Speeches, etc.

Margaret Thatcher

Interview on being appointed a minister

Document type: Speeches, interviews, etc.
Venue: House of Commons
Source: Thatcher Archive: unidentified cutting, 10 October 1961
Editorial comments: Exact time and place of interview unknown.
Importance ranking: Major
Word count: 291
Themes: Autobiography (marriage & children), Executive (appointments), Conservative Party (organization)

One of a crowd … the housewife who was made a Minister last night

Margaret Thatcher, M.P., 36-year-old mother of twins who has been appointed Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance, was eagerly buying a paper outside the House of Commons last night.

“I want to see the other changes—much more significant,” she said. * * *

The House, which is in recess, was almost deserted. Mrs. Thatcher had just dropped in to pick up her secretary after presenting prizes to nurses in her constituency, Finchley.

She was dressed like any other housewife up to town for the day. A cossack hat in coney fur covered most of her fair hair which is just going grey at the temples. She was wearing a green wool jersey dress and a fine two-row necklace of pearls gleamed at her throat.

Mrs. Thatcher admitted that the post had been a surprise to her. “I didn't think that people of my vintage (1959) would be likely to be considered. I'm one of the first of my batch.”

Even Mrs. Thatcher's husband had no inkling of the appointment until yesterday. * * *

The extra work should not affect her family life too much. “I have an excellent nanny for my twins, Mark and Carol, who are eight,” she told me.

Luckily her constituency and the House of Commons are within easy reach of her home in Farnborough, Kent. “Otherwise I simply couldn't do it,” she said.

Mrs. Thatcher glanced quickly down at her headlines. “Oh, good. Woodhouse has got Aviation. He's my batch. He'll be simply splendid.”

Then she bustled away across the central lobby. “How's she going to do it?” said the commissionaire shaking his head. “It's a lot of work.”