Island Life Magazine Ltd October/ November 2012 | Page 39

INTERVIEW

'After 10
years I felt
I had done
my time and
needed my
life back'

Baroness Margaret Thatcher and Virginia Bottomley pictured in June 1975.
Photo by Tony Weaver, Evening News, Rex Features

re-connect with my family. After 10
years I felt I had done my time and
needed my life back.”
Looking back on her 10 years as
a Minister, Virginia recalls: “Mrs.
Thatcher called me one day to see her
on a Monday, which was unusual. I
said I was busy and could it be later
in the week. But I was summoned and
she offered me a job as a Minister.
I was so surprised. She wanted

me to go to Environment, but I had
only ever spoken about Defence,
Agriculture or transport, and knew
nothing about it.
“She replied very smartly that I
would have to read up on it! It was
very interesting getting people to
use unleaded petrol, and recycle. But
I loved being Secretary of State for
Health because it was so demanding
and intense. It was a job where I had a

real role with serious responsibilities.
I had to take difficult decisions, so I
had to be courageous and tenacious to
survive.
“When I first became a Minister
I had a very bright young man in
Central Office. He was 23 and used
to coach and brief me when I went on
television’s ‘Question Time’. He was
a very clever, positive person, and his
name was David Cameron!”
That is one of the main reasons
why Virginia is very supportive of
the present team, even though she
believes coalition must be ‘incredibly
frustrating, compromising and
complex’.
After quitting the Cabinet Virginia
continued to work closely with Tory
leaders William Hague, Ian Duncan
Smith and Michael Howard. It was
Howard who put her in the House
of Lords in 2005. She said: “I was
absolutely delighted, and it was
unexpected. Some of the debates in the
Lords are phenomenal, and it will be
a great loss if it goes. But I accept it is
hard to justify.”
Virginia added: “I am someone who
is constantly restless, so I am never
really satisfied. I have been married
coming up 45 years to the same
person, and that is something that
gives great strength. But if you can
find a role in life that in your way
plays to your strengths and minimises
your many failings then you are
privileged.”
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