Support for Dumped Foreign Secretary : Parliament Cheers Are Jeers at Thatcher

At her last appearance in Parliament before its long summer break, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher sat stony-faced today through an extraordinary demonstration of support for the man she had just dumped as foreign secretary.

When Sir Geoffrey Howe rose to answer questions in his new post as leader of the House of Commons, Conservative members waved, cheered and roared their welcome in a blunt signal to Thatcher of their disapproval at the way he had been treated.

“This is the beginning of the end for Mrs. Thatcher,” one said. “We are cocking a snook (thumbing our noses) at her.”

In the reshuffle, Britain’s biggest since 1962, two ministers resigned, Thatcher fired two others and made changes to 13 of the 21 Cabinet posts. It was meant to wrest the political initiative back from the resurgent Labor opposition.

Instead, it left critics mocking the reshuffle as a shambles and the government wearing the “divided” tag it used to happily pin on Labor’s frequent public squabbles.

The way she handled the reshuffle, after a catastrophic performance by the Conservatives in May’s European elections, revived controversy over Thatcher’s domineering leadership style.

Just before Parliament rose, a senior Conservative member accused her of being “dogma driven.” In a speech, Nicholas Winterton warned the new Cabinet to address “the great gulf which remains between government and electorate.”

Thatcher’s relations with Howe and Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson have been strained for months over such issues as the battle against inflation and economic issues involving Europe--where she is at odds with her European Community partners over monetary union, progress toward a single market and workers’ rights.