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continues; ' Perhaps seeking to compensate for that move, she later that month delivered one of her most famous statements of opposition to the European project, a piece of bombast that began a sequence of events that would ultimately force her from office.
Jacques Delors, then the president of the European Commission and a staunch federalist, had called for democratic power in Europe to rest with the European Parliament. In the Commons, Lady Thatcher denounced the proposal in ringing tones. “No, No, No,” she declared.
That speech is still celebrated by many Conservatives, but at the time, widened the Tories’ European rift dangerously.
Two days later, Sir Geoffrey resigned as deputy prime minister, making clear he could not tolerate her stridently anti-European tone.
His resignation ended her time as Prime Minister. It was Europe, the issue for which many Conservatives still glorify her achievements, that led them to ditch her.