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- 15 October 1981 (Creation)
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1 cartoon
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In an parody of the opening scene in 'Hamlet', the beheaded ghost of Edward Heath stands on the battlements of a castle holding a banner that reads "There are alternatives". A crowd of peaople in ghost costumes are ushered out of a door labelled "Rank & File" by Ian Gilmour, and they try to scare Heath with the words "Boo!", "Begone woeful spirit!" and "Shove off yesterday's man!". Geoffrey Howe [as Hamlet] throws a book labelled "The Holy Health Manifesto", but it passes through Heath who merely looks irritated. In the background, Margaret Thatcher [as Queen Gertrude] is attended by two grovelling courtiers.
Context: "There is no alternative" was a phrase often used by Margaret Thatcher during her premiership. Here we see her ministers trying to exorcise the influence of the previous Tory leader Heath, who suggests that there are alternatives.
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Open