Every week I publish my own column online in which I take a look at an issue that has been in the news. This week I respond to the debate around suggestions that the late August Bank Holiday should be renamed Margaret Thatcher Day:
Over the last couple of weeks Social Media has been full of another round of vitriol from those who did not agree with Margaret Thatcher’s policies.
The prompt for this was the bill introduced into the House of Commons by Peter Bone MP which sought to rename the late August Bank Holiday “Margaret Thatcher Day” in her honour. In response some on the left were quickly urging everyone they knew to sign up to the campaign opposing this idea and many accompanied this with comments indicating their hatred of her. The bill failed when it ran out of time this week.
The night before her funeral she reposed in St Stephen’s Chapel in the Palace of Westminster, yards from where a debate was going on in the House of Commons about whether Prime Minister’s Questions should be cancelled to allow MPs to attend. In the debate Dennis Skinner and George Galloway attacked her policies as they had done in the past.
Some MPs objected to the fact this debate was happening a short distance from where her body lay. Yet I suspect the lady herself would have been somewhat heartened that she was still in the thick of it where she had loved to be throughout her career. Having met her three times she was certainly no shrinking violet and I believe that it was her readiness to engage in the political fight that meant she was able to move Britain away from the “sick man of Europe” we had been in the 1970’s.
Margaret Thatcher’s legacy was immense and will be debated for many years to come, as it has been over the 23 years since she left office. Her death last year prompted some distasteful scenes of “celebration” that said more about the individuals taking part than they did about her.
Margaret Thatcher was not just the first female Prime Minister, she was also the longest serving of the 20th Century, two historic achievements. Yet my admiration for her does not mean I support the idea of renaming a public holiday after her.
At the moment the only holiday in England named after someone is Christmas (Christ’s Mass), for truly unique reasons. All other holiday names are based on the date/time they fall, eg Mayday or Easter Monday. The only name I would to add to this list is that of St George, our Patron Saint.
If those who supported her legacy want to select a date to honour her and collect a fund for a memorial I might well chip in. Yet it would not be right to rename a public holiday. If we have a Margaret Thatcher Day then there really needs to be a Winston Churchill one as well in honour of his efforts saving the nation itself in 1940. If they are both honoured those on the left could argue for a Clement Attlee Day in honour of his post war administration.
Once the precedent is set it is hard to stop, therefore whilst I would not sign any petition against renaming a public holiday Margaret Thatcher Day, I will not support any legislation that would do so.