Thatcher could get ‘royal’ funeral

[emad]

Robert Winnett



BARONESS THATCHER could become the first former prime minister since Sir Winston Churchill to receive a major public funeral in central London.

The ceremonial send-off under consideration in Whitehall would involve a televised procession through London followed by a service at either Westminster Abbey or St Paul’s Cathedral.

It would not be as elaborate as the full state funeral Churchill received in 1965 — only the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince of Wales are entitled to that.

Lord St John of Fawsley, the constitutional expert who was arts minister and Commons leader under Thatcher, said he was aware of discussions at the Cabinet Office over the form of funeral. He added that a state ceremony would be “appropriate” recognition of her stature.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-1827916,00.html

[emad]

1. Good counter-intelligence story for "UK cops to release Pinochet/

Thatcher intelligence" when she pops her clogs.

No government would be daft enough to give her any excess publicity after son Mark Thatcher was found guilty of involvement in attempting to start a coup in Equatorial Guinea....

[mr blur]

2. WTF?!

He added that a state ceremony would be “appropriate” recognition of her stature.

Mayby they can get Tony Blair to cry on TV. I can't think of anyone else who will.

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

4. "She was the People's Prime Minister." (wipes tear)

[tjwmason]

6. Actually - there are plenty of folk who venerate her as a demi-God

A fair swathe of the South-East thinks of her as the saviour of all humanity - let's not let reality get in the way though.

[T_i_B]

13. I agree

I don't think Thatcher will ever be forgiven by people in quite a few places in Britain but in the Home Counties at least she will be remembered very fondly.

[moggie]

14. Hmmph

You're right, of course, but speaking as someone born and raised in a lefty working class family in Surrey, it always pains me to see the home counties painted with such a broad brush.

[T_i_B]

17. Well I grew up in Sheffield...

...which is about as left wing a town as they come and my parents were VERY right wing. It does work both ways.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. What would they use - a giant silver spitoon?

There'd definitely be the public support for that.

[non sociopath skin]

5. I don't get the logic.

Churchill, as a Wartime Leader, was obviously a special case in most people's eyes. Can't see what makes La Thatcha "different" from eg Harold Macmillan or Clem Attlee.

Maybe it's about winning three elections? In which case, it's easier to understand why Blair is hanging on ... yearnin' after that gun carriage, Tone?

The Skin

[mr blur]

7. Well she did start a war

and showed them Argies what for - good enough for your average Sun, Express or Telegraph reader. And she had a Special Relationship with a US hafwit. And now history is repeating itself.

[Briar]

8. That's it!

Bliar is setting a precedent. He wants a send off like that!

[non sociopath skin]

11. Anthony Eden started a war too ...

... AND it was with Israel against the Arabs!!! Surely that deserved a gun carriage and a 21-gun salute?

The Skin

[fedsron2us]

9. Another dismal case of grade inflation

Used to be that a politician had to lead the country to victory in a World War to merit a state funeral. Now it seems that coming out in top in a conflict most aptly described as 'two bald men fighting over a comb' is sufficient. It just goes to show how degraded some peoples perception of reality has become.

[LeftishBrit]

16. Thatcher more royal than her predecessors?

'Can't see what makes La Thatcha "different" from eg Harold Macmillan or Clem Attlee.'

Well, only that she probably differed as much from Macmillan as Bush does from a typical Democrat, and as much from Attlee as .. well, words become inadequate here.

But I agree it doesn't qualify her for a Royal funeral! Perhaps Attlee and Macmillan didn't have quite such evil Sons and Heirs? Maybe that's what makes a person royal!!!

[ikri]

10. If it's to be a Royal funeral

How about we choose the style?

How about the Royal Funeral of January 1649. Even better if we could include the prelude to those events :evilgrin:

[moggie]

12. Don't get my hopes up like that!

I got my dancing shoes on and then discovered she hasn't died yet after all.

If she does get a royal funeral, I hope that unctuous sycophant Norman St John-Stevas is buried alive with her. "Constitutional expert" my arse.

[Kipling]

15. Who's volunteering for Spitting out of Windows duty?

[Taxloss]

18. I thought she was going to be vitrified, sealed in concrete and sent to

Australia to be buried in a mineshaft. That's what we do with all the rest of the extremely toxic waste this country produces. What's her half-life again? Something like 20,000 years?

[...of J.Temperance]

19. Thatcher should just be left to rot on some compost heap

It's as simple as that. After what that fucking bitch did to British industry. Let's just dump her someplace and let her rot.