Margaret Thatcher biography part 6: The Iron Lady's fight to be a woman in a man's world

Feminine charms: Thatcher could be ‘totally and utterly ruthless’ Photo: Rex Features

By

Charles Moore

9:31PM BST 03 Oct 2015

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In the second series of extracts from his new biography of Margaret Thatcher, Charles Moore recounts her epic battle with NUM leader Arthur Scargill and her brush with death when the IRA bombed the Grand Hotel in Brighton during the Conservative Conference in 1984. She was also made aware of rumours that some of her close colleagues and acquaintances were sex abusers though evidence was never produced.

Throughout, she was acutely aware of her need to show her steely character, but also her femininity, as a woman in a man’s world.

Although almost no women had formal power during Mrs Thatcher’s premiership, several were important in what might be called her court.

They testified to aspects of her character which men tended to understand less well.

In the opinion of Carla Powell, [her policy advisor] Charles’s vivacious Italian wife, who frequently gave Mrs Thatcher informal assistance with clothes and home decoration, “everything about her was totally, totally feminine.

She adored the details of clothes. I called her ‘La Bionda’ [‘The Blonde’] because she loved the boys [her private secretaries].”Mrs Thatcher liked the way they prepared her for interviews and public appearances, and “the boys” seemed to understand this. Robin Butler, her principal private secretary, used an equestrian metaphor about getting her ready for Prime Minister’s Questions in Parliament:

“it was important that there was the right amount of sweat on the flanks.”

With Mrs Thatcher, Carla Powell continued, “everything was a woman thing”. It was important not to upstage the Prime Minister. She recalled being lectured by Robin Butler: “remember that Mrs Thatcher is a woman, so don’t overdress as you usually do”.

‘If a woman takes on a battle, she has to win’: Thatcher believed men would close ranks against a woman

Her own marriage was undoubtedly strong and even, according to Carla Powell’s testimony, which differs in this from the consensus, flirtatious. She recalled a scrap of dialogue.

Denis: “You know I don’t like you dressed in black”.

Mrs Thatcher: “I have to. I’m the Prime Minister.”

“Then Denis made a ‘go on with you!’ gesture.”

‘Crawfie, I shall always be only the second Mrs Thatcher’

Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher biography part 6: The Iron Lady"s fight to be a woman in a man"s world