Who are you?

Mark Steyn obituary for Denis Thatcher (1915-2003).  The Prime Minister's First Gentleman.

 

Denis Thatcher was great company, boozy and politically incorrect.  His daughter Carol once recounted to me a story that sums up his approach to the role in which he was cast.  During the early days of his wife's premiership, Denis Thatcher took a late-night train down to the country.  Just before it pulled out of Paddington Station, a group of patients from a mental hospital, homeward bound after a day trip to London, piled into Denis's otherwise deserted carriage.  

The bossy lady in charge began a head count:  " . . . .eight, nine, 10 . . . " Coming to Sir Denis, she paused: "Who are you?"

"I'm the prime minister's husband," he said.  

Without missing a beat, she counted him in - - "11" - - and continued.