Going into Church House on the evening of Wednesday 25 March was like stepping back into the 1980s, as faces familiar from that decade marked the launch of Eliza Filby’s new volume God and Mrs Thatcher.Among those attending were Lord (Geoffrey) Howe, Charles Moore, Jonathan Aitken and Lord (Charles) Powell, Thatcher’s adviser on foreign affairs. According to Powell, Filby’s claim that he told her that Thatcher had considered becoming a Catholic was due to a misunderstanding. “If I said she was drifting towards Rome, I really meant she came to visit us,” he said, referring to the villa outside Rome where he and his wife, Carla, have hosted many British politicians and journalists. On one occasion, Lady Powell tearfully announced to guests, “Gordon Brown
01 April 2015, The Tablet
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