In July 2017, a headline ran in the Daily Telegraph that "Margaret Thatcher statue in Parliament Square blocked over fears it would be vandalised". This is ludicrous. It is an oxymoron:- Margaret Thatcher saved this country, and putting up a statue of her in Parliament Square for all to see would be but a start to paying homage to her. There is already a state at the House of Commons, but that can only be seen if you are visiting the House of Commons. But what about the millions of tourists who visit London each year who do not visit Parliament? Should it mean that they do not get to see a statue of this great lady? If I may, I would like to comment on her legacy. Her legacy is not just that more than half of the laws she passed, which received much criticism at the time, are still in force today. Her legacy is not just the millions of people of Eastern Europe who were lifted out of poverty thanks to her. Not even Britain's relationship with America: that "special relationship", or so it could be argued, is down to her. It's not even how she tried to reform the European Union. The fact is, she put Britain back on the map. Britain, in 1978, was faced with the Winter of Discontent: a moment when many people (albeit wrongly) thought that Britain couldn't deliver. She showed them that it could: she refused to accept that Britain's best days lay behind her: they lie ahead. And that is why she showed resilience, tenacity, and fortitude in 1982 during the Falklands War which saw as through it, and out the other end more successful, determined, and patriotic than ever before. 

Now, I could go on for many more lines (even an infinity) about why she was utterly superb, and why she not only saved the country, but the whole world. I do passionately believe that, were she not Prime Minister, the grass wouldn't be green, and the sky wouldn't be (as) blue. But to try to summarise the infinite with a finite mind would be blasphemy. She spent her life standing up for what is right: she was a conviction politician who continued with what she knew to be right. She was unpopular; sure, many hated her. But she didn't care, and still went on to win three consecutive general elections. And that is why conviction must prevail over opportunism and populism. And that is why we shouldn’t let the threats of a few people to protest at Parliament Square stop us from putting the state there, which is the right thing to do.

As Churchill said, "if you've got an enemy, then well done; it means that you've stood up for something at some point in your life" and at her funeral, after she supposedly died, there were protests around London. But, as Conor Burns pointed out, she wouldn’t have been angry, but she would “regard them as utterly and completely absurd”. Many also took to social media to express their feelings; they should just remember, that it is only thanks to Thatcher that they even have access to social media: without her privatisation of BT in 1982, they could be waiting 6 months or more to make a call. And even the right to peacefully protest may not exist today were it not for her libertarianism. Had Britain been inveigled down the path to Communism, as John Mcdonnell & Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party want us to do today, protesting against the government could have been fatal. She believed that ‘state should be servant, and not master’ as it would be under socialism. 

Whatever you think of Mrs T. and her legacy, you can not refute the objective consequences of the inspiration she had on so many people:- she has inspired many of the current cohort of 208 female MPs in Parliament today to get there and be who they are. She has inspired many of the male politicians too. And the fact is, she can continue to be an inspiration to many people, and putting her deservèd statue in Parliament Square would be a start. People can look at it, and also feel inspired. This could include schoolchildren, members of the public, our government, and even if EU leaders visit the PM in Downing Street, they can look at it, and it might help them to recall that were it not for Britain, many of their own countries would not have been liberated as they have been today. When President Trump comes to Downing Street to discuss a trade deal with the PM when we have left the Customs Union on 29th March 2017, he can look to it and remember that he owes Britain.Now, adopting Peter Bone’s Thatcher Day is something I would most definitely support, but, for now at least, I am just calling for a state of Thatcher to be rightfully and duly put up near Churchill’s, so that statues of the two greatest leaders the world has ever seen can stand side by side, and continue to inspire the nation. As she told Conor Burns, ““Politics at its purest is philosophy in action”. Of course, permission from her family before it goes up should be sought, but that is something that ought to be done quickly. But I would agree with many Conservative MPs and Britons in that I agree with every single decision she made in her entire lifetime, except for her decision not to stand for the second ballot in 1990.  

In conclusion, inevitably, the threats from socialists and the hard left to protest and incite violence will continue. Criticism and denigration  of her will continue. And that’s fine; but we must stand up for what’s right. I understand that because of how controversial she was, this petition is unlikely to get more than a single signature. But remember, she literally defined what it is to be a British patriot, and indeed what it means to be ‘British’. . She empowered the nation, rich and poor (not least by abolishing the ‘glass ceiling’); white and black; right and left. She stood up for things we take for granted today. So having her statue in Parliament Square is as intrinsically and inherently necessary as having the Union Jack fly above Buckingham Palace. To not be patriotic would be tantamount to treason. So it is something that I do, and shall continue, to stand up for.

As Gyles Brandreth said, “a slight inclination of the cranium is as adequate as the spasmodic movement of one optic towards an equine quadruped utterly devoid of visionary capacity” (1992, HoC). We have a chance to make a difference, and now is the very best time to do so. We need her now more than ever, and she is there ready to help us. So what are we waiting for? Put that statue where it belongs, NOW!