Killing Maggie

It’s twenty years since she left office, but Tories still don’t understand the depth of the hatred that Maggie Thatcher engendered in a large proportion of the population. Amongst my group of friends we had a agreement that any of us who got within striking distance of her would do our best to do her some serious damage.

Of course, there was no danger that anyone would ever get close enough to her that we would be called on to back up these threats with action. It was just a joke that we shared.

Well, until the day I found myself within striking distance.

At some point in 1993 I was in Madrid airport waiting for a flight back to London. We were in the departure lounge, the plane could be seen on the  runway, but we weren’t boarding. We waited and waited but they didn’t let us board. Eventually, over thirty minutes late, we were called and started to make our way onto the flight.

As we were called, I was standing closest to the exit from the departure lounge, so I was the  first person to head towards the plane. As I went through the tunnel to the plane, a door opened in the side and a small group of people appeared in the tunnel. They had obviously circumvented the usual check-in procedures and had come up some stairs from the tarmac.

And one of them was Maggie. I was standing about three feet from her.

Of course I did nothing. If I had, you would have known about it. “Yobbo Pushes Maggie Down Steps” would have been the headline in all of the British papers the next day.

I just stood there blinking as she (along with the rest of her party) was whisked onto the plane – where they were secreted in the first class section. By the time I got onto the plane, they were nowhere to be seen.

Of course there  was no way I was ever going to do anything. Our bragging about doing something to her was just that – bragging. It was a one in a million chance that I was ever in a position to even consider making good on my promises.

But in my lifetime, there has never been a politician who split the nation like Maggie did. Of course, the number of people who loved her was larger than the number of people who hated her. But those of us who hated her, hated her passionately.

Which is why I (along with many people) can completely understand what John McDonnell said yesterday. Of course it was a joke, but it was a joke that will resonate deeply with almost half of the population who lived through the 1980s in the UK.

If I had a vote in the Labour leadership election, I’d be seriously considering giving it to McDonnell. He’s obviously my kind of politician.