Whatever your political views on Mrs Thatcher please try and remember that at the heart of this a son and daughter have lost their Mum, grandchildren their granny and countless other family members are dealing with the passing of a loved one.

Much of the ill informed vituperate bile has been spat out by those who weren’t even alive when she was in power and those who were would do well to remember that at some stage they will shuffle off their mortal coil and you won’t find me chanting “ding dong the ……….’s  dead when Bob Crowe Arthur Scargill and others leave this world.

Mrs Scargill may well be “really really happy” at the death of Mrs Thatcher but has presumably chosen to ignore that Kinnock, the Labour party leader called her husband’s actions “suicidal vanity” and that over 200 pits were closed in this country under the Labour stewardship of the late Harold Wilson. Did she & the miners rejoice at his death?

So yes I was in the minority when, while studying at university, that political hotbed of debate, where universities were regularly occupied over tuition fees, Mrs Thatcher came to power with a sweeping majority. Naïve as I was of the business world then  I believed that we had turned a corner and it would be good for UK Plc. Why?

We had just gone through the winter of discontent, rubbish was piled up because the bin men were on strike and yes even the dead went unburried. “Crisis what crisis“ reflected Jim Callaghan. We had inefficient state owned industries and an altogether complete lack of understanding as a country about profitability. Yes we were very much the sick man of Europe with massive inflation and regularly seeking hand outs from the IMF. The government owned Gleneagles hotel, an airline, a car manufacturer and even a removal company!

During this “winter of discontent” my late father bless him struggled through a three day week to get his fledgling manufacturing company off the ground.

Did he go to the government and ask to be nationalised as he was inefficient? No he worked through it, and ultimately created more employment in Dorset and yes saw the company grow.

That was very powerful to see and his entrepreneurial spirit lives on in both my brother and I. Has it been tough? You bet but did I go running for benefits and hand outs, no way.

So the message that I take form the Thatcher years and what I reflect upon on her death is that if you have the will and desire to succeed then you will. If you aspire to own your own house then you can and for the investors amongst you, if you aspire to own your own property portfolio, then you can.

Funny isn’t it that the harder you work the luckier you become.

So RIP Mrs T

 

 

Iain Wallis – Proven Tax Strategies For High Net Worth Individuals