Thatcher: 'I'm fighting fit'

Lady Thatcher's lost none of her public appeal

By Mark Davies BBC News Online political reporter

Margaret Thatcher fixed me with the sort of steely gaze previously reserved, no doubt, for errant backbenchers and spineless world leaders.

Her expression was a mixture of benign gratitude for my query about her health and incredulity that I had the temerity to ask.

She was pale, but hardly frail. The piercing stare was there

"I am fighting fit," she said, briefly looking up before signing yet another copy of her new book Statecraft thrust before her at a signing session in central London.

It is only a couple of weeks since Lady Thatcher, who has suffered a series of minor strokes, announced that her doctors had ordered her to step back from public life.

Yet although the former prime minister may have bowed out of the public speaking circuit, she still does a mean book-signing session.

What's more, she can still draw a big crowd.

The queue at Hatchards in Piccadilly started in the sport section on the top floor and wound its way down through pets and ornithology, cooking and photography to modern history and, finally, the ground floor and Lady Thatcher.

Jostled

She sat at a desk, occasionally sipping water, and rewarding each of the 300 or so people who had waited for up to an hour to get their book signed with a broad smile.

A purple foot-rest had been laid on for the 76-year-old, who posed for photographs for about five minutes before the book-signing began.

A piece of history?

A big crush of photographers had jostled for the best position as they awaited Lady Thatcher's arrival from the House of Lords.

When the door finally opened and the former prime minister strode in, she was wearing a familiar look of defiance, knowing, of course, that the throng had been sent along to check on her health.

She was pale, but hardly frail. The piercing stare was there, as was a willingness to meet the demands of the photographers falling off stepladders in their eagerness to get the best shot.

Terms and conditions

Lady Thatcher, wearing a beige suit and her trademark pearl necklace and earrings, had set out a number of rules for the public appearance.

Those who had turned up to get their book signed were first handed a piece of paper setting out the terms of the appearance.

The queue started in the sport department

There would be no personal dedications, just a signature. No photographs were allowed other than those granted to the press pack. No other books but Statecraft would be signed.

Shoppers paid for the book, were handed a receipt and shown the way to the back of the queue, which soon reached the top floor of the shop.

"We need someone like her now, what with Mugabe and what have you," said one woman as she waited.

"Yes, what would we have done in the Falklands without her," agreed another.

Engrossed

Two others killed time debating the future of Tony Blair if the UK joins a war in Iraq.

One man tried to distract himself from the stifling heat by flicking through a biography of Ho Chi Minh. Another was engrossed in a book about Australian cricketer Shane Warne.

The press scrum await Baroness Thatcher's arrival

Simon Nuckley, 19, who was the first in the queue after waiting for four hours, said he was not a Conservative supporter, but saw Lady Thatcher as an important historical figure.

"I have studied her works and some of her philosophy and I find her a very interesting person.

"My parents are Conservatives and were great fans of her and still are."

One man, Trevor Peachey, bought 12 copies of the book, saying they were an investment for the future.

It may be that it will indeed be Lady Thatcher's last venture into publishing as she steps back from public life.

But if the speed she gets through book-signings is anything to go by, there is every chance of more to come.