Christopher Collins

Christopher Collins

CHRISTOPHER COLLINS is director of the Margaret Thatcher Foundation and editor of its vast archive website: www.margaretthatcher.org. His background is that of an academic historian. He was a lecturer in politics at Lincoln College, Oxford, then assisted Margaret Thatcher in the writing of her memoirs 1992–95 before becoming editor of her 14 million words of public statements, published by Oxford University Press in 1998. He is married and lives in Edinburgh.

IRON WILL IN DIPLOMACY – THATCHER AND HUNGARY 1979–1984

INTRODUCTION The theme of the conference is Thatcherite “principles of governance” – glossed as moral conviction, an iron will. Certainly she possessed both qualities – I can testify to that having spent some four years in her office. John O’Sullivan knew her better still. She was a rather motherly person,