Word: labouring
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That afternoon Thatcher gave one more bravura performance -- perhaps her last -- in rallying the numbed Tories against a motion of no confidence proposed by Labour leader Neil Kinnock, who had felt obliged to respond to the spectacular disarray in the Conservative camp. In an emotion-charged atmosphere, the Prime Minister lit into Kinnock with such freewheeling enthusiasm that she brought Tory M.P.s to their feet cheering; others had tears in their eyes...
...Thatcher drew laughter when she said, "I'm enjoying this." Said Ann Widdecombe, a Tory M.P., who reflected the remorse many in her party felt: "The rest of the world will think we are mad, as indeed we are," to have forced Thatcher out of office. Jack Straw, a Labour M.P., found it "wonderful to be rid of that awful woman." Liberal M.P. Menzies Campbell called her decision "brave but inevitable." Even Kinnock offered a grudging bit of praise, saying her departure showed "she amounts to more than those who have turned upon her in recent days...
Even on such a historic day, the session had its characteristic verbal swordplay. Labour M.P. Greville Janner stood and thanked Thatcher for "many personal kindnesses." Then, voice rising, he ticked off a list of miseries and inquired if she was aware that she was leaving the country "in such a shambles." Murmurs of approval from the Labour benches. Thatcher quickly stood up and tartly replied to the Right Honourable Janner, "He can speak to any brief, and I don't believe he believes a word of it." Roars of delight from the Tory side...
...Cabinet posts under Edward Heath. When Margaret Thatcher came to power in 1979, she appointed Heseltine Environment Minister, and four years later moved him to Defense. A reputation for impetuosity has followed him since an episode in the Commons in 1976 when, irate over a demonstration staged by Labour M.P.s, he seized the ceremonial mace and brandished it over his head. Heseltine's sense of judgment was called into question again in 1986 when, after a bitter argument with Thatcher over the bailout of the privately owned Westland helicopter company -- she favored an American, he a European partner -- Heseltine stalked...
...bearing false witness, against coveting. Plagiarius is kidnapper in Latin. The plagiarist snatches the writer's brainchildren, pieces of his soul. Plagiarism gives off a shabby metaphysic. Delaware's Senator Joseph Biden, during the 1988 presidential primaries, expanded the conceptual frontier by appropriating not just the language of British Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock but also of his poignant Welsh coal-mining ancestors. Biden transplanted the mythic forebears to northeastern Pennsylvania. He conjured them coming up out of the mines to play football. "They read poetry and wrote poetry and taught me how to sing verse." A fascinating avenue...