Somerville girls: Margaret Thatcher and Indira Gandhi

Thatcher’s revenge from beyond the grave

Indira Gandhi received an honorary degree from Oxford University, her alma mater, in 1971, but Margaret Thatcher was refused one in 1985, just as Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had been snubbed in 1975.

Margaret Roberts went up to Somerville College, Oxford, to read chemistry in 1943. Indira Nehru also came up to Somerville in 1937 to read modern history but did not complete her degree.

Lady Thatcher clearly did not forgive or forget the slight. It is not a surprise that her personal papers are lodged at Churchill College, Cambridge.

In St Paul’s Cathedral last week, Oxford University as such was not represented.

The Daily Mail’s Robert Hardman, who was sitting behind me during the funeral service, later fulminated: “She had been a devoted chancellor of both Buckingham University and America’s College of William & Mary... Their emissaries were all honoured guests. And her own alma mater? After that incredible act of spite in 1985 — denying the first female PM in history (sic) an honorary degree — the dons of Oxford could damn well stand outside.”

But he pointed out: “At least her old college, Somerville, which had the grace to make her an honorary fellow, was invited to send its principal (Dr Alice Prochaska) and two students. Oxford’s Chancellor, Lord Patten, was also there but it had nothing to do with the university. He was listed as part of the job lot marked ‘Cabinet Members, 1979-90’.”

On January 29, 1985, an Oxford congregation met at the Sheldonian Theatre and, after a two hour debate, voted by 738 votes to 319 to deny Mrs Thatcher the honorary degree of doctor of civil law. She was held responsible for the “the damage inflicted by government policy on science, education and health”.

Bhutto’s name was rejected in 1975 by 239 votes to 181 “on the grounds that he shared responsibility for massacres in Bangladesh”.

Somerville, which screened last week’s funeral live to students, academics and alumni, is proud of Mrs Gandhi and Mrs Thatcher, displays their portraits and has research centres named after them.

Had the proposal to honour Mrs Gandhi come up any time after the 1975-77 Emergency, it is possible it would also have generated a heated debate and a rejection.

Rising star: Amanda Thatcher

Destiny’s child

Margaret Thatcher’s 19-year-old granddaughter, Amanda Thatcher, has won widespread praise for the confident manner in which she managed a word perfect first reading at her grandmother’s funeral last week.

The Star newspaper detected “a display of steely courage”, while the headline in the Express hailed the “Iron Granddaughter”.

She told a politician who complimented her on performance that it was “in the blood”.

Amanda, a college student, and her brother, Michael, 24, are the children of Mark Thatcher and his first wife, Diane Burgdorf, an American. They live with their mother and her second husband, James Beckett, a sports publisher, in Dallas, Texas.

Maybe in the years to come they will be compared with Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi, the grandchildren of another Iron Lady.

But there has also been a slightly bitchy piece in the Guardian by columnist Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett suggesting Amanda is the new Pippa Middleton, who became an overnight media sensation after wearing a figure hugging outfit when her elder sister, Kate, married Prince William in Westminster Abbey in 2011.

Famous sister: Pippa (left) and Kate Middleton

The columnist noted that “if the lecherous tweets are anything to go by, Amanda Thatcher, who it is claimed bears a passing resemblance to Renée Zellweger (and has an accent to match), fits the voyeuristic role of ‘top ceremonial totty’ perfectly”.

Let it be noted that Amanda’s middle name is Margaret. The feeling is we have not heard the last of Amanda Margaret Thatcher.

No show

The US-UK special relationship has not been enhanced by the level of American representation at Lady Thatcher’s funeral.

I can do no better than quote The New York Times: “One of the few jarring notes at the ceremony came from supporters of Mrs Thatcher who called President Obama’s decision not to send any senior members of his administration to attend the funeral a slight, in view of Mrs Thatcher’s influential role as President Ronald Reagan’s partner in facing down the Soviet Union.”

The official US delegation was headed by George Shultz, 92, and James Baker, 82, who served as secretaries of state during the Thatcher years. Former vice-president Dick Cheney, Henry Kissinger, Newt Gingrich and Ross Perot also attended but as personal guests, not part of the delegation.

“The absences drew critical comment from across the spectrum of British politics,” The New York Times reported.

Maybe Lady Thatcher’s passing marks the end of the old special relationship. The new special relationship, if David Cameron is to be believed, is between Britain and India.

Poor Mark

Although Sir Mark Thatcher’s son and daughter, Michael and Amanda, are growing up in Dallas, he is banned from entering the United States.

This is because of his involvement in an attempted coup to overthrow the president of the oil-rich African state of Equatorial Guinea. In 2005, Mark received a four-year suspended jail term and a £2,65,000 fine in South Africa.

Margaret Thatcher doted on her son but it is surprising, given her close links with the US, she was unable to overturn the ban on Mark.

Enduring mystery: Cover of A Princely Imposter

Atomic change

The address by the Bishop of London, the Right Reverend Richard Chartres, at Lady Thatcher’s funeral reminded me of Partha Chatterjee’s excellent book, A Princely Imposter? The Kumar Of Bhawal And The Secret History Of Indian Nationalism.

It is about the question of human identity: if the atoms in our body keep changing, do we physiologically remain the same?

What Chartres said was: “The atoms that make up our bodies are changing all the time, through wear and tear, eating and drinking.”

He went on: “We are atomically distinct from what we were when we were young. What unites Margaret Roberts of Grantham with Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven, what constitutes her identity? The complex pattern of memories, aspirations and actions which make up a character were carried for a time by the atoms of her body, but we believe they are also stored up in the Cloud of God’s being.”

The Princely Imposter is about the famous Bhawal Sanyasi case.

Did Ramendra Narayan Roy, Second Kumar of Bhawal, die during a visit to Darjeeling in 1909 or did he survive and come back in 1920-21? Basically, the same man?

Partha Chatterjee’s answer is yes... and no.

Tittle tattle

Only 10 Labour MPs (out of 255), including the party leader Ed Miliband, were present in St Paul’s Cathedral for Lady Thatcher’s funeral.

One of them was Keith Vaz who called it “a memorable and special occasion. Britain’s first ever woman Prime Minister was laid to rest in an impeccable ceremony that was 100 per cent British.”

Vaz, who is also the chairman of the powerful Home Affairs Select Committee, added: “The Good and the Great men and women who do not aspire to greatness were there to say goodbye. She was a one-off and she deserved the best send off.”

If only Vaz had contested the party leadership in 2010, as I had urged, he could have been PM.