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💡 Research question sparked by #CPC26 party shop. 🚨 With 'Margaret Thatcher: Life After Downing Street', I've started work on Lady T's post-premiership, and I've got my thoughts in order on Sir John Major's. 🤔 So whose 'Life After Downing Street' should I start on next?

Toby jugs of former Tory leaders, Theresa May, John Major, Winston Churchill, Boris Johnson, and David Cameron.

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🚨 The key point about 'One Nation' (Stanley Baldwin's term, by the way, not Benjamin Disraeli's) is that it is a concept (national unity) not a set of policies or a specific way of doing things. 📜 Read more about it at #CPC26 here: pjust.substack.com/p/one-nation...

Benjamin Disraeli, Stanley Baldwin, Margaret Thatcher.

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🤦🏻‍♂️ Taken over by talking and writing about Stanley Baldwin, we managed to miss the @toryreformgroup.bsky.social #CPC26 session on 'Restoring One Nation'. 🤷🏻‍♂️ Kind of fitting, if ironic, no? 👍🏻 Still, you can read more about 'One Nation' and its use and misuse here: pjust.substack.com/p/one-nation...

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🎨 We decided on the Lorna May Wadsworth tote bag for #CPC26 on the grounds that 'An Iron Lady The Legacy Paintings' is a collection of Margaret Thatcher portraits we like very much.

A tote bag featuring a portrait of Margaret Thatcher by Lorna May Wadsworth.

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Peter Just @expremiers.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

🗣️ 'Absolutely terrible. We fly the British flag, not these awful things.' ✈️ On Day 2 of #CPC26 a reminder of Margaret Thatcher reacting to British Airways' new tail fins in 1997. 📘 Described by Charles Moore as ‘a late example of her subversive flair for a visual message.’

Margaret Thatcher covering the tail fin of a British Airways plane at the Conservative Party conference in 1997.

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🚨 As #CPC26 gets underway, a reminder that between 1991 and 2000, Margaret Thatcher attended Conservative Party conferences. 📋 This involved: ▶️ substance (inc. scrapping with Barbara Castle) ▶️ style (inc. wielding her handbag) ▶️ showbiz (as seen in this Private Eye cover)

Private Eye cover of Ted Heath and Margaret Thatcher at the 1998 Conservative Party Conference.

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Peter Just @expremiers.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

🚨 On the eve of the Conservative Party Conference, a reminder that at last year's 'Margaret Thatcher: Life After Downing Street' featured on Sky News! 🤯 Yes, really! #CPC26

A copy of 'Margaret Thatcher: Life After Downing Street' on Sky News in October 2025.

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Peter Just @expremiers.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

🚨 September 2026 update on ex-PMs' parliamentary activity. 2⃣ 2 interventions from Theresa May. 3⃣ 3 interventions from Rishi Sunak. 🤔 How long before Sunak overtakes Harold Wilson?!

Number of parliamentary interventions by former UK prime ministers from 1955 to the end of September 2026.

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Peter Just @expremiers.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

😊 Pleased to see something of Winston Churchill's life after Downing Street in the museum dedicated to him at the Cabinet War Rooms. 🤞🏻 I hope one day to write up the recollections of him shared with me by Conservative MPs first elected in 1959 when he was Father of the House.

Part of the Churchill Museum at the Cabinet War Rooms.

Peter Just @expremiers.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

🎞️ When, three and a half years ago, @lordnortonlouth.bsky.social suggested that I submit an abstract to a conference he was organising on Margaret Thatcher's life, work, and legacy, I little imagined that I (or rather my mugshot) would end up on the big screen, but that's Lady Thatcher for you!

Two man stood in front of a cinema screen on which is a projected an image of the cover of the book 'Margaret Thatcher: Life After Downing Street'.

Peter Just @expremiers.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

🔍 Weekend of research. ✍️🏻 And writing. ⭐️ About Margaret Thatcher in and out of Downing Street.

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Peter Just @expremiers.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

📰 'Thatcher: I was right all along'. 📞 'Her telephone bill must have been enormous.' 🚨 Of all the telling anecdotes about Margaret Thatcher after Downing Street, this one published in the Sunday Telegraph on this day, 20 September, in 1992, has to be one of the most telling.

Article from The Sunday Telegraph on 20 September 1992 headlined, 'Thatcher: I was right all along'.

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Peter Just @expremiers.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

🤭 'Indecently happy' - how Charles Moore described Margaret Thatcher as she said on this day, 19 September, in 1992 that 'if you try to buck the market, the market will buck you' after the UK's exit from the ERM. 🔗 margaretthatcher.org/document/108...

