The "Hillsborough Disaster" controversy alone is enough to tarnish the legacy of Margaret Thatcher

I also note with some interest they're involved in another debate about Thatcher. I'll also say that, having done a little more research on Thatcher, I'm now willing to discuss other aspects of Thatcher's character as long as they don't deviate too much from the main topic. Misconceptions My opponent, as well as several others in the comments, are under the misconception that I blame Thatcher directly for the Hillsborough Disaster. I do not. I could make a pretty good case that, thanks to the role of the police played in helping to fight the victorious battle against the Unions in the Miners' Strike of 1984-5, that this contributed to the strengthening of the bond between the police and the government. Consequentially, this meant that, thanks to the feeling that they had the Prime Minister's personal seal of approval, that the police had thus become incredibly complacent and cocky, to the point where they felt they were all powerful and could do no wrong. But this would be more of a case against the police, so this is not the line of attack I will be using. Instead, let's fast-forward to the aftermath, more specifically to the time of the release of the interim version of the Taylor Report, released in August 1989 (as mentioned before, the full version came out almost a year later). In the period between the disaster and the release of the report by Lord Justice Taylor, Liverpool fans who attended Hillsborough had been subject to all sorts of smears against their reputations, with much of the criticism reflecting from an article in The Sun newspaper entitled "THE TRUTH" (1), wherein the supporters were accused of having, to quote the Wikipedia article about the subject: " 'drunken Liverpool fans viciously attacked rescue workers as they tried to revive victims" and "police officers, firemen and ambulance crew were punched, kicked and urinated upon". A quote, attributed to an unnamed policeman, claimed that a dead girl had been abused and that Liverpool fans "were openly urinating on us and the bodies of the dead". " As time would tell, this claim was utterly baseless, but it served the purpose of libelling the Liverpool fans in the public media with the impression that it was their fault. So the Taylor Report was released (2), and it found that the real cause of the disaster was the complete failure of the police to control the crowd. This is where Margaret Thatcher comes in (3). Prior to the actual release of the report, the then Home Secretary, Douglas Hurd, held a Cabinet Meeting in which he outlined the contents of Taylor's Report, in which the South Yorkshire Police as well as the other emergency services were heavily criticised. As you can see, the report was pretty damning, and it was advised of Thatcher that the government should welcome the Taylor Report's findings. But this did not happen (4). In response to a memo asking her to agree with the Home Secretary on the subject, Thatcher said: "What do we mean by 'welcoming the broad thrust of the report'? The broad thrust is devastating criticism of the police. Is that for us to welcome? . .. Surely we welcome the thoroughness of the report and its recommendations - M. T. " In other words, Thatcher wished for the criticism of the police to be toned down, and deflected elsewhere. I mentioned before that the Prime Minister and the police had a very strong relationship, and this serves as evidence of just how strong that relationship was, to the point where she was willing to irrationally try to protect them, as Thatcher seemed to consider this alliance more important than supporting justice for all the football supporters who died, as further evidenced by the fact that in a briefing letter she received from an officer of the Merseyside Police, the phrase "drunken Liverpool fans" were among the phrases underlined by Thatcher while using the same "M. T. " annotation she was known for using (5). And beyond all this, there's simply the fact that she never apologised to the fans and especially the families of the victims, even after the Taylor Report, for the injustices they were suffering. Again, all because she considered her relationship with the police more important. All these things really do not reflect well on Thatcher's character at all, and are absolutely repugnant. Sources (1) . http://www.anfieldroad.com... (2) . http://en.wikipedia.org... (3) . http://hillsborough.independent.gov.uk... (4) . http://hillsborough.independent.gov.uk... (5) . http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk...