Charles Moore and John Howard | Margaret Thatcher

In the first Ramsay Lecture for 2021, former Australian Prime Minister John Howard interviews Lord Charles Moore, the authorised biographer of former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Lord Moore is a UK journalist and former editor of The Daily Telegraph, The Spectator and The Sunday Telegraph. He was selected by Baroness Thatcher to write her biography, which was published in three volumes in 2013, 2016 and 2019. He wrote the biography under specific conditions set by her: that she should not be allowed to read it, and that it should not appear in her lifetime.

Lord Moore still writes for all three publications he edited, and for many years was Chairman of Policy Exchange, a London-based think-tank. Under the Conservative Government of Boris Johnson, he was given a peerage in July 2020 and made a member of the House of Lords.

In a wide-ranging discussion, Mr Howard and Lord Moore discuss Baroness Thatcher’s lasting impact on Britain and British politics, her widening of British Conservatives’ electoral appeal to the aspirational working class, and the person behind her larger-than-life public persona. Other topics include her approach to union members’ rights and the Miners’ strike, how her political confidence was strengthened by military victory in the Falklands War, and her campaign with campaign with Pope John Paul II and US President Ronald Reagan to bring down the Soviet Union.

In a nod to contemporary issues, Mr Howard and Lord Moore discuss whether Thatcher, a proud science degree holder, would have supported current international climate change talks and how she was possibly ‘the mother of Brexit’, with EU scepticism dating back to her 1990 leadership battle.

Finally, they examine how she dealt with political defeat and betrayal by her political colleagues, as well as her enduring legacies.

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About the Ramsay Centre: The Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation is based in Sydney Australia. It was created with an endowment from the late Paul Ramsay AO, founder of Ramsay Health Care, to promote a deeper understanding of western civilisation, through scholarships, educational partnerships and events. The Ramsay Lecture series hosts speakers from all walks of life who have important and interesting perspectives relating to the world and our western heritage. Learn more about the Ramsay Centre at: https://www.ramsaycentre.org Email to join our event/lecture notification list: [email protected]