BRITAIN is heading for a 1970s bankruptcy crisis under Labour and needs conviction politicians like Donald Trump and Nigel Farage to channel Maggie Thatcher.
So believes Sir Mark Thatcher, who was speaking on what would have been his Iron Lady mum’s 100th birthday.
Britain needs politicians like Donald Trump and Nigel Farage to channel Maggie Thatcher, says her son[/caption]
The late PM’s son gave a rare interview yesterday to warn “everyone has got it upside down” when it comes to massive government spending, taxation and open borders.
Offering a withering verdict on the state of Britain now, Sir Mark claimed his mother would have “admired” the US President and “respected” the surging Reform boss for standing up for what they believe in.
Slamming Britain’s immigration chaos as luring people to cross the Channel for benefits, Sir Mark insisted his mother would never have allowed it.
And in a chilling warning he predicted that unless spending is tackled the UK is going to go broke.
Seeing echoes of the humiliating 1970s bailout — where the Labour government was forced to go cap in hand to the International Monetary Fund — he warned: “That seems to be the way that it’s going.”
He added: “I can count. If you look upon it, if families ran their financial affairs in the same way that governments run their financial affairs, they would all be facing acute difficulties.”
‘Charming guy’
Instead, he believes that conviction politics is the way forward, heaping praise on the US President, who he claimed is doing a great job.
Sir Mark told Harry Cole Saves The West that “clearly President Trump believes strongly in the market economy. He has very clear ideas of what he wants to do and how he wants to do them.
“The fact he has got the common beliefs, and she would very much have subscribed to the bulk of them, I would think that she would be admiring his leadership.”
He added that President Trump was “doing a great job, and time will tell the level of success that he’s going to have, but he’s achieving more in the relatively short space of time than in his first presidency.
On Nigel Farage, Sir Mark said: “I’ve never met him, but he strikes me as being an extremely charming guy. He believes strongly in what he believes in. My mother would respect him for his beliefs without a shadow of a doubt.”
He added: “Whatever you say about him, he is a belief politician. And that is a good thing. As long as we’re allowed to have a debate in our society about the beliefs that we hold, it can only be a good thing.
“My mother would have agreed with his views about the size of illegal immigration today, and she would have wanted to tackle those issues as he does, whether or not the approach to tackling those issues is the same.”
On Kemi Badenoch, Sir Mark urged Tories to give their struggling leader time and suggested his mother had a similar rocky start to her leadership.
My mother would respect him for his beliefs without a shadow of a doubt
Sir Mark on Nigel Farage
He added: “I don’t think she’s doing a bad job. It’s particularly difficult at the moment. There are a wide range of issues and challenges that she faces. Don’t forget, in the first couple of years of my mother’s leadership, it wasn’t all plain sailing at all. There was a lot, lot, lot to be done.”
He added that the Tories faced a similar challenge when his mother took over the party in 1975.
“There are very real comparisons between the moment when my mother became leader of the party,” he said.
“There were three-day working weeks, and we just had a fairly big tonking in the ’74 election.
Sir Mark thinks Trump is doing a great job[/caption]
Slamming Britain’s immigration chaos as luring people to cross the Channel for benefits, Sir Mark insisted his mother would never have allowed it[/caption]
“That created an environment in which the party was ready for a different style of leadership, and that’s how my mother became leader.
“I think there are certain comparisons between that period and the last election.
“And so from that particular perspective, she would be supporting the leader of the party, because she’s doing the best she can do.”
And he pointed out there is a long way to go before the next election and that his mother was always very sceptical of political polling.
He recalled: “I remember one particular moment in time my mother was asked what she thought about the polls. And the first question was, ‘How long until the next election?’.
“And I think somebody said, ‘Well, a couple of years’. She said, ‘Well, if we’re only ten points behind, that’s not enough!’. It’s all cyclical.
“I’m pleased, and she would be pleased that we’re having the debate about immigration, because it is, and has always been, one of the most difficult issues to resolve.”
And in a major broadside at Sir Keir Starmer, he said the PM lacks conviction, adding that “his mother knew exactly what she wanted to do when she arrived in Downing Street. And I think that’s perhaps not necessarily the case all the time today”.
On the current crop of politicians in power, he added: “I think she’d be very surprised that they actually don’t believe in anything. Certainly at the moment, and I think that’s very important, you need to have a very clear idea of what you believe in.”
One thing Sir Mark believes is that politicians on all sides should channel his mother’s legacy to save Britain.
