Word: thatchers
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...Thatcher immediately made it clear that there would be nothing demure or retiring about her leadership. In her words: "I am not a consensus politician. I am a conviction politician." Before Thatcher's victory last week, onetime rival Whitelaw declared: "She is a brilliant leader of the opposition, the best in a long, long time." Privately, however, some of her colleagues are more critical. Says one senior Tory: "She can be very petulant when up against criticism. When she gets into an argument she talks all the time. Talk. Talk. Talk. Because of this she is not a very good...
Unlike a U.S. President, a British Prime Minister is the first among supposed equals in the Cabinet. Cajolery is as vital a quality as conviction, and some Tories wonder whether Thatcher has the skills necessary to keep dissident ministers in line. Because of her authoritarian air, she sometimes appears to be rather like a headmistress dealing sternly with rowdy students. In discussions around the shadow cabinet table, says one associate, "she can be very sharp, steely in cutting somebody short if she has lost interest in what is being said...
...Many of Thatcher's colleagues believe that the experience of being Prime Minister will temper her Iron Lady toughness. If nothing else, she will have to deal with several influential senior Tories who are determined to moderate her more radical views. "What will stop her behaving in a grandiose manner on the world stage is our economic situation," says one of them. But that is unlikely to prevent her from lecturing her counterparts in Western Europe. ("God help them," says one colleague.) Another potential Cabinet member sums her up: "She is a powerful lady, but manageable by her colleagues. They...
...close, almost familial relationship with Callaghan, who was something of a "political uncle" to the President. For their first official meeting, Callaghan brought Carter a bolt of cloth for a suit in which pinstripes were made of tiny J.C.s, their common initials. It is not likely that Carter and Thatcher will develop an equally close relationship. "Margaret will start off despising Jimmy Carter," conceded one top Tory, "but responsibility will mellow her." There will be no lessening of Britain's commitment to friendship with the U.S., but the Tories will not supply the automatic support for Carter's foreign policy...
...Thatcher shares a fear widespread among Tories that in pursuing SALT Carter has lost sight of the global Soviet threat. An early test for the Anglo-American alliance may come over Zimbabwe-Rhodesia. Many Tories favor recognition of the new biracial government headed by Bishop Abel Muzorewa. It is unlikely, though, that the Thatcher government would move to recognize the new Zimbabwe-Rhodesian regime prior to the August meeting of the Commonwealth Conference in Zambia...