Cameron's goons are making a complete mess of this Thatcher deification

[malaise]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/apr/10/thatcher-funeral-foreign-office-uturns
<snip>
The Foreign Office has hastily retracted an order to all its diplomats and their staff to wear mourning clothes on the day of Lady Thatcher's funeral, even though it is not a state occasion.

A memo sent on Tuesday night to diplomatic staff in the UK and overseas told male staff to wear black ties and women to wear dark clothes next Wednesday – instructions usually reserved for the death of a head of state.

The Foreign Office confirmed the instructions had been issued but said they were a mistake, adding that they would be withdrawn by Wednesday night. Sources said the Foreign Office received complaints "from the highest level" of the civil service that the instructions were inappropriate.

Margaret Thatcher: parliament recall sets John Bercow and No 10 at odds
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/apr/10/margaret-thatcher-parliament-john-bercow
<snip>
Margaret Thatcher's death has dealt a further blow to already strained relations between Downing Street and the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, after the prime minister ditched both past precedent and a long-agreed plan to demand Wednesday's recall of parliament.

The seven-and-a-half-hour session of Commons tributes – led by David Cameron and Ed Miliband – had earlier been the subject of tense exchanges between Number 10 and Bercow's office, the Guardian has learned. The Speaker was said to be "taken aback" by the initial request that parliament be recalled, since that move had previously been reserved only for matters of national emergency.

The Speaker's team were said to be surprised that a request for such an unprecedented departure from past practice came in a phone call from a mid-ranking Number 10 staffer rather in writing. Bercow asked that protocol be followed and Cameron duly wrote directly to the Speaker formalising his request.

Further tension between Number 10 and the Speaker's office came over the format of the proceedings. Tory chief whip Sir George Young is said to have passed on a Downing Street request for the Speaker to advise MPs to suspend their custom and not make "interventions" during other MPs' speeches, thereby minimising the risk the session would descend into partisan argument. Bercow refused, insisting that since the proceeding was technically a debate – another first for a tribute session — the rules of debate would apply.

======================
Now you understand the Speaker's response to the Tory who was visibly upset over Glenda Jackson fabulous comments

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The tyrant was divisive in life and death and Cameron is going to pay for these excesses

[RGinNJ]

1. Thanks

I always loved Ms Jackson.

[malaise]

5. +1.000

[dflprincess]

2. In typical right-wing hypocrite fashion Maggie apparently approved the plans for her funeral

As a rule former Prime Ministers have private, not state funerals (Churchill being the exception).

The price of the Thatcher-palooza is expected to cost U.K. taxpayers at least £8 million.

In keeping with Maggie's beliefs wouldn't it be more appropriate to privatize it? If her son isn't willing to cough up the money (he's reputed to be worth £60 million+) maybe they could sell advertising space on her casket.

[Warpy]

3. Wow, the price tag has gone up.

The despised old bag obviously confused herself with the Queen during her final, demented days.

[malaise]

6. That's hilarious isn't it

[malaise]

7. Kettle: Margaret Thatcher's imperial funeral doesn't suit 21st century democracy

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/11/thatcher-imperial-funeral-farcical
<snip>
How could they be so foolish? Were the people charged with planning Margaret Thatcher's funeral so naive that they could not see how delicately the farewell to Britain's most prominent public figure of the postwar era would have to be handled if it were it not to become what it now plainly risks being – an avoidable public wound that disrespects the dead and that this country, in the wider sense, does not need?

Officially, Thatcher is being given something called a ceremonial funeral, much to the disgust of the rightwing press. This newly invented category was created for Princess Diana in 1997, and subsequently for the Queen Mother. In practice, it looks as if this is a state funeral in all but name, but with the important difference that parliament is specifically not being asked to authorise next Wednesday's events in advance. In effect, therefore, Thatcher is getting a government funeral, not a parliamentary or truly public one.

This is an unhealthy precedent and the government is wrong to do it. My concern is less with the security problems, although these may in fact be large and involve a lot of heavy-handed policing that would have been much more effectively minimised by concentrating the whole event into Westminster. My concerns are with the symbolism of an imperial, military funeral for a civilian politician in a 21st century democracy (not least because the cortege goes past South Africa House), and the principle that public funerals for politicians should be civic, restrained and unifying, rather than military, bombastic and controversial.

Quite why the Conservatives think that it is politically sensible to revive all these symbols of the Thatcherian high tide escapes me. It is a decision made on autopilot. It is as though none of the sensibility that made the Tories finally grasp the "nasty party" nettle or elect David Cameron rather than a Thatcherite still exists. Perhaps someone in the Cabinet Office thought that the Thatcher funeral would embarrass Labour. But Ed Miliband's sure touch on Monday and yesterday ought to disabuse them of that hope.

[malaise]

4. The hypocrisy is breath-taking

and it is fall down funny to watch the party that kicked her out - her own party - now attempt to canonize her before our eyes.
Next week should be fun.

[hobbit709]

8. In other words, the Speaker told him to quit whining and STFU.

[malaise]

10. Yep

[magellan]

9. Margaret Thatcher Tributes: MPs Can Claim £3,750 In Expenses For Returning To House Of Commons

Those MPs breaking off their holidays to dash back to pay tribute to Margaret Thatcher in the Commons on Wednesday may claim up to £3,750 in travel expenses to do so, it has emerged.

The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) has confirmed that MPs were entitled to claim back the cost of returning to Westminster if they were outside the country when parliament was recalled, with a cap of £3,750 in place.

That sum could include the cost of returning to their holiday destination if they choose to resume their break following recall.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/04/10/margaret-thatcher-dead-mp-expenses_n_3050438.html?utm_hp_ref=uk

Expenses are available because the tribute was treated as an "emergency recall" during Easter break, even though there was no emergency. They could easily have done this next week when Parliament is back in session.

No word on how many MPs will actually claim the expense; some who turned up said they wouldn't. But between this and the funeral expense, which as noted above has risen to £10 million, with the family covering an unknown portion (thought to include the cremation, flowers and transport - i.e. not a lot), it's easy to see where a lot of unnecessary spending occurs.

[Aerows]

11. I hadn't listened to that speech by Glenda Jackson

It was breath-taking. She summed up what I think a lot of conservatives here do, too. They know the price of everything but the value of nothing.

[malaise]

12. She was fabulous