Published to coincide with both the Labour Party conference and the Conservative Party conference in the tenth year of the Prime Minister's reign in office, this book traces the continuing public consequences of Thatcher's relationship with her mother, whom she repudiates so brutally. This is the story of how a bleak early family life have, to the detriment of the nation, left the Prime Minister a driven woman, forever desperately working out her private travails on the public stage. Abse's insights illuminate the compulsive psychological needs which distort the Prime Minister's decision making and which he claims determine the sado-masochistic relationship between Thatcher and a large section of the electorate. Leo Abse was MP for Pontypool between 1958 and 1987. His most recent book was Private Member.