Murnaghan 14.04.13 Interview with Lord Ashdown, former Liberal leader, about Mrs Thatcher and her funeral

ANY QUOTES USED MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO MURNAGHAN, SKY NEWS

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Now one thing that Margaret Thatcher’s friends and enemies probably agreed on is that she was a formidable opponent and nowhere more so than on the floor of the House of Commons. Well one man who faced her in Parliament many times is the former Liberal leader Paddy Ashdown, he joins me now from Somerset, a very good morning to you Paddy. I saw and listened to your tribute in the Lords debate last Wednesday, did she really get the better of you so often or were you just being charitable?

PADDY ASHDOWN: Nice to be with you Dermot. Look, I’ve done some quite frightening things in my life one way or another but I can tell you, nothing, nothing was more terrifying than having to stand up as a young inexperienced – I’d only been in Parliament four years – wet behind the ears leader of my party and take her on once a week in Prime Minister’s Questions with the inevitable results that nine times out of ten, not ten times out of ten but nine times out of ten, I would be ritually handbagged in front of the microphones of the nation. I say the microphones because television hadn’t come in then, thank God!

DM: And what do you think about the marking of her passing? In particular it has been commented on, the military aspect of it, almost predominantly military in terms of that procession and of course the cost, the ten million or so cost, in these times of austerity?

PA: Look, I think she was a great Prime Minister, I may have opposed her but she did very important things for our country and hugely improved its standing abroad and I think a funeral which is a public funeral, which is in St Paul’s Cathedral, which has solemnity, is very important. I’m told I’m going to be invited and if I am I shall be there to pay my respects. For my taste, Dermot, I have to say something a little more simple, just as solemn but a little more simple, might be better. Listening to Adam’s report earlier on it sounds as though they have got rid of the gun carriage, I don't know if that’s true but that would make me a little squeamish I must confess but look, this is chosen by the Conservative party to celebrate their great leader, it’s chosen by her family, even if I might feel a bit uncomfortable about some aspects of it, I’m perfectly prepared to accept that. As I said, for my taste, something just as solemn, just as respectful but perhaps a little more simple would be better but this is their choice and I accept that.

DM: And there may be some people want to voice protest at some of her policies and some of her legacy during the course of the funeral itself, what do you say to them and what do you say to those who would have to police it?

PA: Well look, as Francis Maude very accurately said, they’re entitled to protest, they’re entitled to make their views known if that is peaceful, that is part of our democracy and it’s a part that I’m very proud of. The cost that we have to bear to ensure that they have that right to peacefully protest is an appropriate cost for a democracy. When that turns into violence of course that’s something completely different. I may not agree with them, I don’t agree with them, I think their view is narrow and crabbed and some of the ways they express it by the way are pretty distasteful but that’s a democracy. I am absolutely clear that she was an utter and total supporter of democracy and would have understood that even though there are perhaps other aspects of her policies that I wouldn’t agree with. By the way on this slight concern about the BBC, the controversy about the BBC and this Witch is Dead song, my own view actually is quite different. I think her reputation is quite strong enough to cope with that and I don’t think that the compromise, the carefully manufactured compromise the BBC has come to after a lot of thought and I understand it’s difficult for them, I don’t think it’s necessary. My own view, by the way I think shared by many Tories, is that she has a reputation which is not going to be damaged by small things like that.

DM: Okay Paddy, good to talk to you. Paddy Ashdown’s thoughts on debating and the way the passing of Baroness Thatcher should be marked.