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Thatcher marks 80th birthday with big bash
(AP)
Updated: 2005-10-14 09:44
Margaret Thatcher turned 80 Thursday with a rare return to the limelight — a
posh party attended by the queen and the former prime minister's two successors,
all celebrating Britain's "Iron Lady."
Although she has grown frail following a series of small strokes, Thatcher
looked healthy as she arrived at the party about 15 minutes late — a delay that
an aide said was due to her taking a congratulatory phone call from US President
Bush.
Wearing a navy blue coat and dress, a string of pearls and — as always — a
matching handbag that was her trademark, she smiled and paused for photographs
before slowly making her way into the plush Mandarin Oriental Hotel near
London's Hyde Park.
Earlier in the day, her assistant Gilly Penrose said Thatcher was feeling
good about her milestone birthday.
"Her house is looking like a florist's and she's very much enjoying it,"
Penrose said. "She's very philosophical about (her age), because she's very
active still."
Heading the high-powered guest list were Queen Elizabeth II, and her husband,
Prince Philip; Prime Minister Tony Blair; and Sir John Major, Thatcher's
immediate successor at No. 10 Downing St.
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, left, shakes
hands with former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, after arriving
for the former British Prime Minister's 80th birthday party in central
London, Thursday, Oct.13, 2005. [AP] | Thatcher
has become more reclusive in recent years and given up most public speaking on
her doctors' advice, but she remains a powerful force 15 years after leaving
office as Britain's first female prime minister.
Her free-market philosophy, push to privatize state industries and hard-nosed
battles with labor unions remade Britain's economic landscape.
Even Blair, whose Labour Party languished in opposition while the
Conservative Thatcher held power for more than a decade, has adopted many of her
views.
"What (Winston) Churchill did in wartime, Margaret Thatcher did in
peacetime," outgoing Tory leader Michael Howard said in a birthday tribute. "Her
political will and her iron courage saw off the threats to our way of life that
Britain faced in 1979. We all owe her an enormous debt."
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