Thatcher Gives Successor Helping Hand

Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher emerged from her self-enforced silence Sunday at the behest of the ruling Conservative Party to bolster the flagging national election campaign of her protege and successor John Major.

Thatcher’s high-profile London appearance was designed to show all-out support for Major and dispel rumors that she might not agree with some of his economic and social policies that are more moderate than hers were.

Her rousing support for the Conservatives was also seen as a counter to weekend public opinion polls. These showed that the opposition Labor Party has established a small but solid lead--3% to 5%--over the Tories in advance of the April 9 elections by drawing on traditional socialist roots and promising to take from the rich and give to the poor.

These recent polls have unsettled Conservative strategists, although Major asserted Sunday that the polls were lagging behind popular sentiment and that, in any event, they ought not to be overly depended upon as a portent of the final outcome.

Conservative sources have indicated privately that they would have preferred Thatcher to stay in the campaign background, leaving Major to occupy center stage in the race.

Opposition candidates Neil Kinnock of Labor and Paddy Ashdown of the Liberal Democrats were quick to accuse the Conservatives of being “rattled” and having the “jitters,” requiring the appearance of Thatcher.

In the past, Major has tried to avoid the shadow of the famous “Iron Lady” of British politics who has dominated the public scene here since she first led the Tories to power in 1979. She became prime minister that year and led the Conservatives to victory in two subsequent elections.

But with Major in trouble, Thatcher was asked to speak Sunday in London at a rally at which she urged: “Everything we have gained could so easily be lost unless we (the Tories) are returned for a fourth term under John Major’s leadership.”

Flanked by Major, Thatcher, looking poised and confident, declared: “Labor are still socialist and they deliberately set out to impose more government control over people’s lives.

“That’s where their whole belief starts--with the power of government over people’s lives.”

As if to dispel any suggestion that she did not see eye-to-eye with Major, Thatcher declared heatedly as she looked at him: “Your leadership is proven. It will be our most earnest endeavor to win that further period in office that we believe you need and we believe our country deserves.”