People Like Us: Margaret Thatcher and Me

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She has received a number of national awards and honours for her work in social care, in bringing health and social care together and for her innovative approach to building partnerships between the different sectors. She is a frequent broadcaster, speaker and writer on the voluntary and community sector. But this is being eroded. Over the last decade, there has been a quiet reduction in social infrastructure assets either from closure, sales or poor maintenance – playing fields and play areas, children centres and youth services, libraries and arts facilities have all been affected to name but a few. As well as a loss of assets, our collective sense of the value of commonly owned social infrastructure has reduced and public support for the welfare state has declined. She also makes the mistake of making her too old. The real Mrs Thatcher on her first visit to Balmoral is, like Anderson, in her 50s, but Anderson seems more like the Mrs Thatcher of a decade later. Worse still, in her last days as Prime Minister, Anderson makes her look 75 or even older. This is certainly not the youthful, colourful looking 65-year-old I knew. We fell in love on either end of civil service phones, talking about civil service reform. Caroline was in the Cabinet Office and I was at DWP (Department of Work and Pensions). The first time we met in person was at a meeting she had contrived for the two of us with a consultant in Ernst and Young.” We talk about poverty and income inequalities but some places are very much richer in social infrastructure than others and this also makes a real difference to personal health and well-being, equality and opportunity.

Daniel set up DHA in 2000 with the idea that people and society are at the heart of policy-making and communication and has since worked with Government departments, major national agencies including the Arts Council England, the Audit Commission, the Association of British Orchestras, the Charity Commission, NHS Direct, the Equal Opportunities Commission and charities including Scope, Help the Aged, and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. The most striking part of the book is the description of the day she resigned…which is very hard to read almost, it’s very emotional…very worth reading. Andrew Marr, Start the Week Caroline has over thirty years experience, including working at the highest levels in Government and the wider public and voluntary sectors. I love the wildness,” she says. “There aren’t many places within easy reach of London where you can walk for miles without having to go on a road. Thirdly, it’s important to think holistically. Attending to one element without thinking of the others can be counterproductive. For example, strong communities are harder to create without physical places to meet. Good health benefits from recreational facilities and ready access to good food.

We fell in love talking about civil service reform! (Truly)

After leaving Number 10, she strove to change the culture and working practices of the Treasury, and reformed the public expenditure system and public services Her voice became deeper, and she stopped showing her softer side – because that, at the time, wasn’t going to win you elections. Lynne has served on many Government bodies including the Office of Civil Society Advisory Board and several Better Regulation Taskforces, most recently to reduce burdens on charities and social enterprise. That’s one of the things she hopes to combat – and that we stop thinking of powerful women as manly. The couple now split their time between Suffolk and the capital. “We live in the middle of Dunwich Forest. We used to visit friends for many years, so we know the area very well. One wet and miserable February day we saw this empty, forlorn-looking house hidden by overgrown pine trees that was up for sale. We had no intention of buying it but thought it might be interesting to find out the price… anyway, we found we owned it a couple of months later.”

Sir Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, challenged Javid to “abolish Conservative cronyism” at the DHSC, starting by ruling that Tory peer Dido Harding will not be made the next chief executive of NHS England.Democracy in Danger The newspaper’s extensive reporting and analysis of the various threats to democracy from populism, oligarchy, dark money and online disinformation.

First, she absolutely captures her tunnel-like focus: a woman who always completed her boxes, working late into the night, and who had such a grip on events. I once saw her fall asleep over a glass of whisky and wake a minute or two later and finish her sentence. When she left No 10 and was asked what she would do next, she said “Work. That’s all we have ever known.” Anderson successfully shows glimpses of the vulnerability beneath the armour of her trademark hair, tailored clothes, pearls and make-up. “We are confident,” she says to herself doubtfully in front of the mirror, as she emerges to become Britain’s first female Prime Minister. I didn’t mention I didn’t agree with the change she was making, because I didn’t agree with her politics! But I really did think the civil service needed shaking up. We agreed on that. I think she thought ‘Yes, this is somebody who wants to move mountains, like me’, so she took me on.” I left about a year early to concentrate on writing – it was at the time of the financial crisis in 2008. I’d had my first book The Sky Blue Parcel – a financial thriller featuring a high-flying early-thirties Treasury civil servant, Jane Charles – published. That had gone quite well and people found the setting particularly authentic.”

The guys there were really nice and used to refer to me as a ‘drop in’, but eventually I decided to move to London. I needed a job and it was a choice between a temporary vacancy in the civil service or selling soft toys. Soft toys might have been a great career but you had to work on Saturdays, so I decided on the civil service job. It’s also true to say that even if she didn’t devote her career to helping other women, she did do something. She introduced independent taxation for women who were married. And I know, because I wrote with her a speech to The 300 Group (which campaigned for more females in Parliament, the European parliament, local government and public life) that she very sincerely did want to see more women in powerful positions, and thought that would be important.

We like the summer theatre. Wells is a really great example in Southwold of a place where you can go and buy music and great books. You can’t find anywhere else in the country that’s like it (Suffolk). You still get those individual shops.Lynne is also working with a number of universities including Cass Business School, City University London, where she is a Visiting Professor, and Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge, where she is a Fellow Commoner, to link the corporate and voluntary sectors, support social enterprise and to encourage women’s leadership and professional experiences to be valued in all sectors. The Better Way is a network of people working together to improve services, build strong communities and bring about a fairer society. Small state, enterprise Britain, individualism, home-owning democracy – all these things have become norms. I used to like the inexorable logic that Sir Humphrey used to apply to situations and I’m sure there is some of that in my writing.”