generous tributes I am certain that the Conservative constructive policies will continue, and that they will lead to a fourth election victory.

Mr. Molyneaux

Does the Prime Minister recall an important debate in November 1985, when relations between us were a little strained? Does she recall my addressing her thus:

“Millions of our fellow British citizens throughout this nation feel that the Prime Minister has a lasting contribution to make to the destiny of the nation.” ?—[Official Report, 26 November 1985; Vol. 87, c. 768.]

Is the Prime Minister now aware that the vast majority of those people wish that contribution to continue?

The Prime Minister

The right hon. Gentleman is very generous indeed. I think that it will continue from the Back Benches, as it has from the Front Bench.

Mrs. Maureen Hicks

Is my right hon. Friend aware that it was as a result of her unique vision at the helm that the voters in my constituency, after 40 years, rejected Labour—in her words, rejecting “windy rhetoric” from the Leader of the Opposition—because they saw in her unique qualities of leadership? May I please take this opportunity—on behalf of my constituents, who feel a tremendous sense of loss—to convey my sincere best wishes, and to extend a very warm invitation to Denis and herself to come and see us in Wolverhampton any time?

The Prime Minister

I thank my hon. Friend very much. I think that our policies since 1979 have built a new opportunity Britain, which can hold its head high in the world of international affairs. I am sure that those policies will continue, and we shall all pull together to ensure that they do.

Mr. Speaker

I call Mrs. Rosie Barnes.—[Interruption.]

Several Hon. Members

rose——

Mr. Speaker

All right, all right, all right.

Mr. Cryer

Can't you read?

Mr. Speaker

That is very impertinent of the hon. Gentleman.

I should have called Mrs. Mahon first.

Q2. Mrs. Mahon

To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 27 November.

The Prime Minister

I refer the hon. Lady to the reply that I gave some moments ago.

Mrs. Mahon

Does the Prime Minister agree with her right hon. Friend the Member for Circencester and [column 740]Tewkesbury (Mr. Ridley), who said in the debate last Thursday that her forced resignation had been brought about by an act of treachery by some of her colleagues?

The Prime Minister

I have resigned and there will soon be a successor. I wish him well. I am sure that he will continue the policies that have been so successful for Britain and that he will continue to defeat socialism.

Mr. Donald Thompson

Will my right hon. Friend come very soon to Calder Valley, where she will find an industrious, prosperous and happy community? The people there will say to her what they have said to me all weekend— “She's been a good ‘un.”

The Prime Minister

I think that, after that, I must go to Calder Valley and I shall look forward to it.

Q4. Mrs. Rosie Barnes

To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 27 November.

The Prime Minister

I refer the hon. Lady to the reply that I gave some moments ago.

Mrs. Barnes

May I pay a warm tribute to the Prime Minister for her courage and dignity over the past few days? Given that the leadership of the Tory party may be decided by a third ballot and by using a system of transferable second preference votes, will not the Prime Minister reconsider the merits of that system for national elections?

The Prime Minister

I am sure that the hon. Lady will understand that I am all for first past the post.

Q5. Mr. Wilshire

To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 27 November.

The Prime Minister

I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave some moments ago.

Mr. Wilshire

As this may be one of the last tabled questions from a Conservative Member to my right hon. Friend, may I take the opportunity to ask her whether she knows how many questions she has answered in her capacity as Prime Minister. Will she accept the heartfelt thanks of all her many friends inside and outside the House, and especially of all her friends in my constituency of Spelthorne? May I express to her and to Denis every good wish for the future, and God bless?

The Prime Minister

First, this will be the last Question Time at which I shall answer; I do not believe in making a career of positively last appearances. I thank my hon. Friend for his kind words, especially those about my husband, and I also thank him for giving me notice of his question as I might not otherwise have known the answer. His question is the 7,498th oral question to which I have replied in 698 Question Times.

Q6. Mr. Winnick

To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 27 November.

The Prime Minister

I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply that I gave some moments ago.

Mr. Winnick

Does not the Prime Minister find it at all nauseating and hypocritical to be——

Hon. Members

You are.

Mr. Speaker

Order. Come along.

[column 741]

Mr. Winnick

Does not the Prime Minister find it the height of hypocrisy and nauseating to be so highly praised by Tory Members when, last week, 152 of them stabbed her in the back?

The Prime Minister

The hon. Gentleman was not exactly complimentary on my last appearance, was he? I do not find it nauseating; I find it very refreshing.

Mr. Maxwell-Hyslop

Will my right hon. Friend, while she is still Prime Minister, write and leave signed by her a minute of the proceedings of the Heads of Government within the European Economic Community so that her successor can endeavour to protect Britain's long-term interests in the valiant and effective manner in which she has always done?

The Prime Minister

I can assure my hon. Friend that all the proceedings are well minuted and documented, and I most earnestly hope that the traditions of this House, which is the oldest democratic Parliament in the Community, will be fully upheld, because they ensure accountability to the people.

Q7. Mr. Strang

To ask the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 27 November.

The Prime Minister

I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply that I gave some moments ago.

Mr. Strang

When the Prime Minister recalls the day when she quoted St. Francis of Assisi on the steps of Downing street, will she contemplate the increase in family poverty that resulted from her repeated refusal to increase child benefit? Will she recall the increased hardship that resulted from the 1988 social security changes? Will she think about the homeless, whose numbers have doubled since she came to power? Is she aware that Opposition [column 742]Members represent communities some of which have still not recovered from the unprecedented rates of unemployment that she inflicted on them in the early 1980s? Those are some of the reasons why she will go down in history as the Prime Minister who rewarded the rich and punished the poor.

The Prime Minister

Perhaps the hon. Gentleman will also recall that Scotland is enjoying greater prosperity than it has ever known under any previous Government; that there are now 2 million more jobs than there were when I took over; and that, remembering the situation when I took office in 1979, there is much more peace in the coal industry now than there was then. We have much more peace in the coal industry, and we fought off some of the most difficult and vicious attacks, during the coal strike, that this country has ever seen. He should also recall that we have had the lowest number of strikes this year in the whole post-war period.