THE EARLY YEARS
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Also edited out of the authorised version were the social and economic insecurities that troubled the young Margaret. In class-conscious Grantham the Roberts family were tradesmen. This put them well down the ladder from the better-off county and commercial families in and around the town. Margaret was never regarded as ‘one of us’ by the posher customers she served from behind the counter in the North Parade shop. Her frugal upbringing, her home-made clothes and her social status as the daughter of a shopkeeper were likely to have made her feel inadequate when visiting the homes of her school contemporaries who came from these higher echelons of Lincolnshire life. As for the local grandee, Lord Brownlow, Margaret went on annual school picnics in the grounds of Belton, his stately home on the edge of Grantham. She was noticed by him and by other members of the Cust family* for her personality, intelligence and good service in the shop. But, being ‘in trade’, she was not invited to a meal at Belton until becoming Prime Minister nearly half a century later.† The social boundaries of Grantham in the 1930s, together with the exclusions, tensions and feelings of insecurity they must have produced, are not mentioned in Margaret Thatcher’s account of her childhood in her memoirs or in later interviews. Without them, the picture of her early years is incomplete. So is her self-portrait of her youthful personality. These omissions raise interesting questions. At the height of her powers, her critics thought that Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher showed flaws in her character. She sometimes displayed a belligerent temperament that could explode into anger. She was a bully towards some of * An exotic rumour, much discussed by Tory MPs in the aftermath of the 1975 leadership election, suggested that Margaret Thatcher might be the daughter of the Hon. Harry Cust. He was a scion of Belton, the younger brother of Lord Brownlow, and a notorious womaniser. Cust was widely believed to be the father of Lady Diana Cooper, who had allegedly inherited his piercing blue eyes. She enjoyed fanning the speculation that the Prime Minister might be her half-sister. However, since Harry Cust died eight years before Margaret Thatcher was born, the rumour was demonstrably nonsense. † Soon after her election as Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher was the guest of honour at a private lunch at Belton House. Lord Brownlow, following an approach from Lincolnshire MP Marcus Kimball, loaned her his magnificent collection of table silver for use at No. 10 Downing Street for several years.
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