Margaret Thatcher

Maiden speech, February 5, 1960 The rare first speech that changed the law. The new member for Finchley had won a place in the private members' ballot and used her debut to move the Second Reading of her own bill opening council meetings to the press. She gave Finchley a single sentence, saying it would want her to come straight to the point, and went on to the bill's purpose. A Conservative colleague congratulated her on an outstanding maiden speech, and the bill became the Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960. Hear the briskness that would define her style two decades later.