Henry's Songbook

Chorus:
Call us equal, call us proud
Call yourself a liar
No matter what the people do
They'll set the target higher

You read it now, they tell you how the Lady is a leader
With hats and curls and strings of pearls, they say the people need her
She took the milk from my son John, locked it in her larder
Then said, The secret of success is - work a little harder

My girl she nurses sick and old, the builders of the nation
And then they pay a pauper's wage and tell her it's vocation
She'd love to ride the world around, to give the cups and prizes
But someone's got to lead the blind and see the cripple rises

We would have married long ago and we're still hoping one day
Two up two down and a little lawn and time to rest on Sunday
I wish the ones who kept us here could live like us and borrow
I'd place a pound for what it's worth they'd be gone tomorrow
We'd like a yacht, some rooms to spare, horses in the stable
We might as well believe that we could buy meat for the table

[1975:] I said the Labour leaders regard Mrs Thatcher as the ablest woman in the House [of Commons]. [Willie Whitelaw] expressed some surprise and mild disagreement. Whitelaw says she is able, and good in the House, but in her dealings with people she is apt to lecture and to bulldoze her way, when more conciliatory methods would be more successful. In this connection he did not think much of her opening moves with the N.U.T. [National Union of Teachers]. (Cecil King, Diary 1970-1974, July 14th, 1970)

[1990:] About HER when she was Minister of Education [c. 1974]. I spotted her! (Harvey Andrews, pr. comm.)

[1996:] [More] than two decades ago [...] Margaret Thatcher was Education Secretary, and ordered an end to free school milk, earning herself the name Thatcher the Milk Snatcher. (Observer, 28 July)

For background see also http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/in_depth/uk/2000/uk_confidential/newsid_1095000/1095121.stm