When I arrived at St Paul’s at 6 o’clock this morning, a line of people, around 40-strong, had already set up camp with union flags (and one Canadian flag, too) opposite the church courtyard. The police officer drawing to the end of his night shift told me they had been there all night. Later, as the hearse left the Palace of Westminster, the pavements opposite were packed.
Yes, there were some people who turned their backs, and others who held placards decrying Thatcher’s legacy. This video from the Guardian shows some of them chanting ‘waste of money!’ as the procession approached. As Thatcher’s friend Conor Burns has been repeatedly saying for the past week and a half, the late Prime Minister would have seen that as a tribute in kind as well. Even if those lining the route were an unrepresentative sample of British opinion about Thatcher, it’s worth noting that many who disliked her intensely showed sufficient generosity of spirit to stay away, or keep their protests restrained. The Met has confirmed that there were no arrests, and that the only things thrown at the procession were flowers.
But what we really learned from those crowds who packed the route St Paul’s Cathedral, and who gave her three cheers when her coffin was carried out into the hearse at the end is that Britons are as lion-hearted and generous in spirit as the Iron Lady herself. On every state occasion, commentators are astonished by the numbers that turn out to watch a royal couple embarking on married life, or a monarch celebrating her jubilee because it is easy to underestimate how sentimental and respectful the British people are, even when times are hard.
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