But first from The Guardian, George Galloway, MP:
“We’re spending £10m on the canonisation of this wicked woman, this woman who laid waste to industrial Britain, to the north, to Scotland, to south Wales. We’ve already had the recall of parliament last week, with MPs being paid up to £3,700 to fly back from the Caribbean holiday that they were on and then fly back to start their holiday again, for a totally unnecessary fawning over this woman. And now they want to cancel prime minister’s questions. It’s absurd.”
“Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office minister in charge of organising Thatcher’s funeral – Operation True Blue” has said that it will cost less than £10m, but hasn’t disclosed how much less and will not include the cost of police and soldiers
The funeral guest list included:
Former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney
Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger
U.S. presidential delegation, led by former secretaries of state George Schultz and James Baker
Three-member delegation from U.S. House of Representatives, comprised of Republican Reps. Marsha Blackburn, Michele Bachmann and George Holding
Former U.S. presidential candidate Newt Gingrich
Ross Perot
Those that sent their regrets:
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
Former U.S. First Lady Nancy Reagan, who asked Fred Ryan, Chairman of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, to represent her
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev
Former U.S. President George W. Bush
German Chancellor Angela Merkel
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto
Alicia Castro, Argentina’s ambassador to the U.K.
How much will it cost us to bury George HW Bush and his Bushlet? Expect it will be a bargain compared to the price to verify that Reagan was dead.
Let’s give them the same death benefit that Social Security beneficiaries receive and a moment of silence. After all, fiscal responsibility and austerity should apply first to those that preach the gospel.
