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Fiercely privet

From Michael Cockerell Sir: Frank Johnson (11 October) quotes lain Duncan Smith telling a television interviewer that in opposition Mrs Thatcher was derided in the media as having 'all the character of a privet hedge'. 'Surely he made that up,' says Johnson, tut it sounded convincing.' In fact, Mrs Thatcher was linked with a privet hedge during the Tory leadership election of 1975 by a former editor of this magazine, Lord Gilmour. Warning his fellow Tory MPs against voting for the Finchley housewife, Ian Gilmour said, 'The Tories cannot retire behind a privet hedge into a world of narrow class interests or selfish concerns.'

Michael Cockerell

London W11

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