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Peter Just @expremiers.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

😉 'The President gave me a large wink, apparently unnoticed by his visitor, but otherwise did not comment.’ 🤭 George Bush's reaction to Margaret Thatcher being in full flight on Europe, as reported on this day, 18 September, in 1992 by Robin Renwick, the British Ambassador.

Memo from Robin Renwick about Margaret Thatcher's visit to the White House on 18 September 1992.

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Peter Just @expremiers.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

🌍 As in 1993, Margaret Thatcher's 'The Downing Street Years' is going global. 📋 For the next but one project.

A copy of Margaret Thatcher’s 'The Downing Street Years' next to an Eataly tote bag.

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Peter Just @expremiers.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

📁 The best kind of day at The National Archives when researching life after Downing Street. 🇨🇳 This folio being in a file on the UK and China bilateral relationship. 🙂 Jealous of the future researchers who might see the full version.

A redacted page in a file at The National Archives.

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Peter Just @expremiers.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

🚨 The Stanley Baldwin conference has arrived! 😊 Thanks to @lordnortonlouth.bsky.social and Dr Daniel Pitt for organising such a brilliant line-up of speakers. 🗣️ I'll be talking on what his life after Downing Street teaches us about the Office of Prime Minister Emeritus and about him.

Power point slide with a photograph of Stanley Baldwin on and the following words.

‘Speaking to the man on the bridge and spitting on the deck’Stanley Baldwin’s life after Downing Street

Peter Just
September 2026

Peter Just @expremiers.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

🚨 On the eve of @lordnortonlouth.bsky.social & Dr Daniel Pitt's conference on Stanley Baldwin, here's Tony Blair at the unveiling of a memorial to him in Westminster Abbey in 1997. 😊 Who knew diplomacy was Sir Denis Thatcher's forte?! 🤔 Baldwin's 'one nation' legacy in action, perhaps?

Tony Blair, Sir Edward Heath, Sir Denis Thatcher, and Margaret Thatcher at the unveiling of a memorial to Stanley Baldwin in 1997.

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Peter Just @expremiers.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

🗓️ #OTD 6 September, in 1997, Margaret Thatcher attended Diana, Princess of Wales' funeral, accompanied by Sir Denis Thatcher. ⚱️ Edward Heath, James Callaghan, and John Major, the other former Prime Ministers, also attended.

Sir Denis and Lady Thatcher at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales.

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Peter Just @expremiers.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

🥴 Today, I passed the 1,500th file studied mark, since my first visit to The National Archives in December 2023. 🚨 They've not *ALL* been about Margaret Thatcher, honest, but a lot have. 🎉 To mark this milestone, today's gem. 🇯🇵 Mrs T's hair appointments in Japan in 1982.

The schedule of Margaret Thatcher's hair appointments during a visit to Japan in 1982.

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Peter Just @expremiers.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

🗓️ A new month. 🔍 More work at The National Archives. 📂 Some for an ongoing project, some for a new one on life after Downing Street.

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Peter Just @expremiers.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

🚨 More on Margaret Thatcher and Nelson Mandela. 🗣️ When they met in London in July 1990, the meeting went on so long (over three hours) that some of the press outside No.10 started to chant, 'Free Nelson Mandela!' 🎤 The opening line of The Specials song, 'Nelson Mandela'.

Peter Just @expremiers.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

📽️ Third viewing of the film within the space of a week this evening. 🗣️ In preparation for my public lecture next month: 'The Iron Lady - leadership and legacy'. 🎭 But who is the greatest actress: Margaret Thatcher or Meryl Streep?

Peter Just @expremiers.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

❤️ I love Hansard. 🗣️ In June 1991, David Steel asked if John Major had 'any proposals to extend the requirements for muzzles and leashes' to Margaret Thatcher. 🗣️ Major replied that every MP had 'the right and the duty to speak their mind, and that is entirely proper.'

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Peter Just @expremiers.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

😱 With debates on 'one nation' still misinterpreting it, here's another view. 🚨 Disraeli: problem (two nations) 🚨 Baldwin: solution (one nation) 🚨 Thatcher: implementation 🔗 There's more in '"One nation": a century of use and misuse': pjust.substack.com/p/one-nation...

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Peter Just @expremiers.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

🎦 Tonight's viewing. 🗣️ In preparation for my public lecture next month. 🚨 'The Iron Lady - leadership and legacy' will reveal - strangely enough - what film has to teach us about Margaret Thatcher's leadership and legacy.

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Peter Just @expremiers.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

📘 The interesting thing about Margaret Thatcher donating a volume of her memoirs is that her photograph appears on the spine, meaning she continues to look out over the Cabinet discussions. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Starmer donates biography of himself to Downing Street library

The former PM and seven of his ministers have added to the collection, which began in 1931.

