Tory Chairman Backs Calls For Special Margaret Thatcher Day

Oliver Dowden says former Conservative prime minister "set Britain on a path to a brighter future".
Richard Baker via Getty Images

The chairman of the Conservative Party has backed the idea of creating a special Margaret Thatcher Day.

Oliver Dowden said the former Conservative prime minister should be commemorated for ending the UK’s “national decline”.

He made the intervention after equalities minister Kemi Badenoch told MPs she would be “very supportive” of such a move.

“A great idea from @KemiBadenoch,” Dowden tweeted.

“Margaret Thatcher led the UK to victory in our defence of the Falklands, ended our national decline, set Britain on a path to a brighter future and was a trailblazer for women in politics.”

Dowden added: “We should be commemorating those achievements.”

Badenoch had been told by Conservative South East Cornwall MP Sheryll Murray: “There is no doubt that our first female prime minister led the way by showing women that they can reach the highest office and do the job well.”

Asking what steps ministers were taking to encourage more women to go into politics, Murray added: “Will the minister consider a similar accolade to that of the Falkland Islands and celebrate a Margaret Thatcher Day?”

January 10 is known as Margaret Thatcher Day in the Falkland Islands, in memory of Britain’s defeat of Argentina in the 1982 war.

Badenoch told the Commons: “I would be very supportive of a Margaret Thatcher day, but I think that is more a question for the prime minister than for me.”

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