Paradoxes of Power: Reflections on the Thatcher Interlude

Thumb through the index of almost any study of the Thatcher years — biographical, scholarly or journalistic — and you will come across the name of Sir Alfred Sherman. In her memoirs Lady Thatcher herself pays tribute to Sherman’s ‘brilliance’, the ‘force and clarity of his mind’, his ‘breadth of reading and his skills as a ruthless polemicist’. She credits him with a central role in her achievements, especially as Leader of the Opposition but also after she became Prime Minister. Born in 19...