If Margaret Thatcher was still alive, she'd be turning 100 this year.

The Iron Lady, or Milk Snatcher, if you prefer, left office a full 35 years ago.

And we're very happy that we leave the United Kingdom in a very, very much better state than when we came here

11 and a half years ago.

But her long shadow still looms over the Conservative Party and British public life.

I have only one thing to say. You turn if you want to.

The ladies not You turn if you want to.

The ladies not for turning. A new biography by Ian Dale argues that Thatcher's election as Prime Minister in 1979 was truly a turning point in British history, and we're still experiencing the consequences now.

Mr. DeLaw said at press conference the other day that he wanted the European Parliament

to be the democratic body of the community. He wanted the commission to be the executive,

and he wanted the Council of Ministers to be the Senate. No, no, no. This is the New Statesman podcast. I'm Rachel Cunleff,

and Ian Dale has joined me in the studio. Hello, Ian. Delighted to be here. So, there will be

some people wondering another Margaret Thatcher biography, and there was some shock around the New

Statesman office that you would take on

Charles Moore and his three volume epic on Thatcher but this has a very different audience in mind

and you have a sort of specific reason for writing it, is that right?

Well the first paragraph in the introduction says if you've read Charles Moore's three

volume biography please stop here this book is not for you. It's not meant to compete paragraph in the introduction says, if you've read Charles Moore's three-volume biography, please

stop here. This book is not for you. It's not meant to compete. And I must admit, when I was

first approached to do this by Swift Press, I did think about that because you can't compete

with what Charles Moore's done. Nobody ever, well, he is the British Robert Caro. And it is

for anybody who

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