Post by Madhatter on Feb 23, 2007 3:41:58 GMT
A bronze statue of Margaret Thatcher, the former British prime minister known as the "Iron Lady," was unveiled Wednesday in her presence.
The seven foot, four inch (2.24 metre) statue has been set up facing World War II leader Sir Winston Churchill in the members' lobby of the House of Commons, Britain's lower house of parliament.
A joyful Thatcher told onlookers: "I might have preferred iron -- but bronze will do. It won't rust."
She said the Commons had done her
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a great honour by commissioning "this fine and imposing statue," which portrays her with her right arm outstretched, as though addressing parliament.
"Above all, I could not ask better company for it -- with (David) Lloyd George, (Clement) Attlee and Churchill -- three great Prime Ministers, one of them our greatest ever," she said.
During debate in parliament, House of Commons Speaker Michael Martin defended his decision to have the statue erected while the former Conservative premier is still alive, a first in British history.
But left-winger Paul Flynn, a backbench member of the governing Labour Party like Martin, complained that this change to parliamentary tradition had been decided in a "semi-secretive" way rather than by the whole house.
uk.news.yahoo.com/21022007/323/margaret-thatcher-britain-s-iron-lady-turns-bronze.html
I can't decide if thatcher desserves a place in the hall of fame or not. If she did a good job then yes she does. There's a lot say she did, gave us all a chance to own a home, broke the unions, got the country back on it's feet after years of labour rule bought it to it's knees.
The seven foot, four inch (2.24 metre) statue has been set up facing World War II leader Sir Winston Churchill in the members' lobby of the House of Commons, Britain's lower house of parliament.
A joyful Thatcher told onlookers: "I might have preferred iron -- but bronze will do. It won't rust."
She said the Commons had done her
(Advertisement)
a great honour by commissioning "this fine and imposing statue," which portrays her with her right arm outstretched, as though addressing parliament.
"Above all, I could not ask better company for it -- with (David) Lloyd George, (Clement) Attlee and Churchill -- three great Prime Ministers, one of them our greatest ever," she said.
During debate in parliament, House of Commons Speaker Michael Martin defended his decision to have the statue erected while the former Conservative premier is still alive, a first in British history.
But left-winger Paul Flynn, a backbench member of the governing Labour Party like Martin, complained that this change to parliamentary tradition had been decided in a "semi-secretive" way rather than by the whole house.
uk.news.yahoo.com/21022007/323/margaret-thatcher-britain-s-iron-lady-turns-bronze.html
I can't decide if thatcher desserves a place in the hall of fame or not. If she did a good job then yes she does. There's a lot say she did, gave us all a chance to own a home, broke the unions, got the country back on it's feet after years of labour rule bought it to it's knees.
