Morrissey: "Thatcher was a terror without an atom of humanity"

The singer penned an angry letter decrying the actions of the late former prime minister

Published April 8, 2013 8:27PM (EDT)

In the wake of the death of former U.K. prime minister Margaret Thatcher, former "Smiths" frontman Morrissey has issued a scathing letter calling her "a terror without an atom of humanity."

The letter follows a message consistent with the Smiths, who were highly critical of Thatcher's policies and used their music and fame to publicly condemn the prime minister in the 1980s. In 1988, the politically vocal Morrissey released an especially controversial song fantasizing Thatcher's death with the track "Margaret on the Guillotine," on his album "Viva Hate."

Upon her actual death, Morrissey wrote:

Every move she made was charged by negativity; she destroyed the British manufacturing industry, she hated the miners, she hated the arts, she hated the Irish Freedom Fighters and allowed them to die, she hated the English poor and did nothing at all to help them, she hated Greenpeace and environmental protectionists, she was the only European political leader who opposed a ban on the Ivory Trade, she had no wit and no warmth and even her own Cabinet booted her out. She gave the order to blow up The Belgrano even though it was outside of the Malvinas Exclusion Zone - and was sailing AWAY from the islands! When the young Argentinean boys aboard The Belgrano had suffered a most appalling and unjust death, Thatcher gave the thumbs up sign for the British press.

Read the full letter in the Daily Beast.


By Prachi Gupta

Prachi Gupta is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on pop culture. Follow her on Twitter at @prachigu or email her at pgupta@salon.com.

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England Government Margaret Thatcher Morrissey Music The Smiths