Friday 19th April 2013

In 1980, as an eight-year-old English school boy, David Liddelow was asking the big questions. He wanted to know about the doctrine of total depravity and Jesus’ impeccability (like most 8-year-olds, right?). Surely, he thought, Jesus can’t be the only person who’s never done anything wrong.

Not wanting to limit his answer to one source (his Father), the young boy sent letters to the Queen, the Archbishop of Canterbury and Prime Minister to settle the matter.

This is how David had posed his question: “Last night when we were saying prayers my Daddy said everyone has done wrong things except Jesus. I said I don’t think you have done bad things…. Am I right or is my Daddy?”

Margaret Thatcher’s letter to David Liddelow

Each replied, but only Margaret Thatcher sent back a handwritten letter. Much to David’s surprise, Baroness Thatcher agreed with his father. She replied in fountain pen on two A4 sheets of paper, explaining, “However good we try to be, we can never be as kind, gentle and wise as Jesus.”

She added: ‘There will be times when we say or do something we wish we hadn’t done and we shall be sorry and try not to do it again!”

“We do our best, but our best is not as good as his daily life. If you and I were to paint a picture it wouldn’t be as good as the picture of great artists. No our lives can’t be as good as the life of Jesus.”

“As Prime Minister, I try very hard to do things right and because Jesus gave us a perfect example I try even harder. But your father is right in saying that we can never be as perfect as He was.”

David, who is now 42, lives in Sydney’s north with his wife and two children. The story of his correspondence with the late Baroness surfaced in the days after her death and was referred to at the Baroness’ funeral by Bishop of London, Richard Chartre. It’s prompted discussion around what David calls Lady Thatcher’s “soft side”, as well as her genuine faith.

Speaking to Eternity this week, David, who has remained a Christian, said receiving the reply naturally encouraged him as a young believer.

“We did a Bible story each night and at the time we were learning about how Jesus did no wrong and took our sins, so when I asked the question, ‘Surely the Prime Minster has done no wrong?’, Dad said, ‘Why don’t you ask her?’”

“We went to church as a family, but as you grow up you look up to high profile people, including the Prime Minister, and so knowing they do wrong things as well, and having Jesus as a comparison was quite helpful.”

David, who is married with two children, says he met his Aussie wife Leisa when the Australian curate at his church in England introduced them. They moved to Sydney in 2000, where they attend St Stephen’s Normanhurst with their two kids.

Margaret Thatcher’s response has stayed with David, from childhood to fatherhood.

“It’s a complex topic, but I find it fairly simple: Jesus is perfect, and we all do wrong as sinners, and Jesus, in what he did on the cross, takes our sins away. As Margaret Thatcher said, we all try our best, but no matter how hard we try, we all fall short.”

As for his opinion of the Baroness, David is reticent to criticise her, but says the letter she wrote reveals a different side to the “Iron Lady”.

“A lot of people don’t like her, but [the letter] shows she was a human being as well.”

“She was there to do a role. Jesus puts people in roles and she was doing her job. And like all of us, she did it to the best of her ability. But we always fall short.”
Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/minoritenplatz8/8657022473/sizes/l/in/photostream/