 | 'From the woman who gave us the poll tax there has never been, is not now, and I am sure never will be, a word of apology or a moment's contrition. It is Margaret against the world, and the world is always out of step.' Alex Salmond in the Herald 10 th September 1997 |  |
And I couldn't help wondering what these nice people had done to deserve what was about to befall them - an hour's harangue from the Iron Lady, courtesy of American Express, her "lecture's" sponsor. Because they wouldn't do nicely for the vast majority of the Scottish people.
The daily conference newsletter described the bold Baroness as an expert on the emerging economics of the Far East. Considering what she did to ruin Scotland's economy, I suppose we should be grateful that she is now looking further afield, but if I had a word of advice for any politicians on the other side of the globe, it would be to sup with a very long spoon indeed when sitting down with the former Prime Minister.
When news of Mrs T's intention to visit Scotland for the lecture was first leaked, it was accompanied by the information that she had agreed to say nothing about the referendum. "Think Twice" is woefully out of touch with Scottish opinion, but even it realised that support from the Iron Lady would be the kiss of death.
The concept of Margaret Thatcher as a political Trappist is, of course, ludicrous. It was inevitable that she would want her views known and that even before her aeroplane touched down, her words would have gone before her.
It was equally inevitable that, like the Bourbons, she would have learned nothing, and forgotten nothing. The strident rhetoric, the doom-laden warnings, the appeal to Scots to take their rightful (and subordinate place) in the greater scheme of things - it was all there, an action replay of the political figure who is best known for saying "no".
Crowning the whole performance, of course, was the monumental insensitivity and arrogance that has caused the complete collapse of the Tory party in Scotland.
From the woman who gave us the poll tax there has never been, is not now, and I am sure never will be, a word of apology or a moment's contrition. It is Margaret against the world, and the world is always out of step.
None of this will surprise anybody in Scotland, and its only - and welcome effect - will be that of a visual aid: here is the best reason on two legs to vote "Yes-Yes" on Thursday.
But her intervention is not a victimless crime. The curtailing of the campaign into four final days has meant that her anointed successor was crossing the border just as Thatcher fired her broadside. And therefore meant that his campaigning visit was sunk without trace, to be replaced by the inevitable questions about his childhood heroine.
In the Just William stories, William's favourite and plaintive phrase is: "It's not fair." Wee Willie Hague no doubt now feels the same way. Instead of adding the final lustre to the "no" campaign (much in need of lustre, as it has been the worst bit of political campaigning I have ever seen) he spent the day squirming in television studios and experiencing - I suspect for the first time - a whole nation where the mere mention of Thatcher is enough to make the calmest of commentators and the most placid of politicians foam at the mouth.
The outcome of this campaign, whatever other results it has, will force Hague, Ancram, and the whole discredited job lot of Tories, homewards to think again. The question that confronts them is how to make a complete break with the past, in Scotland most notoriously symbolised by the poll tax and its sole begetter, the Baroness Thatcher.
So far, the omens for the Tories are not good. To change, one must undertake the need to change, and Thatcher's words and tone - and Ancram's and Hague's - are from the tired old book of "we know best" Conservatism, over which a tide of public anger and opinion flowed on May 1.
Still, I will grant the Baroness one thing. The Iron Lady still has a brass neck. She is, in my granny's old phrase, "no' backward in coming forward".
That fact, as the fainthearts of the "No-No" campaign realise this morning, has been the final undoing of their whole negative campaign. Because Scotland wants a better, more responsive, and more positive political system than the one we suffer now. And one that is much, much better than the anti-Scottish system presided over by the Baroness, of unhappy memory. - Sep 10
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