A Journey with Margaret Thatcher

Foreign Policy Under the Iron Lady

Robin Renwick

• Publisher: Biteback Publishing
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9781849545334
• eBook ISBN: 9781849545754
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

In a remarkably candid new book, former high-ranking diplomat Robin Renwick provides a fascinating insight into Margaret Thatcher's performances on the world stage. He examines her successes, including the defeat of aggression in the Falklands, her contribution to the ending of the Cold War and her role in the Anglo-Irish agreement; her special relationship with Mikhail Gorbachev and what the Americans felt to be the excessive influence she exerted over Ronald Reagan, and attitudes towards F. W. de Klerk and Nelson Mandela; and what she herself acknowledged as her spectacular failure in resisting German reunification. He describes at first hand her often turbulent relationships with other European leaders and her arguments with Cabinet colleagues about European monetary union (in which regard, he contends, her arguments have stood the test of time and are highly relevant to the crisis in the eurozone today). Finally, he tells of her bravura performance in the run-up to the Gulf War, her calls for intervention in Bosnia and the difficulties she created for her successor. While her faults were on the same scale as her virtues, Margaret Thatcher succeeded in her mission to restore Britain's standing and influence, in the process becoming a cult figure in many other parts of the world. Including material from the recently released War Cabinet files on the Falklands conflict, this book is an important exploration of an outstanding world leader.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Epigraph
• CONTENTS
• PROLOGUE
• INTRODUCTION: ‘I OFFENDED ON MANY COUNTS’
• I: ‘SO CLEARLY THE BEST MAN AMONG THEM’
• II: ‘THE ODD WOMAN OUT’
• III: ‘A LONG-STANDING SOURCE OF GRIEF’
• IV: ‘THAT LITTLE ICE-COLD BUNCH OF LAND DOWN THERE’
• V: ‘THIS IS DEMOCRACY AND OUR ISLANDS’
• VI: ‘ONE COUNTRY, TWO SYSTEMS’
• VII: ‘GETTING OUR MONEY BACK’
• VIII: ‘WHAT BRITISH POLITICIAN WILL EVER REALLY UNDERSTAND NORTHERN IRELAND?’
• IX: ‘TIME FOR SOME STRAIGHT TALKING WITH OUR AMERICAN FRIENDS’
• X: ‘I FELT AS IF THERE HAD BEEN AN EARTHQUAKE UNDER MY FEET’
• XI: ‘A SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP’
• XII: ‘THE WHOLE WORLD WILL BE AGAINST YOU, LED BY ME’
• XIII: ‘A VERY POWERFUL LADY - SOMEONE I WOULD RATHER HAVE AS AN ALLY THAN AN ENEMY’
• XIV: ‘IF YOU TRY TO BUCK THE MARKET, THE MARKET WILL BUCK YOU’
• XV: ‘AN UNAMBIGUOUS FAILURE’
• XVI: ‘NO TIME TO GO WOBBLY’
• XVII: ‘A SINGLE CURRENCY IS NOT THE POLICY OF THIS GOVERNMENT’
• XVIII: ‘THE UNITED STATES CAN BE RELIED UPON TO DO THE RIGHT THING IN THE END, HAVING FIRST EXHAUSTED THE AVAILABLE ALTERNATIVES’
• XIX: ‘THE CONVEYOR BELT TO FEDERALISM’
• XX: ‘SIGNPOSTS AND WEATHERVANES’
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• NOTES
• INDEX
• Plates
• Copyright