Fitting farewell to a global icon

Yesterday was an occasion of great solemnity and dignity; polite ripples of sympathetic applause from wellwishers along the funeral route overshadowing the sporadic, but uneventful protests from a small minority still embittered by Baroness Thatcher’s legacy.

Three cheers rang out as Lady Thatcher’s Union Flag-draped coffin emerged from the majesty of St Paul’s Cathedral in honour of Britain’s longest serving premier of the last century and whose record will cast a long shadow over domestic politics for years to come.

Yet this was not a political occasion – despite David Cameron claiming that “we are all Thatcherites now”. The latest opinion polls suggest otherwise, as his ratings continue to be eclipsed by the popularity of his illustrious predecessor whose convictions contrast with the more consensual style of today’s coalition government.

It was also a funeral which paid full homage to Baroness Thatcher’s sense of patriotism and Methodist upbringing, twin themes that dominated so much of her political work. It also enabled her family to mourn – albeit on a very global stage – an international icon who they will remember, first and foremost, as a mother and grandmother.

This was articulated with great eloquence by the Bishop of London, who spoke of “a great calm” that has followed “the storm of a life lived in the heat of political controversy” before using anecdotes to highlight the many personal attributes which actually contradict the Iron Lady’s fearsome reputation.

Unsurprisingly, such words did not receive a sympathetic hearing in some of South Yorkshire’s former mining heartlands – and also those industrial communities – that did not benefit from the economic transformation which Margaret Thatcher presided over in the 1980s. They burned effigies and staged protests that contrasted 
with the respect shown 
by those who lined the route of a ceremonial funeral which passed many landmarks, like Downing Street, which will be forever associated with the former premier.

There will be some who still begrudge the £10m-plus cost for such an elaborate service that saw the Queen and Duke and Edinburgh break with protocol to personally head a cast of 2,000 mourners from 170 countries. However, such criticism misses the point.

What would it have said about Britain, and its values, if the country could not pay fitting tribute to a leader whose steadfastness helped to liberate the Falklands, 
end the Cold War and 
neuter all those who had held Britain to ransom 
both prior to her premiership and during the 1984-85 miners’ strike that continues, to this day, to cause so much strife?