The Thatcher Centre

Funds raised to commemorate a historic prime minister have been spent on student activism. This is no way to recall public service for the nation The Cherish Freedom Trust's Margaret Thatcher Centre is a charitable institution dedicated to educating future generations and sharing the story of Lady Thatcher’s life and legacy. As the 20th century’s longest serving Prime Minister and the first female Prime Minister, Margaret Baroness Thatcher died in 2013. Within days, admirers drew up a deed creating the Cherish Freedom Trust. It was modelled on the presidential library of Ronald Reagan, her ideological soulmate, which houses an archive of 50 million documents. The aim was laudable. Thatcher was the first woman to be prime minister, and in 11 years in Downing Street she presided over a radical economic shift that revitalised the country and a security policy that defeated Argentine aggression in the South Atlantic and contributed to the peaceful defeat of communism in Europe. It is important for public education, let alone respect for her memory, that the records of her career have a permanent home. It is true that this already exists at the unrelated Thatcher archive in the Churchill centre of the University of Cambridge, where she deposited her papers. Yet the proposed Margaret Thatcher Centre could have been a worthy complement, bringing her legacy to life through exhibitions and debates for those curious about Britain’s past. Six years on, the planned visitor centre, with a targeted budget of £15 million, has not been built and almost all the funds appear to have been spent. The Cherish Freedom Trust has raised modest sums, which have gone predominantly on events, consultants and fees. Its last filed accounts show a balance of around £50,000. The activities of a linked US appeal have included a transatlantic exchange programme for students, including sightseeing and political briefings. A curious sideline is that officials of the British charity bid for some of Thatcher’s outfits at auction on behalf not of the nation but of a private collecter. The US foundation that raises funds for the centre has devoted almost all its funds to student exchanges. As an organisation that has charitable status, the trust may not engage in political campaigning. The Charity Commission is examining assurances on the independence of the Cherish Freedom Trust. Yet there is already a prima facie case that Thatcher’s importance as a figure in British political history, which belongs to all the nation, is being appropriated by activists who are deploying funds for a very up-to-date political message. Britain has no standard procedure for commemorating its prime ministers. A venture to open the Salisbury home of Edward Heath to the public foundered. The records of former leaders have been preserved largely through historical accident. For example, William Gladstone’s vast personal library is held in a Victorian Gothic mansion in Flintshire that is open to the public. It is a worthy commemoration of a great public servant. Yet he is an exception. An educational resource shining a light on Margaret Thatcher’s achievements might have been a model, too, for a great prime minister a century later. ● Correction, Friday March 3, 2019: We incorrectly said that “a venture to open the Salisbury home of Edward Heath to the public foundered”. In fact, Arundells is open to the public.