He said: “I think we need to get back to much more of a market-based economy and market-based policies. I’m not saying that because my mother is my mother, but I’m just saying those are the facts.
I think we need to get back to much more of a market-based economy and market-based policies. I’m not saying that because my mother is my mother, but I’m just saying those are the facts
Sir Mark
“If you look at how policies were applied during her government and the successes that it had, it doesn’t seem to be working as it should be.
“So I think a little bit more Thatcherism might be useful.”
Pinpointing immigration as a major flashpoint for the nation, Sir Mark warned that his mother would have little truck with the small boats crisis.
‘Stop spending’
He hit out: “It’s a mystery to me, and a mystery to many, why these people should come all the way across Europe, from safe countries in Europe, secure countries in Europe, trying to cross the Channel to get to the United Kingdom when there are many other equally safe places for them to reside.
“And one is forced to the conclusion that they do that because once they arrive on the beaches here they’re going to be given a wide range of financial support from the first day. And that has to stop.”
He claims that giving migrants benefits is “a substantial pull factor”, adding: “I think that people are being encouraged to come across half of southern Europe and France and Germany, all those places, to get to the United Kingdom because when they get here, the prize on the beach is bigger.
“And my mother used to believe very strongly that one should make a contribution to our society, make a contribution to the nation in which they live, before they should be permitted to draw upon the benefits of being a member of that society.”
He added: “I think everybody’s got it upside down, we simply have to stop spending in the way we are on social programmes. Otherwise, eventually they will stop.
“They will have to stop because the arithmetic will simply not allow it any more. So it’s better to do it at a time of your own choice than have it forced upon you. Otherwise, we’ll be at the IMF.”
And he scotched claims made during the Brexit referendum that his mother would have been a Remainer.
On Nigel Farage, Sir Mark said: ‘I’ve never met him, but he strikes me as being an extremely charming guy’[/caption]
On Kemi Badenoch, Sir Mark urged Tories to give their struggling leader time[/caption]
Admitting the late Baroness Thatcher — as one of the chief architects of the Single Market — had a complex relationship with the EU, he said: “Whilst it was an economic community, she was wholly in support of it. She became less enthusiastic when it became a political union.”
His comments fly in the face of claims made by Thatcher’s long-time foreign policy aide Charles Powell, who sparked uproar during the 2016 referendum by claiming his old boss would have been a Remainer.
Lord Powell said at the time: “She would never have backed Brexit. She’s far too sensible for that.”
And he claimed the late PM would have backed David Cameron’s duff efforts to reform the EU, boasting she “would have gone along with what is on offer, indeed negotiated something similar herself”.
But Sir Mark hit back: “The debate within her mind would have been: Is the potential loss of economic benefits a price that she would afford to pay in respect of recovering our sovereignty over Parliament and the management of our own political and financial affairs?”
The fact he has got the common beliefs, and she would very much have subscribed to the bulk of them, I would think that she would be admiring his leadership
Sir Mark on Donald Trump
Explaining the logic, he insisted his mother, “Didn’t like large, amorphous masses of government in the first place”.
He added: “And the other thing was that she was deeply conscious of the fact that our parliament has an extraordinary history going back hundreds of years, and she firmly believed that our parliament in Westminster should be the one that actually governs the nation, and not Brussels.”
And he warned the EU seeking closer political ties was a mistake of historic proportions.
He said: “I always found it extraordinary that in a time when the Soviet Union was collapsing — because it was a large, multinational, amorphous mass of a wide range of nationalities being forced together into the Soviet Union — in that exact moment, Europe was trying to do exactly the opposite, which was agglomerate all of the European countries together into a single amorphous mass.”
Sun big beast Harry Cole with Sir Mark[/caption]
What would Iron Lady think about…
Donald Trump
Maggie would admire Trump’s leaderships, according to Mark[/caption]
‘He has very clear ideas of what he wants to do. I think she would be admiring his leadership’
Nigel Farage
The Iron Lady would agree with Farage, says her son[/caption]
‘My mother would agree with his views about the size of illegal immigration and she would want to tackle it’
Keir Starmer
Sir Mark reckons Starmer doesn’t know what he wants to do in government[/caption]
‘My mother knew what she wanted when she got to No10. That’s not necessarily the case at all today’
Kemi Badenoch
Kemi is facing many challenges, says Thatcher[/caption]
‘I don’t think she’s doing a bad job. There are a wide range of issues and challenges that she faces’
