On what would have been Margaret Thatcher’s 100th birthday, we remember a leader who reversed Britain’s decline.
I’ll never forget meeting her. Even in her 80s, she had a presence that commanded the room. Her courage, conviction and total clarity of purpose not only inspired me, but generations of Conservatives around the world.
She was underestimated by almost everyone. Mocked as a “grocer’s daughter”. Dismissed as a “housewife”. But she had the backbone to prove them all wrong, not by bending, but by staying loyal to her principles: free markets, individual responsibility and national strength.
In 1979, she chose uncomfortable truth over comfortable lies, breaking a post-war consensus that was holding Britain back. She transformed this country: giving people the right to buy their homes, own shares in key industries, build better lives.
Today’s world is different and we need new answers, but the choice is the same: managed decline or getting Britain back on track. Comfortable lies or uncomfortable truths. I choose truth.
That’s why fixing welfare and restoring fiscal discipline so we live within our means is my top priority. That’s why we will scrap Stamp Duty to get Britain moving again, and enshrine a Golden Economic Rule to get the deficit down and stop reckless borrowing.
Lady Thatcher’s legacy is my mission: to make Britain prosper again.
