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WATCH: Andrew Pierce makes candid confession about 'Thatcher shrine' in his home
Oct 6, 2025
GB News host Andrew Pierce has revealed he has “a shrine” to Margaret Thatcher in his home study.The presenter appeared overjoyed as he admired the former Prime Minister’s most famous outfits while reporting live from the Conservative conference.Speaking on The People’s Channel, Pierce said: “There’s apparently a photograph of me on the internet because I’m on bended knee worshipping at the altar of Margaret Thatcher.“I have a confession to make, I do have a Thatcher shrine in my study at home, which includes a life-size cut-out of Lady Thatcher. And why wouldn’t I?”WATCH THE CLIP ABOVE FOR MORE
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from number 10 back in 1990
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In the middle is the iconic royal blue outfit. This was one of her favourite outfits
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She bought it in 1989, and on one of her most famous speeches in the Commons
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when she famously said about European expansion, no, no, no, that was the outfit she was wearing at the time
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It triggered, of course, Geoffrey Howe's resignation from the Cabinet and the end of her premiership
0:24
And this, of course, is the extraordinary outfit she wore when she got in that tank in Germany
0:30
on manoeuvres and took the wheel, took the control of a tank. And another iconic image of Mrs Thatcher, that was in 1986
0:37
And the reason these are here, these have been lent to the Tory party by a donor who bought these outfits for his own private collection
0:45
Don't titter at the back there. Because next week is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Mrs Thatcher
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and there's going to be a huge dinner at London's Guild Hall to celebrate Mrs Thatcher
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So with me now, I'm going to talk to Hannah Bithell-Vaughan, who is from the Conservative Party Archive
1:06
I'm talking to Hannah Bithell-Vaughan, who is the Conservative Party Archivist. And the archive of course is based at the Bodleian Library Hannah huge interest still in Margaret Thatcher even though she left office 35 years ago
1:23
Yeah, absolutely. We've had a steady stream of people all day and all the day yesterday as well
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who are absolutely enamoured by her. She's still such a figure in the party
1:33
and in the political world in general. A dominant figure, Britain's first woman prime minister
1:38
to Britain's first political women lead. I mean, she became Tory leader in 1975
1:45
And if we can now look here, Hannah, we've got lots of documents relating to Mrs Thatcher's rise
1:52
her struggles to get through Parliament. Tell us about some of these documents
1:56
Yeah, so we've got some documents here from sort of the early 1950s where she was trying to become a politician
2:04
but she had some struggles. They were put in seats, putting her forward for seats
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that weren't necessarily conservative safe spots, so she had to really fight for them
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and unfortunately, the first few times, she wasn't very successful. And then, obviously, she had children
2:18
and she had a law career as well, so she had to really wonder what was her competing priorities
2:24
So we got a couple of handwritten letters here where she says actually I need to be put into cold storage for a while I need to sort of prioritise my family life And then she sort of comes back and says actually no
2:38
politics is where I want to be. I know it. Can you put me forward for another seat, please
2:43
Because she fought Dartford twice and lost. And then I think she was virtually giving up
2:48
And then suddenly she got selected for Finchley. Yeah, that's correct. Yeah
2:52
So the first few times in Dartford, you know, there was a bit of a struggle. She was put forward with a large majority from the Conservative side
3:01
but unfortunately it just didn't work for her the first two times
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But then she was put forward for Finchley and won it overwhelmingly and kept it for the majority of her career
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And tell us about a couple of other of these documents here. So there's one here
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It says they describe her. They say she excels at questions, gives straight and convincing answers
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She's got a good brain, attractive personality, good speaking ability. Yeah, absolutely
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So there's a couple of memos to CCHQ sort of saying exactly who she was as a person
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and people's impressions of her. So she was a very good speaker
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There's a letter here that sort of says how packed all of her performances were So she was having sort of 200 people turn up to her meetings at the wards and things which is pretty unheard of that sort of thing But yeah she always packed out her venues
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and she always had loads of people asking her sort of questions
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and she could always answer. She was seen as a very plain-speaking politician
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and people understood her and, you know, could relate to that. And just finally, I've looked through all those memos
4:08
None of them suggest that Margaret Thatcher had it in her to become Britain's first woman Prime Minister
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Yeah, I mean, certainly they don't actually say that. You know, early on in her career
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she's still making a name for herself, you know, but they put forward the same points that are echoed
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all the way out through her career. So you can see here at the starting point
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where she was an excellent speaker, she was very plain-spoken, and that's what people enjoyed
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and that's what made her such a famous name. That's Hannah Bithelvaughan from the Conservative Archive
4:38
I'm Andrew Pearce. I'm with you at the Tory party conference. And I've got to tell you, this Thatcher exhibition is the must-see
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People are flocking to it, getting photographs done, and there's apparently a photograph of me on the internet
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because I'm on bended knee worshipping at the altar of Margaret Thatcher
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because I have a confession to make. I do have a Thatcher shrine in my study at home
4:57
which includes a life-size cut-out of Lady Thatcher. And why wouldn't I
5:02
Back to you guys in the studio
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