Britain: Blackpool Blues

Maggie loses a minister

Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!" The old hymn thundered from 3,000 throats in the seaside town of Blackpool last week as Britain's Conservative Party opened its annual conference. And why not rejoice? It was the first gathering of the Tory clans since their historic election victory last June. There was even a dollop of frosting on the political cake in the form of two important Tory birthdays: the party's 100th and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's 58th. It was, then, an occasion for especially lusty renditions of God Save the Queen and Land of Hope and Glory....

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