New WikiLeaks files show how US diplomats scrambled to make sense of how Margaret Thatcher, "the quintessential suburban matron", won the leadership of the Conservative Party.
October 12, 1977: Conservative party leader Margaret Thatcher poses with 16-year-old Rother Valley schoolboy, William Hague, after he received a standing ovation from delegates at the Tory party conference in Blackpool
The diplomatic cable back to Washington was brief and to the point: Margaret Thatcher, a relative political unknown, had shown "courage, deftness, and determination" to best her male rivals and seize control of the Conservative Party.
In the days and weeks after her leadership surprise victory in February 1975, US diplomats at the embassy in London rushed to make sense of "Britain's newest political star". One American diplomat described the mood of the party following the election of its first female leader as a "curious mixture of relief, excitement, guilt and misgivings" who "blazed into national prominence almost literally out of nowhere".
While noting that "it is impossible to analyse with any precision why the Conservative leadership race ended as it did", the cable concluded that the party was falling in line behind Mrs Thatcher and was excited "at the prospect of a new, dynamic brand of leadership".
Perhaps the most important reason for her success was the desire among Conservative MPs for "an aggressive, hard-hitting leader in the Commons" after years of drift under Ted Heath, according to the cable which was released as part of a new WikiLeaks archive today.
The unnamed US diplomat agreed with that assessment, writing: "The first woman to lead a political party in Britain she is able, intelligent, articulate, hard-working, and clearly ready to take charge.
"She will bring badly needed fresh blood into the shadow cabinet and revitalise a demoralized party."
A more comprehensive biographical cable, written week later, said that the grocer's daughter was "the personification of a British middle-class dream come true".
"It is not surprising that she espouses the middle class-values of thrift, hard work, and law and order, that she believes in individual choice, maximum freedom for market forces, and minimal power for the state," the cable read.
However there were also political dangers in that "distinctively upper middle class personal image", the London embassy warned.
"Her immaculate grooming, her imperious manner, her conventional and somewhat forced charm, and above all her plummy voice stamp as the quintessential suburban matron, and frightfully English to boot.
"None of this goes down well with the working class of England (one-third of which used to vote conservative), to say nothing of all classes in the Celtic fringes of this island."
The diplomatic cable back to Washington was brief and to the point: Margaret Thatcher, a relative political unknown, had shown "courage, deftness, and determination" to best her male rivals and seize control of the Conservative Party.
In the days and weeks after her leadership surprise victory in February 1975, US diplomats at the embassy in London rushed to make sense of "Britain's newest political star". One American diplomat described the mood of the party following the election of its first female leader as a "curious mixture of relief, excitement, guilt and misgivings" who "blazed into national prominence almost literally out of nowhere".
While noting that "it is impossible to analyse with any precision why the Conservative leadership race ended as it did", the cable concluded that the party was falling in line behind Mrs Thatcher and was excited "at the prospect of a new, dynamic brand of leadership".
Perhaps the most important reason for her success was the desire among Conservative MPs for "an aggressive, hard-hitting leader in the Commons" after years of drift under Ted Heath, according to the cable which was released as part of a new WikiLeaks archive today.
The unnamed US diplomat agreed with that assessment, writing: "The first woman to lead a political party in Britain she is able, intelligent, articulate, hard-working, and clearly ready to take charge.
"She will bring badly needed fresh blood into the shadow cabinet and revitalise a demoralized party."
A more comprehensive biographical cable, written week later, said that the grocer's daughter was "the personification of a British middle-class dream come true".
"It is not surprising that she espouses the middle class-values of thrift, hard work, and law and order, that she believes in individual choice, maximum freedom for market forces, and minimal power for the state," the cable read.
However there were also political dangers in that "distinctively upper middle class personal image", the London embassy warned.
"Her immaculate grooming, her imperious manner, her conventional and somewhat forced charm, and above all her plummy voice stamp as the quintessential suburban matron, and frightfully English to boot.
"None of this goes down well with the working class of England (one-third of which used to vote conservative), to say nothing of all classes in the Celtic fringes of this island."
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