Thatcher 100th anniversary: Discord or harmony?

Opinion remains sharply divided on the legacy of Margaret Thatcher, pictured at the Conservative conference in Blackpool in October 1981

She was the country's first female prime minister and a leader whose impact defined a political and cultural era. On Monday it will be a century since Margaret Thatcher was born above her father's grocery shop in Grantham and the town is marking the anniversary with events to celebrate, probe, criticise and satirise her legacy.

"Like it or not she was born in Grantham and, like it or not, she was Britain's first female prime minister," says South Kesteven District Council leader Ashley Baxter.

"That needs to be recognised, but I don't think it necessarily needs to be celebrated."

He is sitting inside the town's Guildhall Arts Centre which played its own role in the Thatcher story.

It was here the then Margaret Roberts celebrated her father, Alf Roberts, becoming Mayor of Grantham in 1945.

His name is on the list of mayors engraved in a wooden plaque by the front door. As in life, his daughter does much better with a plaque of her own marking her much greater political rise.

Margaret Roberts (far right) with her parents and sister on the occasion of her father, Alfred Roberts, becoming Mayor of Grantham in 1945

Councillor Baxter and seven other people have gathered inside the upstairs ballroom to watch a sequence of archive films charting Mrs Thatcher's extraordinary life.

The footage, grey and grainy by today's standards, shows snapshots of her journey from her Grantham childhood to Downing Street and through the many challenges she faced in power, including the 1982 Falklands War, the 1984 Miners' Strike and the 1990 Poll Tax riots, which ultimately led to her downfall.

All eight viewers sit virtually expressionless as the reel is projected onto the screen in front of them, but afterwards the silence is soon broken.

"She left the country far, far more divided than it was in 1979 when she was first elected," said Labour councillor Lee Steptoe.

"The irony is that she stood outside 10 Downing Street and quoted Francis of Assisi, saying 'where there is discord I will bring harmony'.

"Tell that to the miners, tell that to the steelworkers whose factories she shut down, tell that to the dockers."

An audience of eight watch archive footage from Margaret Thatcher's life and reflect on her legacy

Sitting further down the line is 55-year-old Tamsin Cunningham. She was born on the Falkland Islands and says she is grateful to the woman who was prime minister when Argentina invaded.

"She is, in my opinion, the reason why I'm still British, as I vividly remember watching the news as a child and the Argentine government announcing I was no longer a British citizen."

Retired telephone engineer Keith Large, 68, from Grantham, agrees that Mrs Thatcher "got it right on the Falklands" but "didn't like everything she did".

Vivienne Reichelt, aged 49, chair of Grantham Museum, said Mrs Thatcher was "fantastic" as "things were done when she said they were going to be done".

Former Conservative councillor and deputy chair of the local Tory association Adam Stokes, aged 41, nods vigorously.

"If we had her now we wouldn't be in the mess we're in," he said.

Tamsin Cunningham was born on the Falkland Islands

Gareth Knight, a Conservative councillor and chair of the Grantham and Bourne Conservative Association, is 46 years old so was a young child when Mrs Thatcher served as prime minister, but she nevertheless left a deep impression.

"When she left I thought all prime ministers were women and I thought it was perfectly normal for women to have careers," he said.

He agrees some of her policies were "divisive" but says "many were because of government inaction before she got in and she left the country in a much better place".

"She's without doubt the greatest prime minister we've had since Winston Churchill and this town created the foundation to allow her to rise.

"Regardless of the politics, that's something we should be proud of."

Mrs Thatcher in the Falklands in 1983 where she was presented with a t-shirt bearing the tiger emblem of the 'Y' Company, 1st Battalion the Royal Hampshire Regiment

Grantham's Thatcher Fest festival begins on Monday and includes talks by Edwina Currie and Gyles Brandreth, walking tours, exhibitions, a play, poetry and even a drag show.

Both positive and negative assessments of her time in office will be explored, says Councillor Baxter.

"We've not come to beatify her," he said.

"We're saying she definitely had a role on the world stage and that's something to be marked."

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