‘I hope to go on and on’

Press, 13 May 1987, Page 10

‘I hope to go on and on’

By •

CHRIS MONCRIEFF

of the Press Association NZPA London The British Prime Minister, Mrs Thatcher, has set her sights on a record fourth successive term in office as she prepares to win her way back to Downing Street for a third time on June 11. “I hope to go on and on,” she said, but seemed to draw the line at leading the country into the twenty-first century. "That would be beyond a fourth term,” she said. The Prime Minister, conceding that she was a workaholic, fiercely denied she had been

pushed into an election i now. 1 While unwilling to di- ] vulge the contents of the ’ Tories’ manifesto, she disclosed it was hoped it ] would at least carry i Britain into the next century. “I think it really is a manifesto to set a course ; to go up to the end of the i century. "We ought to set Britain’s course for the next century as well as this,” she said. Mrs Thatcher was talk- - ing in a series of television and radio interviews. She said she had called the election for two reasons: "Firstly to find

uncertainty about the future. We have a lot of plans and policies we want to implement. We want to know we are in a position to implement them. "Secondly, there is so much going on on the international scene — arms control, the future of the Common Agriculture Policy, the whole of East-West relations and the Middle East problem. It is important to know that we are going to have continuity and confidence in dealing with these negotiations. “At any time between four and five years in a Parliament, you have to decide to have an elec-

tion. I don’t like the uncertainty. I want to plan on a longer basis. I want the confidence we have built up internationally to be maintained.” The Conservative manifesto will be published on May 19. Mrs Thatcher said a new Tory Government would make changes in education, provide more opportunities in housing and make further amendments to the law on trade unions. But the policies might take more than five years to achieve. Told that her Opposition rivals regarded her as autocratic, she scoffed: “Arrogant, autocratic — what nonsense!”

On the Conservatives’ commanding lead in the opinion polls, Mrs Thatcher said: "It is nice to be ahead in the polls but we assume nothing. We place ourselves, our record and 1 our policies before the judgment of the British people and we must work every inch of the way. That is what we shall do. We do not assume. We work.” As to her own future, she confirmed: “I hope to go on and on because I believe passionately in our policies and I believe they, are right for 'Britain.” Of the June 11 poll, she believed the Tories would have a good majority.