ABSTRACT
Her own party frequently underestimated Margaret Thatcher in the early years of her leadership (see pp. 42-3). Thatcher’s lack of knowledge about the intricacies of foreign affairs was a major cause of this. Though she travelled abroad regularly while leader of the opposition, her background, education and earlier political experience had given her none of the breadth of vision which her Conservative predecessors enjoyed. She was not a linguist and tended to be suspicious of foreigners – first because she did not know them very well and second because she usually could not speak their language. Her simple patriotism was nourished much more in the East Midlands and the Home Counties than through broader imperial contacts.
