THE THATCHER TRILOGY (Pt 1) - poem

THE THATCHER TRILOGY

Part 1-The Rise to Power

So why did Thatcher think she was,
God’s gift to humankind?                  
Was it her mighty intellect,      
Or just her twisted mind?
A curious coincidence,
Was that with Grocer Heath; (1)
The condescension and false smile,
Though not the keyboard teeth!

The Tories groomed her for success,
The going wasn’t smooth;
The voice too shrill to be sincere,
It really didn’t soothe.
They dropped her voice an octave down,
To flatten out the flaws;
And made her wear lead corsets and,
Some heavy steel-lined drawers!

The ‘Iron Lady’ thus emerged,
Like a sexed-starved schoolmarm;
A self-opinionated bore,
Devoid of any charm.
The hairstyle was toned down a bit,
From the blue-rinse brigade;
The ‘sensible housewife’ was born,
The image neatly made.

She gave us tips on household thrift,
Although to be quite fair;
You’ve got to be an expert when,
Wed to a millionaire! (2)          
The British voters took the bait
And swallowed the deceit;
The Tories swept to victory,
The con was now complete!

(1) Ex-P.M. Edward Heath who she ousted as
Conservative Party leader in February, 1975.
He was lampooned as ‘Grocer Heath’ by Private
Eye after promising to reduce grocery prices.

(2) Husband Denis was already a ‘self-made’
millionaire (having already inherited his
business) when she married him in 1951.

© Richard Layton