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Margaret Thatcher stood apart. (Photo by Hilaria McCarthy via Getty Images)

Things Worth Remembering: When Margaret Thatcher Refused to Jump

In a 1995 interview, the Iron Lady gave a lesson on the perils of popularity.

By Douglas Murray

May 26, 2024

Welcome to Douglas Murray’s column, Things Worth Remembering, in which he presents great speeches from famous orators we should commit to heart. To listen to Margaret Thatcher react to a Swedish journalist telling her to jump in a TV interview, scroll to the end of this piece.

One of my first political memories is being on my school playground in London in 1990 and hearing that Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had resigned. She had ascended to power just before I was born, in 1979, so I had never known any other prime minister, and I was alarmed. 

“But who else could do the job?” I remember saying to a friend. 

This may have been one of my first political insights, but it also turned out to be one of my best. Because the answer for 34 years since has been: no one.

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