Peter Just @expremiers.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

🚨 One way Dr @aliamiddleton.bsky.social & Dr @louisevthompson.bsky.social's article expands our knowledge is identifying former Prime Ministers are more constituency-focused in the chamber. ✅ Rishi Sunak bears this out: 63% of his interventions since November 2024 have been on constituency issues.

Cover of The British Journal of Politics and International Relations.

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Peter Just @expremiers.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

🚨 If you want a recent study of former Prime Ministers' parliamentary activity in the House of Commons, then check out Dr @aliamiddleton.bsky.social and Dr @louisevthompson.bsky.social's 'More than a memento mori?' article. 🔗 journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

The cover of the British Journal of Politics and International Relations.

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Peter Just @expremiers.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

❤️ I love Hansard. 🗣️ '"Smoking kills", it says on my packet of tobacco. All I can say is that it has not killed Sir Denis Thatcher yet. He is nearly 80 and, according to the Sunday Telegraph, smokes 60 Benson and Hedges a day.' 🗓️ Lord Belhaven and Stenton, 1995.

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Peter Just @expremiers.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

🚨 Want to know more about Gordon Brown's life after Downing Street? 🔗 Then check out his website which includes lots of post-2010 material: gordonandsarahbrown.com/gordon-brown/ 🪙 It's a treasure trove!

Peter Just @expremiers.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

💻 Half-way mark reached on our Stanley Baldwin paper. 🐶We're now being assisted by our special Research Assistant. 🐖 While not a pig, we think Baldwin might have liked him.

A dog looking at an open folder, the top page reading 'Stanley Baldwin'.

Peter Just @expremiers.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

🚨 Long weekend's task. 💻 Turning the 125,000 words on the left into 10,000 words on the right. 🤞🏻 Fingers crossed, it's doable. 😱 As the last 89 years of British history have really been about Stanley Baldwin speaking to the man (and woman) on the bridge and spitting on the deck.

A file with a page reading 'Stanley Baldwin' and a laptop with a Word document reading:

'Speaking to the man on the bridge and spitting on the deck’:

Stanley Baldwin’s life after Downing Street
Peter Just

Introduction
‘Once I leave, I leave. I am not going to speak to the man on the bridge, and I am not going to spit on the deck.’ (Ratcliffe, 2016)

‘Speaking to the man on the bridge’: 1937-1947

‘Spitting on the deck’: 1937-1947

‘Speaking to the man (and woman) on the bridge’: 1947-2027

‘Spitting on the deck’: 1947-2027

Conclusion

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Peter Just @expremiers.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

📰 '"One nation": a century of use and misuse'. 🚨 With @lordnortonlouth.bsky.social & Dr Daniel Pitt’s conference on Stanley Baldwin and One Nation Conservatism just a month away, read all about how 'One Nation 2.0' took over British political debate. 🔗 pjust.substack.com/p/one-nation...

pjust.substack.com

‘One nation’: a century of use and misuse

How One Nation 2.0 took over British political debate

Peter Just @expremiers.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

📽️ I'm delighted to be speaking at this event in September. 🗣️ 'The Iron Lady - Leadership and Legacy' will reveal what the film teaches us about Margaret Thatcher's leadership and legacy. 🔗 Get your ticket here: www.eastwiltshireconservatives.org.uk/events/assoc...

Advert for a screening of 'The Iron Lady' organised by Parade Cinema in Marlborough and East Wiltshire Conservatives.

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Peter Just @expremiers.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

🔍 We first categorised post-war ex-Prime Ministers in Parliament as 'politicians' or 'statesmen' in a 2004 article in the Journal of Legislative Studies. 2⃣Two could not be categorised: Winston Churchill and Harold Wilson. 📋We're now categorising Gordon Brown to Rishi Sunak.

Cover of a special issue of The Journal of Legislative Studies from summer and autumn 2004 entitled 'Legislatures and Executives: An Investigation into the Relationship at the Heart of Government'.

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Peter Just @expremiers.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

🔍 We first analysed the parliamentary activity of ex-Prime Ministers in 1996. 🥳 To mark the 30th anniversary, we've reanalysed the activity of the post-war ones. 😊 More on that soon - including some exciting updates on the figures.

Cover of a Research Paper, 'Ex-Prime Ministers and Parliament: A Riposte to Mythology' by Peter Just.

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Peter Just @expremiers.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

🛳️ Iron Lady christens Regal Princess. 🗓️ On this, 8 August, in 1991, Margaret Thatcher christened P & O's 'Regal Princess' in New York. 🔗 Read more about it in this World of Cruising article: www.worldofcruising.co.uk/editors-corn...

Margaret Thatcher speaking in front of the ship, 'Regal Princess' in August 1991.