While there was sympathy for Baroness Thatcher’s death, many of the region’s MPs spoke of how divisive her time in power had been. Stuart Arnold reports

CONSERVATIVE MP William Hague, a former protégé of Margaret Thatcher, was among those leading tributes to the woman he hailed as one of the “finest leaders in the modern history of our country”.

He said: “She rescued the country in the 1980s and gave it hope in so many ways.

“She was a very considerate person to colleagues and to their families and that’s a side of her not obvious to the public. She gave me honest advice and real encouragement through some difficult times.”

Fellow Tory, Stockton South MP James Wharton, said: “She is a lady who changed Britain – many of us think for the better – and will be sadly missed.”

However, her legacy is remembered differently on the other side of the political divide.

North-West Durham Labour MP Pat Glass said: “My father’s funeral was last week, so on a personal level you do feel for the family.

“But on a political level, she did untold damage.

“At one point there was almost 100 per cent unemployment among men in Consett when she closed the steelworks and a lot of people who live there are still suffering.

“She was a massively divisive figure and remains so.”

Hartlepool MP Iain Wright, chairman of the Northern group of Labour MPs, said: “In her time, she shaped a generation and Britain as well, for good or ill. No one could ignore the sheer force of her will, it was tremendous.

“However, her social and economic policies were very divisive and detrimental for the North-East.

“The reason I am in politics is because I grew up in Hartlepool in the 1980s and saw what Mrs Thatcher’s policies were doing to my community and we are still coming to terms with the very harsh consequences of those.”

City of York Labour MP Hugh Bayley said: “I don’t think she was a good prime minister.

“I met her on several occasions as a nursing trade union representative and it was like talking to a brick wall.

“Her terrible economic policies destroyed millions of British jobs and it was my opposition to this that brought me into politics.”

North Durham Labour MP Kevan Jones said: “She was such a divisive figure and feelings in the Durham coalfields still run very high over her involvement there.

“Her policies helped devastate many Northern communities, but that should not take away from her achievement in becoming the first female prime minister.”

The Northern Echo:
Historic Day: Margaret Thatcher arriving in Downing Street after winning the 1979 election

Stockton South MP Alex Cunningham said: “Personally, I disagreed with much of what she stood for and regret the terrible impact her policies had on the people within the kind of communities I represent.”

Middlesbrough MP Andy McDonald said: “Many people hailed her as a great leader and a force for good.

Many others took a very different view. The divisions in our society, which so characterised her premiership, have not been resolved in my view.”

Sedgefield MP Phil Wilson said: “She was one of the defining politicians of the post-war era and although I did not agree with many of her policies, there is no denying that she was a conviction politician.”

Darlington MP Jenny Chapman said: “I did not agree with her politics, but she did make an impact, particularly for women, in Britain.”

Redcar’s Liberal Democrat MP Ian Swales said: “People in the North-East will no doubt have mixed views about her and those on Teesside may well remember her famous ‘wilderness walk’ on the banks of the River Tees.

“In the wake of that she did set up the Teesside Development Company which, for all its faults, did a lot of good work.”

Local politicians also gave their reaction.

Heather Scott, leader of the Conservative group on Darlington Borough Council, said she met Mrs Thatcher at various party conferences.

“I found her an inspiration and she is one of the reasons I have remained in politics for as long as I have.”

Councillor Charles Johnson, chairman of the South Durham Conservatives, said: “She came into power when we were a third-rate nation, and when she was dismissed she had turned it into a firstrate nation.”