Tory minister endorses creation of national ‘Margaret Thatcher Day’

Conservatives MPs are pushing for the creation of a Margaret Thatcher Day to celebrate the record of the former prime minister.

Equalities minister Kemi Badenoch threw her “personal” endorsement behind the idea in the Commons on Wednesday after she was quizzed on the matter by MPs.

Sheryll Murray, the MP for South East Cornwall, said the late Baroness Thatcher “led the way by showing women that they can reach the highest office and do the job well”.

Ms Murray said the government should consider emulating the Falkland Islands and “celebrate a Margaret Thatcher day”. The remote archipelago celebrates the occasion on January 10 every year.

Her suggestion was greeted with cheers by other Tory MPs on the benches around her.

Ms Badenoch, whose brief covers equalities and communities, said: “I personally would be very supportive of a Margaret Thatcher day. But I think that is probably more a question for the prime minister than myself.”

10 January is the anniversary of Baroness Thatcher’s first visit to the Falkland Islands in 1983.

The former prime minister oversaw restrictions on workers’ rights, the disposal of public assets like state industries and council houses to the private sector, a war to defend the Falkland Islands, and cuts to some taxes.

Her policies dramatically increase unemployment and inequality, neutered trade union power, and made a section of the population very rich – setting Britain up with a new economic model that has yet to be unpicked to this day.

The baroness is worshiped in an almost cult-like fashion by some Tories – with portraits of the ex-PM adorning offices and sometimes even placed on tables at fringe events at Conservative party conference.

Yet she was forced from office by her party in 1990 over her position on Europe, to be replaced by John Major.

The late prime minister was picked as Britain’s greatest post-war prime minister by 21 per cent of the public in a poll conducted by YouGov in April 2019 – beating every other option. That support was mostly driven by Tory voters, 44 per cent of whom picked her; just 6 per cent of Liberal Democrat and Labour voters chose Baroness Thatcher.