The Iron Lady on the Silver Screen

Aurora Guerrini (Secretary) is a DPhil student reading Physical and Theoretical Chemistry at Worcester College.

As we enter Lockdown 2.0/ the death of democracy/ Tier 4 or whatever you would like to call it, we should all seek cultural enrichment. As true Conservatives, this cultural enrichment ought to include a collection of the finest portrayals of the one and only Margaret Thatcher.  To guide you on this journey, I have selected her best and most unique portrayals. 

For Your Eyes Only 

Proving that Mrs Thatcher was sure to be a cultural icon from the very beginning, Thatcher can duly be counted as a ‘Bond Girl’. Just a mere two years after her astonishing 1979 election, Janet Brown makes a brief but important cameo at the end of this ( somewhat rightfully underrated Bond Film) as the Great  Lady herself. Calling in to congratulate James Bond ( the Roger Moore kind), Mrs Thatcher is ever the flirt, dressed in a bright yellow suit with Janet Brown doing a spot-on impression of her unquestionably sultry voice. 

The Iron Lady

 Given that this film earned Meryl Streep her third Academy Award, it should come as no surprise that the Thatcher portrayed in this film is one of complexity and contradiction. Fans of Streep’s turn as Donna in Mamma Mia ( the greatest film of all time) will be delighted to know that both of those films share the same director, only confirming that Streep DID in fact give an Oscar-worthy performance in Mamma Mia. 

 Coming off from that tangent, this film charts the course from her youth to her eventual resignation in 1991, the film focuses on Thatcher as an outsider to politics. Be careful not to cry at the scene where a young Thatcher proudly holds up her acceptance letter from Oxford, or not to salute her when she makes that fateful decision during the Falklands War. Perhaps the best scene of the film is one that shows the absolute ferocity the Prime Minister commanded over her Cabinet. In this tense scene, Thatcher is commanding and scary as she scolds her Cabinet as if she were the firm headmaster. It is scenes such as this which gracefully sow the seeds of resentment which eventually led to Thatcher’s demise.  

The Crown

 Many cried out in agony when Gillian Anderson was cast to play Thatcher in the fourth series of the Crown. How could the creators of this Netflix favourite decide to cast the obviously beautiful Anderson to play the Great Lady and do the unthinkable… turn Thatcher into a sex symbol. Little did they know that to those of us who occupy the right wing spectrum of politics, Thatcher is the ultimate sex symbol.  

 With each series of the Crown taking viewers through a decade of Queen Elizabeth’ II’s rule, this series has the most fortunate task of detailing the 80s. Not only does this mean the Thatcher years, but also the height of the love story between Prince Charles and Princess Diana.  The Crown presents Thatcher as a terrifying and jealousy inducing match for the Queen. Unlike the ‘ Confederacy of elected quitters’, an insult hurled at Harold Macmillan by the steel-eyed Claire Foy, this Prime Minister is one that lasts the course.