Margaret Thatcher To Be Given A State Funeral.

[Larry]

Margaret Thatcher is to be given the ultimate accolade of a State funeral when she reaches the end of her days – the first British Prime Minister since Winston Churchill to be afforded such an honour.
But the possibility of a formal procession could be jeopardised by fears that there are insufficient troops available to line the route because the Armed Forces are so overstretched in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Although Lady Thatcher is currently in good health – she was with the Queen at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday – The Mail on Sunday has learned that plans
are under way for her funeral, when the time eventually comes, to take place at
St Paul’s Cathedral.


Highest honour: Lady Thatcher, pictured at this year's Wimbledon, will have a State funeral
The Queen and Gordon Brown are both in discussions with Lady Thatcher’s private office concerning the arrangements. This does not reflect any concern over Lady Thatcher’s health, but simply the prudent long-term planning necessary for any event involving the Queen.
It has not yet been decided whether the 82-year-old former Conservative leader will lie in state in Westminster Hall. To date the only Prime Minister in the 20th and 21st centuries to be given this honour was Churchill

If true I certainly find this a bit of of supprising if not controversial decision Thatcher, may go down in the history books as one of the great British pime ministers but I don't think she has earned the right of a State Funeral.

[Dirk Gently]

Well, if the 'State Funeral' involves a large pyre in the middle of Hyde Park...

[Captain Tancredi]

Of course if the Queen goes first, it's going to throw everything out of kilter...

Somebody's probably looked at what they do in other countries- Ronald Reagan's funeral arrangements, for example. There seems to be a tradition in America that Presidents and ex-Presidents are entitled to the same respect in death regardless of their politics or their actions while in office, and it doesn't seem to be a bad thing to encourage that here too. As long as order can be maintained on the day, that is.

[Rob McCow]

Seems inappropriate for someone who was so much an advocate of privatisation.

[Lissa]

If the people who you would've expected to like/respect her actually did like/respect her then it would be - as the young people say - a no brainer. As the first women ever to run this country, except by accident of birth, she has earned a unique place in British history. But giving her a state funeral wouldn't placate the pressure groups who campaign for more respect to be given to obscure female scientists, writers and other pioneers in male dominated fields. Margaret Thatcher is a bit of an sore point with feminists because she is the forbidden icon.

So she's earned a state funeral for doing something no woman has been able to do before or since.

[Rob McCow]

I'd forgotten she was a woman.


You're right, that does deserve to be recognised.

[Stephen Morgan]

Perhaps they should hold the funeral at Cardiff's Milennium stadium, but there again, quite a few miners, Welsh and English, would say the fires of Hades wouldn't be enough for her.

That woman caused enough strife and hardship in 1984, and for that she gets "the ultimate accolade" for a Prime Minister?

[Dirk Gently]

May be they should get it over with sooner rather than later to avoid controversy building up.

[Stephen Morgan]

Sooner the better then! BEFORE it gets passed.

[Anthony Williams]

Thatcher to be given a State Funeral? Damned right!

Ant x

[Si Hunt]

the possibility of a formal procession could be jeopardised by fears that there are insufficient troops available to line the route because the Armed Forces are so overstretched in Afghanistan and Iraq.

In a way, this is mildly hilarious as taking into account the current resources of the army before she's even died. It's a bit like making provisional plans for a burial, but still engraving "2008" on the headstone.

Si.

[Stephen Morgan]

Well I don't think the funeral route would be lined with people showing their love and respect. A few brick throwing ex miners perhaps.

[Wayne]

Thatcher to be given a State Funeral? Damned right!

Why?

[Anthony Williams]

Why?

because...

To those waiting with bated breath for that favourite media catch-phrase—the U-turn—I have only one thing to say: you turn if you want to; the Lady's not for turning

what a woman.

Ant x

[Wayne]

Is that it?

[Si Hunt]

And big hair.

Si.

[Anthony Williams]

Is that it?

Of course that's not it. I'm just too knackered after working all day to give my proper argument!

Ant x

[Wayne]

And big hair.

Si.

Good one!

[Dave Tudor]

God, when I saw the thread title, I thought I'd lost several days or something!

[WhiteCrow]

Would this mean we'd get the day off for the funeral as a kind of Bank Holiday?

This is a tough one really. The only other Prime Minister I can recall having such a state funeral would be Winston Churchill. And he led the country through a unique, trying and difficult time.

I think either ex-PMs should either all get state funerals, or none at all. I don't mind her getting a big send-off with lots of pomp and ceremony.

I think as I've said many a time before, there are two tales of England under Thatcher, a tale of the north and a tale of the south. For one it was a time of greater prosperity, for the other, it was a road to ruin, many areas did not recover.

And in fact our shamolic energy policy is all Thatchers legacy too - but we're supposed to be glossing over that. Many said that long term it had the potential for disaster. But short term results for long term ruin was her legacy.

I know many will mourn her, but many also will not. She truely divided the nation, and I personally find the idea of a state funeral so objectionable, it's almost like her cronies who nearly forced us under during that period rubbing our nose for one last time.

[Jon Masters]

I think the point about needing a big military prescence is a good one.

Imagine the size of the queues of people all wanting to relieve themselves at the graveside. It'd make the Princess Di walkpast look like a Sunday School outing.

[Andrew Curnow]

I saw this on the news this morning, and have to say I was quite surprised. As mentioned above, Churchill was the last non-royal to be given this honour, but I think that's entirely understandable given his role during WW2. I don't think Mrs Thatcher can really be compared to that - granted, if we'd had WW3 she might well have been superb, but as it is there are just too many things during her time in power which were (and still are!) controversial. To rub salt in the wound, reading the story in today's Daily Mail it said that the cost of such a state funeral would be paid for by the Government - but what that actually means is, by the taxpayer. I was too young to have much of a political opinion of Mrs T at the time, but if I'd been a miner I don't think I'd be very happy today.

Mind you, I don't know that it's a definite is it; it may well depend on who's in power (and even, on the throne) when Mrs Thatcher actually passes away. But I genuinely can't see why she should be singled out - she was in power for a lot longer than most, so on that basis she may be more 'well-known' but policy wise what stand out event(s) deserve recognition in this way?

[Si Hunt]

I think either ex-PMs should either all get state funerals, or none at all.

To quote Ben Elton "What are we going to give old John Major then? Small box of Quality Street?"

Si.

[Rob McCow]

She should be buried with honour, but I maintain that her funeral should be sold off to a private conglomerate of shareholders.

It doesn't fit in with her philosophy that public taxes should be spent to honour her. Private initiative is the way forward.

[Dirk Gently]

But I genuinely can't see why she should be singled out - she was in power for a lot longer than most, so on that basis she may be more 'well-known' but policy wise what stand out event(s) deserve recognition in this way?

The Falkland Islands 'War' is about it that I can think of. May be one of her fans, Ant W or Ralph, could enlighten us?