Margaret Thatcher, Queen of UKIP..?

Just before Christmas, Alex Singleton of the Daily Telegraph reported on the extraordinary role that Margaret Thatcher had played behind the scenes for UKIP.

Alex detailed how: "Before the general election, she had lunch with Lord Pearson and they discussed the problems that Pearson, then UKIP’s leader, was having in keeping the support of activists. She advised him to hire Viscount Monckton, a former Telegraph journalist, who she said had done a brilliant job for her in the Number 10 Policy Unit."

At the same time as that report was being published, Nigel Farage was giving an interview to the Institute of Economic Affairs in which he revealed that Lord Monckton is part of the team reviewing UKIP's policies ahead of a new manifesto.

The point should be fairly clear - we seem to have, if the Daily Telegraph report is accurate, a Margaret Thatcher-recommended policy manager at the very top of UKIP, shaping the policies of UKIP.

Today, papers released from the National Archives seem to demonstrate the unique position that Margaret Thatcher took as Prime Minister to fight everyone - from civil servant Sir Humphrey's to members of her own Cabinet - in order to defend British sovereignty and independence.

The Independent writes: "Mrs Thatcher's trademark obduracy was even more emphatically expressed when it came to her favourite foe – Brussels. The documents show that the Prime Minister rejected out of hand any suggestion that Britain should compromise in negotiations over the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) to manage stocks in the European Union. Attempts by Agriculture minister Peter Walker to explain in a memo why it was in the United Kingdom's interest to reach a rapid settlement were annotated by Mrs Thatcher with the word "no" at five points before she scrawled on another letter related to the issue: "It's our water and our fish. Don't give them away.""

In a telling passage in a report on the Daily Telegraph, we learn that Margaret Thatcher is perhaps the only politician in power to have stood up to the Sir Humphrey's in the name of our national sovereignty and national interest.

In an exchange over North Sea Oil, the newspaper reports how: "Mrs Thatcher denounced the proposals in a note written on a copy of the meeting’s minutes, stating: “That statement would be disastrous for Britain and I am not prepared to make it.

“The idea that we should have to sacrifice our main assets to receive more of our own money back is one that may appeal to the Foreign Office but it does not to me.”"

Are you reading that, William Hague?

Meanwhile, the Daily Express - newspaper of choice for patriots - reports on how the newly released papers: "detail how the prime minister fought efforts to deny the UK a refund on its net budget contribution to the then European Economic Community and repeatedly cajoled her ministers into maintaining a strong line during the bargaining process."

"Mrs Thatcher, only a year into her first premiership, showed her fury in annotations on a letter sent to her by the Treasury explaining complications over VAT and European procedure that threatened the hard-won refund in May 1980."

She wrote: “No this is ridiculous. Its whole purpose is to demean Britain. We must fight this one. If necessary openly.”

The Daily Mail, meanwhile, summarises the revelations by writing: "The way an exasperated Mrs Thatcher repeatedly refused to bow to Europe is spelled out in the 1980 documents. She had been in office for only a few months but was already earning her Iron Lady nickname."

So, there we go. Margaret Thatcher. Former Prime Minister. Iron Lady. Behind the scenes, someone who stood up to the europhile civil servants of the Foreign Office (Hague, you wuss!).

And, it appears, Thatcher might well have some sympathies with UKIP.

Wonder if this story might make a few patriots in the Conservative Party think of defecting..?