Margaret Thatcher celebrates the "decline of socialism" at her last PMQs

Throughout this week in which we celebrate fifty years of PMQs, we'll be republishing memorable exchanges. The exchange with Neil Kinnock begins at 2 minutes, 26 seconds.

Comments

[Jack Pershing]

It might have been on the decline then, but it's back with a vengance now.

[Dawn Carpenter]

The country's been in decline since she resigned.

[Sui Juris]

One of the best and wittiest replies ever, to Rosie Barnes' question at 10:08.

[Joe De Mocritus]

Wonderful woman.

[NB]

That's the way to do it!

It's almost shocking now to hear someone have enough conviction to denounce anything such as she (and some others here) did here with socialism.

[Toxic Storm Clouds]

Notice there is an abscence of a little self-important toad in a particular chair who thinks his voice is more important than what key members are saying - No cutting the PM off in full flow!!!

Maybe this point on socialism and tides is something that deserves greater scrutiny, they on the Labour benchers are like a cancer that seems to hang on whatever is thrown at it. One has to prepare one step ahead of it politically at all times to stop it aflicting the country again. They did it through the trojan horse of New Labour, what will they try next? That is not question for the pretend conservatives and Anti-europeans to be clever and point to certain current individuals as it is complete rubbish and the so called "conservatives and Anti-europeans" actually were Labour's assistants in not just getting power in the run up to 1997 but helpping sustain Labour in office.

[vgb]

@Norm I remember John Major doing it with some gusto on his soap box, but I haven't heard it much since either. Maybe Labour's Clause IV change was that effective.

[Ross J Warren]

" The country's been in decline since she resigned." And was declining before she was in power. In some important respects it continued its decline throughout her premiership. Don’t get me wrong I admire her, and her no bull crap approach. Indeed we even seemed to turn the corner during her period in office, but unfortunately in retrospect, we simply built the foundation of a bubble, which finally burst in 2008.

What was great about the Iron Lady, was that she was a leader who we had confidence in, a leader who choice of path was right for her time. What is sadly lacking right now, is a leader who we can all believe knows what to do, and how to do it. A leader who is determined enough to get the job done, even at the risk of becoming unpopular.

Until we find such a person, I am afraid for the future fearing a wasted decade or more of further decline.

[Dawn Carpenter]

It was the pretend-conservatives and PRO-Europeans who ended Margaret Thatcher's premiership and drove the party from power: Heseltine, Howe, and their Euromaniac cabal. They betrayed her, they betrayed conservatives, they wanted to give away our sovereignty, to sell out our country -- and she was in the way. The pretend-conservative we have to deal with now is David Cameron.

[Pperrin]

In 1977 William Hague said

"Every subsequent Labour government has encroached upon the liberty of the individual citizen. Every subsequent Conservative government has failed to do more than only marginally restore it."

and

"There comes a time, as a country moves nearer towards a socialist state, when the party of the left ceases to be the dominant party, the reformer, and it is the party of the right that becomes the party of radicalism and change. If we should fail now to reverse the progress of socialism, we can write off the future of this party and of the country."

http://free-english-people.blogspot.com/2010/10/william-hagues-1977-conservative.html

He was right then and the point still stands -- the difference is that Hague (and the Cam Cons) no longer care.

Only difference between Labour and CamCons is 'end deficit in 10 years' vs 'end deficit in 5 years' - while both drag us down into a socialist EU black hole.