Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said Thursday that she “wouldn’t like to bet” on the outcome of next week’s voting for Conservative Party leadership, despite her successor John Major’s prediction he would win a clear-cut victory.
“It’s very difficult to assess the situation because nobody will tell you precisely which way they are going to vote,” Thatcher said during a visit to Chicago to promote her latest book.
Earlier Thursday, Major told BBC radio in London that he intended “to win a clear-cut majority” in Tuesday’s vote. “I called this election to clear the air. . . . I don’t have a shred of doubt that the air can be cleared.”
For a first-round re-election victory, Major needs a majority of the Conservatives’ 329 parliamentarians. Under the party’s complicated election rules, the total of his votes must also be 15 percent more than those of John Redwood, his only rival.
Redwood, a leader of the party’s anti-European right wing, defected from Major’s Cabinet to oppose him in an election reminiscent of the 1990 leadership race that led to Thatcher’s resignation as prime minister. Major then replaced her.
Should neither candidate obtain the needed votes, a second round of balloting would be necessary, a development Thatcher said she would regret because it could open the process to a larger field of candidates and further damage party unity.
Thatcher, 69, autographed copies of her latest book, “The Path to Power,” in Marshall Field’s State Street store, where she also showed the stamina that earned her the nickname “The Iron Lady.” There was nary a trace of the road-weariness that afflicts most authors on book tours.
“She’s really amazing,” said Sharon Roth, the store’s senior book buyer as she watched Thatcher scan the faces of hundreds who had lined up to get her autograph. “Her schedule is grueling, but you’d never know it to look at her. Her energy is boundless.
“Right now, her biggest fear is that she won’t be able to squeeze everyone in,” said Roth. “That’s very upsetting to her.”
“I do hope we don’t have to disappoint anyone,” Thatcher said after having signed more than 600 copies of her book. “If we’re running behind, perhaps I could write a bit faster.”
A Field’s spokesperson said Thatcher fans had begun to line up outside their doors at 8 a.m. Security was stepped up throughout the store and people were asked to comply with safety measures that included handing bags and purses to store personnel before having their books signed.
“My husband and I took the day off to be here,” said Benita Mayo. “She’s someone I’ve always admired.”
“I just came from the hospital to be here,” said school teacher Aileen Cornbleet. “I had scheduled a CT scan, but there was no way I was going to miss this. I’m a big fan of hers.”
Members of a group opposed to the presence of British troops in Northern Ireland were ushered from the store when they passed out pamphlets protesting Thatcher’s visit.
In an interview Wednesday on WGN’s Extension 720, Thatcher told host Milton Rosenberg that while she admired Redwood, she supports Major in the party balloting.
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“What a formidable candidate John Redwood is,” Thatcher said, “John Redwood has come up very powerfully. He’s been a very, very good performer, and that might undermine the possibility of (Major) getting a majority because John Redwood is performing so well. . . .
“If I were in the House of Commons, which I am not, I would vote for the prime minister. I would like for the matter to be resolved as soon as possible because uncertainty is bad for the markets.”
In other comments on Europe, Thatcher condemned the brutal Soviet military campaign against rebel forces in Chechnya.
While saying Russian President Boris Yeltsin should continue to receive world support, “we should make our view on Chechnya very clear, indeed: You do not turn a big army on people in that way.”
“I am deeply distressed when a nation uses its own armed forces on innocent people in the way the Russians have used their forces in Chechnya,” she said.
She also labeled the Serbian siege of Bosnia “naked aggression” and called upon the United Nations to “give the Muslims in Bosnia the means to defend themselves.”