Margaret Thatcher believed she would be reunited with late husband Denis after her death, according to Baroness Anne Jenkin, a close friend of the former PM.
At peace: Lady Thatcher shared a strong bond with her late husband Denis
‘She was a deeply religious woman and there is reason to believe she genuinely thought she would see Denis again in heaven,’ said Baroness Jenkin, wife of Tory MP Bernard Jenkin.
‘Theirs was a true love match and it would be nice to think it is true.’
Sneering Jeremy Paxman got both barrels when he observed to one of the brass hats who accompanied the cortege that ‘the military are a minority pursuit in this country now’. Major General Matthew Sykes, honorary colonel of the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery, fired back: ‘We may have reached the point where there are more people in the BBC than in the Armed Forces, but that doesn’t make it a minority pursuit.’ Touché! Bewhiskered Rob puts Sally in the shadeThe barrel-chested, bewhiskered bloke who accompanied Speaker John Bercow at the funeral was a big improvement on Amazonian wife Sally, who boycotted it.
More... BLACK DOG: A hip answer to grumpy Glenda: Could Left-wing MP need another operation to 'lighten her up'? Black Dog: So that's why it's called the conkoWho was this Edward VII lookalike who stood in for loudmouth La Bercow and sang like Caruso? Sir Robert Rogers, Clerk of the Commons. Sir Robert, above, is a church organist in Herefordshire and is ‘wildly musical’, say friends.
Lady Thatcher’s closest Tory MP confidant and fan in her in declining years, Bournemouth MP Conor Burns, says the former PM was not averse to adding a little Old Testament fire and brimstone to her prim and proper Methodist principles. Remembering Thatcher: Close confidant MP Conor Burns ‘She leaned towards me once, narrowed her eyes and whispered, “Conor, every now and again, you have to brush up on your hatreds.” ’ As Arthur Scargill, Michael Heseltine, General Galtieri and a few others discovered. Jump Jet didn't flyBackers of the proposed US-style Thatcher museum and library originally hatched a plan to buy a Harrier Jump Jet – as used in the Falklands War – and park it in the chosen memorial’s leafy grounds miles from London. But it was Maggie herself who shot the plan down.
Before she died, she insisted: ‘Don’t be daft, I want the memorial to be in London and the last time I looked there was no room for a Harrier in the capital.’
Lib Dem Lord Razzall claims Maggie and Denis had the occasional lovers’ tiff, like any other married couple. ‘I was in the Lords dining room when they were having supper and a chap asked Lady T to sign the menu. He had a Latin-sounding name and introduced himself, but hadn’t got a pen, so went off to find one. When he came back, Maggie said, “What is your name?” Denis butted in, “He’s already told you, you idiot.” ’Prize for most tasteless Thatcher joke goes, inevitably, to waggish Labour MP Stephen Pound. ‘Have you heard about the miners’ protest at the crematorium where they took Maggie? They wanted to strike while the Iron Lady is hot.’ Groan.
