LADY THATCHER

I was delighted to read that Lady Thatcher has made a good recovery from her recent illness and bereavement. And this comment rings true too:

"She remains a self-effacing, charming, polite woman in private, never seeking to be the centre of attention - though of course she cannot help but be in almost every setting - and with an immense humanity that her critics simply refuse to believe exists. Her sincerity and basic decency illustrate one of the most important and fundamental truths about her, that she was never in it for herself."

That self-effacement is precisely what I noted on the occasion that I met her at a small garden party in Kent in 1977. When people began to make her the centre of attention then (while I was talking to her as it happens) she turned around and did her best to break it up.

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