The book abounds in such thought- stirring passages. At the very outset, for example, Campbell raises the possibility that Thatcherism would never have got off the ground had not she been the beneficiary, in her first cabinet, of Old England’s gentlemanly values of loyalty and honour embodied in that archetypal true blue Tory, William Whitelaw, whom she made her deputy. Out of chivalry and a spirit of noblesse oblige he backed her to the hilt, as did the nobleman, Lord Carrington. They could have stabbed her in the back, stopped her in her tracks, but never did so. It is a nice thought that without the existence of old England’s ideal of gentlemanly behaviour — which adult Thatcherism killed off — the Thatcherite baby might have been snuffed out at birth. Campbell does not ever go so far as to say that Thatcherism was fine so long as it was implemented — as to begin with it was — by old English Tories but he makes it easy for those who want to draw that conclusion to do so with a clear conscience.

At no point, however, is John Campbell unfair to Mrs Thatcher, and his biography is very far from being hostile. But throughout it is written in the light of the Britain which Mrs Thatcher left behind — a nation without a moral compass, a political class without standards, and materialism rampant in pretty well every walk of life. So while in no way overlooking the short- term triumphs of Thatcherism — the defeat of Galtieri and Arthur Scargill etc — these are never allowed to stand on their own without the evil fruits thereof also entering, and very much darkening, the picture.

The Maggie and Ron relationship also benefits from this approach. Yes, they did win the Cold War, and must be revered for so doing. But they did so not because of any great statesmanlike vision but because of a simple faith in the power of money: the power of money to win an arms race. In the final analysis it was capitalism, not a love of freedom and democracy, that did for totalitarianism. None of this is allowed to take away from Maggie and Ron’s stupendous achievements. In some ways Campbell makes the achievement seem all the greater because the philistine couple behind it were so limited, ignorant and narrow-minded.

This is a portrait of great depth of a historic figure of truly no depth at all. Just as a pebble can cause a great avalanche, so can a very ordinary individual change the course of history. History has no more chastening lesson to teach.

Blackwell Bookshop

Purchase your copy here, 10% off RRP