The Path to Power (Thatcher book)
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''The Path to Power'' is a
memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobiog ...
by former
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern ...
Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...
, covering her life from her birth in 1925 until she became Prime Minister in 1979.


History

Most of the book covers her life up until her election victory in 1979 but she added on about 150 pages at the end giving her opinions on current affairs on the years since she resigned as Prime Minister in 1990. Although Thatcher avoided personal attacks on her successor John Major, she clearly believed that he had squandered her legacy and was pursuing un-Thatcherite policies. The book was serialised in the '' Sunday Times'' where the apparent attacks on the Major government were sensationalised.


Reception

In interviews to promote the book, Thatcher claimed that the Conservatives had lost their way because they were "not being Conservative enough". In the book Thatcher wrote that: "I offer some thoughts about putting these things right. It is now, however, for others to take the action required". These words—similar to those used by
Geoffrey Howe Richard Edward Geoffrey Howe, Baron Howe of Aberavon, (20 December 1926 – 9 October 2015) was a British Conservative politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1989 to 1990. Howe was Margaret Thatch ...
in 1990 which had precipitated her downfall—led to Major on 22 June resigning as Conservative leader and calling a
leadership election A leadership election is a political contest held in various countries by which the members of a political party determine who will be the leader of their party. Generally, any political party can determine its own rules governing how and when a l ...
.
John Redwood Sir John Alan Redwood (born 15 June 1951) is a British politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wokingham in Berkshire since 1987. A member of the Conservative Party, he was Secretary of State for Wales in the Major governm ...
stood against Major. Thatcher was in America at the time of the first ballot and she remained neutral, claiming that both Major and Redwood were "good Conservatives". Talking to her close friend
Woodrow Wyatt Woodrow may refer to: People *Woodrow (name) Woodrow is an English given name which was originally an English surname which may originally derive from a toponym meaning "row of houses by a wood" in Old English. Other sources suggest the nam ...
on 22 May 1995, Thatcher said to him that the ''Sunday Times'' "distorted what I wrote" and that her line about policies being carried out by others meant not replacing Major but the whole Western world, the Council of Europe, etc. Later that day, Major said to Wyatt: "I'm bloody angry and I'm going to give her a hell of an attack and go for her". In his memoirs, Major wrote: "Her descriptions of a Grantham childhood were harmless enough, but the book contained an epilogue, unrelated to the title or scope of the book itself, which could only be interpreted as an attack on my own policies. Such blows from my predecessor were impossible to disregard, since every interviewer raised them with me at every opportunity, as she must have known they would".


See also

* '' The Downing Street Years'' * '' Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World''


Notes


Sources

* * *


Further reading

*


External links


Interview with Thatcher on ''The Path to Power'', June 25, 1995
C-SPAN {{DEFAULTSORT:Path to Power, The (Thatcher book) 1995 in British politics 1995 non-fiction books Books about politics of the United Kingdom Books by Margaret Thatcher Books written by prime ministers of the United Kingdom British memoirs Political memoirs