Quotes
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Margaret Thatcher : On behalf of the government and the Metropolitan Police, I am so sorry. It is a national embarrassment that the Queen of the United Kingdom should be subjected to troublemakers and null consent at liberty to resort to violence...
Queen Elizabeth II : [kindly intervenes] Oh, but he wasn't violent. In fact, the only person Mr. Fagan hurt in the course of his break-in was himself.
[short pause]
Queen Elizabeth II : And while he may be a troubled soul, I don't think he's entirely to blame for his troubles... being a victim of unemployment - which is now more than twice what it was when you came into office, just three years ago.
Margaret Thatcher : [calmly] If unemployment is *temporarily* high ma'am, that is the *necessary* side-effect of the medicine we are administering to the British Economy.
Queen Elizabeth II : [kindly intervening] Shouldn't we be careful that this medicine... like some dreadful chemotherapy, doesn't *kill* the very patient it's intended to heal? If people like Mr. Fagan are struggling, do we not have a collective duty to help them? What of our *moral* economy?
Margaret Thatcher : [calmly] If we *are* to turn this country around, we really must *abandon* outdated and misguided notions of collective duty. There are individual men and women and there are families. Self-interested people who are trying to *better* themselves. *That* is the engine that fires a nation. My father didn't have a state to rely on should his business fail. It was the risk of *ruin* and his duty to his family that drove him to succeed.
Queen Elizabeth II : [respectfully] Perhaps not everyone is as remarkable as your father.
Margaret Thatcher : [calmly] Oh you see? That is where you and I differ. I say... they have it *within* them to be.
Queen Elizabeth II : Even someone like Mr. Fagan?
Margaret Thatcher : [calmly] Mr. Fagan... is another matter. Two different Doctors have reached the conclusion he is suffering from a schizophrenic illness. If he is spared criminal prosecution on account of his condition, then a nice secure mental hospital will ensure he will not be a danger any longer.
[Prime Minister Thatcher looks at her watch and gets up]
Margaret Thatcher : Now if you will excuse me, I really must go.
Queen Elizabeth II : Where to?
Margaret Thatcher : To the Victory Parade... at the city of London.
Queen Elizabeth II : A Victory Parade?
Margaret Thatcher : Yes ma'am. We have just won a war.
