Britain Awake (The Iron Lady)

The first duty of any Government is to safeguard its people against external aggression. To guarantee the survival of our way of life. ....The question we must now ask ourselves is whether the present Government is fulfilling that duty…. It is dismantling our defences at a moment when the strategic threat to Britain and her allies from an expansionist power is graver than at any moment since the end of the last war….I would be the first to welcome any evidence that the Russians are ready to enter into a genuine detente. But I am afraid that the evidence points the other way. …We must remember that there are no Queensbury rules in the contest that is now going on. And the Russians are playing to win……The advance of Communist power threatens our whole way of life. That advance is not irreversible, providing that we take the necessary measures now. But the longer that we go on running down our means of survival, the harder it will be to catch up ……In other words: the longer Labour remains in Government, the more vulnerable this country will be. (Applause.) ….What has this Government been doing with our defences?...We have a difficult year ahead …I hope it will not result in a further decline of Western power and influence... It is clear that internal violence—and above all political terrorism—will continue to pose a major challenge to all Western societies, and that it may be exploited……We look to our alliance with American and NATO as the main guarantee of our own security and, in the world beyond Europe, the United States is still the prime champion of freedom....But we are all aware of how the bitter experience of Vietnam has changed the public mood in America......We should seek close co-ordination between the police and security services of the Community, and of Nato, in the battle against terrorism. .. But we have to wake up to those developments, and find the political will to respond to them…..In the meantime, the Conservative Party has the vital task of shaking the British public out of a long sleep…..
There are moments in our history when we have to make a fundamental choice.[…This is one such moment—a moment when our choice will determine the life or death of our kind of society,—and the future of our children. ….Let's ensure that our children will have cause to rejoice that we did not forsake their freedom.

excerpts from Speech at Kensington Town Hall 1976 Jan 19 by Margaret Thatcher which remain true today & resonate on many different levels, international and domestic.

Margaret Thatcher Foundation