Denis Thatcher - Public Life and Perceptions

Public Life and Perceptions

In an interview with Kirsten Cubitt in early October 1970, Thatcher said, "I don't pretend that I'm anything but an honest-to-God right-winger—those are my views and I don't care who knows 'em."

Thatcher agreed with his wife on most political issues, though he was strongly against the death penalty, calling it "absolutely awful" and "barbaric", while she favoured it. (Britain abolished capital punishment in 1965, but execution for murder was retained in Northern Ireland until 1973.) Thatcher was anti-socialist. He told his daughter in 1995 that he would have banned Trade Unions altogether in Britain. Thatcher hated the BBC, thinking it was biased against the Thatcher government, as well as unpatriotic. In his most famous outburst about the BBC, he claimed his wife had been "stitched up by bloody BBC poofs and Trots" when she was questioned by a member of the public about the sinking of the ARA General Belgrano on Nationwide in 1983.

Margaret Thatcher was Britain's first (and to date only) female prime minister, so Denis Thatcher was the first husband of a prime minister in British history.

There were a series of spoof letters published in the satirical magazine Private Eye in the 1980s. The "Dear Bill" column written by Richard Ingrams and John Wells after May 1979 took the form of a letter purporting to be from Denis to his real life friend and golfing partner Bill Deedes (former editor of The Daily Telegraph), detailing life at Number 10. The letters portrayed Denis Thatcher as a reactionary interested only in golf and gin. John Wells used the character portrayed in the letters, and created the stage play Anyone for Denis (also shown on television).

Thatcher refused press interviews and only made brief speeches. When he did speak to the press, he called Margaret "The Boss".

He was known as an irreverent, good-natured man with a talent for friendship. Margaret Thatcher often acknowledged her husband's support. In her autobiography she wrote: "I could never have been Prime Minister for more than 11 years without Denis by my side." He saw his role as helping her survive the stress of the job, which he urged her to resign on the 10th anniversary of her becoming Prime Minister, in 1989, sensing that otherwise she would be forced out (as happened a year later). After his wife's third election victory in 1987, whilst watching his wife wave to the cheering crowds outside Downing Street, Thatcher said quietly to his daughter Carol, "In a year's time she will be so unpopular you won't believe it". In fact, this happened 12–18 months later than he predicted.

In December 1990, the month after Margaret Thatcher's resignation as prime minister, it was announced that Denis Thatcher would be created a baronet (the first such creation since 1964). The award was gazetted in February 1991, giving his title as Sir Denis Thatcher, 1st Baronet, of Scotney in the County of Kent. Thus his wife was entitled to be called Lady Thatcher whilst retaining her seat in the House of Commons. The baronetcy was a hereditary title that was to be inherited by their son Mark after Denis's death. It was the last British hereditary honour to be granted to anyone outside the royal family. However, Sir Denis Thatcher's wife was created a life peeress as Baroness Thatcher in her own right in 1992 after her retirement from the House of Commons. He and his wife were one of the few married couples who both held titles in their own right.