Posted on 03/22/2002 4:32:17 PM PST by xsysmgr
ONE OF the dominant voices of the 20th Century has been silenced: Baroness Thatcher has decided to follow doctors’ advice and will never make a speech in public again.The surprise announcement yesterday marks the effective retirement from public life of the 76-year-old former Prime Minister, who has suffered a series of slight strokes and whose failing health has been a source of deep concern to family and friends.
Lady Thatcher suffered her latest stroke shortly before she was due to deliver a speech to the Alzheimer’s Research Trust on Tuesday night. She was left with temporary co-ordination problems and slurred speech.
Her husband Denis was the key influence in her decision to bow out of public life after two days of tests that ended with doctors telling her that further strokes could be neither predicted nor prevented.
A senior aide said: “Making speeches places undue strain on her, so she has decided to cease immediately all public speaking engagements. This is a huge thing for her. A big door has closed but she is bearing up well. Lady T is now resting at home, doing as she is told — for a change.”
Her last speech was at a tribute evening for her old ally Ronald Reagan, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s, in Washington, where she was given a rapturous standing ovation by a 700-strong audience of leading Republicans.
Lady Thatcher had intended to speak at a number of events next month as part of a nationwide tour to promote her book Statecraft, which was serialised in The Times, but that has been cancelled. She will, however, go ahead with book-signing sessions as arranged.
A series of 30 lecture engagements in North America for which she would have been paid up to £35,000 a speech, has also been cancelled.
Lady Thatcher, who famously survived on four hours sleep a day when Prime Minister, had maintained a punishing workload even in retirement. But she had declined an invitation to the twentieth anniversary celebrations of the end of the Falklands conflict. She was said to have decided not to go because of concern for Sir Denis’s health, although she admitted that the 36-hour return journey would have been “gruelling even for me”.
Stroke is the single main cause of adult disability in Britain and the third biggest killer, affecting 190 people per 100,000 population every year. Dr Tony Rudd, president-elect of the British Association of Stroke Physicians, said: “Little strokes must not be regarded as minor. They are really serious, which is why Lady Thatcher has probably decided to give up public speaking.”
Dr Rudd, who works at Guy's and St Thomas’ hospitals, London, added that all activities that triggered stress and high blood pressure had to be eliminated. “Once there has been one stroke there is always a risk of a second.”
Princess Margaret died after suffering a series of strokes last month and the late Richard Nixon, and Gerald Ford his successor as President of the US, both suffered strokes.
A voice quieted: Margaret Thatcher revolutionised political oratory
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