The Path to Power.

London: Harper Collins,, 1995. Inscribed to the wordsmith who set the tone of the Thatcher years First edition, first impression, presentation copy to a core figure in the Thatcher phenomenon: her speech writer and guru Ronald Millar, inscribed by the author on the title page, "To Ronnie with warm regards Margaret". Millar wrote some of Thatcher's most iconic lines, including her quoting of St Francis of Assisi on her arrival in Downing Street and "the lady's not for turning". Millar (1919-1998) was a screenwriter, playwright, actor, and dramatist, well-attuned to the power of words and their presentation in speech. He had already worked as a speech writer for Ted Heath when, in 1975, Thatcher, newly elected as the leader of the Conservative Party, hired him. For the rest of Thatcher's 15 years as Conservative leader and prime minister, Millar helped her not just with the drafting of her speeches but also by coaching her voice and advising on her dress. Thatcher records in this book how speech drafts went to Millar and came back "Ronnie-fied" (p. 307). He was part of the team that produced the famous (or infamous) "Labour isn't working" campaign poster in the 1979 election. Millar translated her political beliefs and policies into a public persona that articulated conviction and solidity, a popular image soon established and not since diminished. On his death, Thatcher called him "a very great friend who contributed so much to my being able to express what I felt and meant in words that I think only an author could have written, particularly during my early days" (Times obituary, 17 April 1998). The Path to Power was the second volume of Thatcher's autobiography, covering her years at Oxford, her political education and rise in Parliament, and her leadership of the opposition, concluding with her election as prime minister. After Millar's death, he left his library to Martin Landau (1924-2011), a West End impresario who had produced Millar's plays. Martin passed this book to a mutual friend, from whom it has been directly acquired. Octavo. Original black cloth, spine lettered in gilt, blue endpapers. With dust jacket. A well-thumbed book in worn, unclipped jacket, still in perfectly acceptable condition.