Monday 25 April 2011

Margaret Thatcher and 'the' Bruges Speech

Peter Oborne blogs about the above and the background (Foreign Office papers) leading up to that speech. It makes fascinating material and is well worth the time spent reading all 42 documents. What is equally interesting is the views of her Europhile ministers and officials.

Amongst the papers is the transcript of an interview Margaret Thatcher gave Jimmy Young on Radio 2 - her answers and the views contained therein are sorely missed today.

Absolutely a must read! Enjoy!

3 comments:

john in cheshire said...

WfW, Margaret is a hero of mine, but on reading the transcript of her interview with JY, I have a feeling that she was duped by the EU fanatics. I think she thought she could control the tide and just like Canute, she was proven wrong. I understand that in later years she began to realise this was so. Maybe you are better informed than me and can correct my perceptions.

WitteringsfromWitney said...

jic: Mine too - and no, you are correct in your perception of her later years in office.

TheBoilingFrog said...

Thanks for this WfW, will have a perusal, it's nice to have it confirmed that our enemy is Whitehall and more specifically the FCO.

JiC comment is dead right and Thatcher remains the only PM who admitted that they got it wrong on the EU.