Margaret Thatcher, who has died aged 87, made just one visit to Hull as Prime Minister. Kevin Shoesmith looks back on a day of controversy ...
THE Iron Lady made just one visit to Hull as Prime Minister – and that resulted in a mass walk-out at the Smith & Nephew factory.
Margaret Thatcher's visit to a Labour heartland in the midst of economic gloom was never going to go swimmingly.
But few would have predicted the level of fury directed at the then-Prime Minister, famously given her Iron Lady title by the Kremlin.
Even Valerie Shoebridge, a lifelong Tory whose late husband, Ted, was president of the Beverley branch of the Conservative Association, admits one either loved or loathed her style of politics.
"Both my husband and I admired Margaret Thatcher a great deal," she said yesterday.
"And I am shocked and saddened to hear of her death.
"You either loved her or hated her, but she was a decisive leader and she would never give in to anyone, no matter what."
But Mrs Shoebridge's sentiments would most definitely not have been shared by the 1,000 Smith & Nephew workers who walked out on March 14, 1980, minutes after the Prime Minister stepped foot in the factory.
Downing Street officials had hastily arranged the visit to one of Hull's biggest employers after a planned tour of Reckitt and Colman's Stoneferry Road site was cancelled when 1,200 white-collar staff walked out.
But demonstrators, armed with anti-Thatcher placards, had got wind of the visit and ensured Britain's first female Prime Minister left Hull knowing the strength of feeling against her Government.
Members of the Humberside Police Support Group had lined Hessle Road to isolate Mrs Thatcher from over-zealous demonstrators.
But she arrived at the site, through the rear entrance of English Street, to humiliating chants of "Maggie, Maggie, Maggie, out, out, out". It was certainly not Mrs Thatcher's finest of hours.
Earlier, any hopes of a kind reception in the East Riding were quickly shattered.
She was jeered at by 100 steelworkers at Howden Glucose Company in Howdendyke, with one protester hurling an egg at her car.
And about 50 British Aerospace workers at Brough, angry at the denationalisation of their industry, made their feelings known loud and clear when she lunched with senior Tory party workers in Cottingham.
At the time, it was noted no fish was on the menu, reflecting the plight of Hull's fishing industry.
Downing Street appeared to remember the embarrassing Smith & Nephew episode when, in 1987, she returned to East Yorkshire.
This time, she preferred to stay on friendly turf, visiting Goole's Carlton Towers, the home of the Duke of Norfolk, where she spoke of her hopes for the future under the Conservatives.
Three years later, on November 22, 1990, Mrs Thatcher resigned.
And a snap poll of the Hull public by the Mail showed most welcomed her decision to step down.
Back then, Wilfred Longthorne, 71, of 12th Avenue, north Hull, had told the Mail: "I think she's done more harm than good as regards pensioners."
Joan Knight, then 60, of Barham Road, east Hull, said: "Thatcher has been running the country down."
But she did have her admirers.
Ken Brooke, a Hull policeman from 1965 to 1995, believes those in the corridors of power today would do well to emulate Baroness Thatcher's unwavering principles.
"Say what you like about Margaret Thatcher, but you always knew where you stood with her," said Mr Brooke.
"Black was black and white was white with her.
"She was unwavering – politicians could learn a thing or two from her."
In the mid-1990s when Baroness Thatcher published her much-talked about memoirs, the people of East Yorkshire snubbed her again.
For weeks, the national media had speculated about the contents of Baroness Thatcher's memoirs.
But WH Smith manager Brian Haigh told the Mail that Madonna's Sex book had outstripped the politician's literary offering.
