Not For Turning (The life of Margaret Thatcher)

[KEV67]

This is a biography of Margaret Thatcher. I am not sure who Robin Harris was. I think he was one of her staff, some type of colleague. He wrote political speeches for her. The biography was published in 2013.

This is one of my brother's books. He used to read books about weighty subjects, such as biographies of politicians. He never read fiction, so far as I can tell. At least not as an adult.

I did not like Margaret Thatcher when I lived through her period of government. Partly, this was because my parents were both quite left wing. I am not certain, but I think they met at the Young Socialists club in Nottingham. They used to go on CND marches to Aldermaston and the like. The other reason I did not like her was that she reminded me of my bossy teachers and headmistresses.

I have not read many political biographies. I do not think this biography is as good as Andrew Robert's biography of Winston Churchill. In part, I think that is because Andrew Roberts is a better writer, and in part, because Winston Churchill's life was interesting all the way through.

I thought I would find Margaret Thatcher's early life, and her days as an MP more interesting than I did. I can remember what she did during the 80s, but I was not really aware of her before 1978. The chapter I found most interesting was Three Last Campaigns, after she left office. These were her campaigns against the Maastrict Treaty, her campaigning to defend Croatia, Bosnia Herzogovina, and Kosovo from Serbian aggression, and her defence of General Pinochet after Spanish lawyers issued an arrest warrant for him when he was on British territory. I was sympathetic with her on all those things.