Editing Margaret Thatcher (section)

====Minorities====
Thatcher was the Opposition leader and prime minister at a time of increased racial tension in Britain. During the [[1977 United Kingdom local elections|1977 local elections]], ''[[The Economist]]'' commented: "The Tory tide swamped the smaller parties{{snd}}specifically the [[National Front (UK)|National Front {{interp|NF}}]], which suffered a clear decline from last year."<ref>{{Cite news |date=14 May 1977 |title=Votes go to Tories, and nobody else |newspaper=The Economist |pages=24–28 |volume=263 |issue=6976}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1 March 1978 |title=Conservative Campaign Guide Supplement 1978 |url=https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/110797 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201019154057/https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/110797 |archive-date=19 October 2020 |access-date=22 October 2020 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation |page=[https://c59574e9047e61130f13-3f71d0fe2b653c4f00f32175760e96e7.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/93030FB632E147999D4BEB655587A134.pdf#page270 270]}}</ref> Her standing in the polls had risen by 11% after a 1978 interview for ''[[World in Action]]'' in which she said "the British character has done so much for democracy, for law and done so much throughout the world that if there is any fear that it might be swamped people are going to react and be rather hostile to those coming in", as well as "in many ways {{interp|minorities}} add to the richness and variety of this country. The moment the minority threatens to become a big one, people get frightened".<ref>{{Cite web |date=27 January 1978 |title=TV Interview for Granada World in Action ('rather swamped') |url=http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/103485 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170717144335/http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/103485 |archive-date=17 July 2017 |access-date=23 July 2017 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation}}</ref><ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Mrs Thatcher fears people might become hostile if immigrant flow is not cut |date=31 January 1978 |page=2 |issue=60224 |department=News}}</ref> In the 1979 general election, the Conservatives had attracted votes from the NF, whose support almost collapsed.{{sfnmp|1a1=Reitan|1y=2003|1p=26|2a1=Ward|2y=2004|2p=128}} In a July 1979 meeting with Foreign Secretary [[Lord Carrington]] and Home Secretary William Whitelaw, Thatcher objected to the number of Asian immigrants, in the context of limiting the total of [[Vietnamese boat people]] allowed to settle in the UK to fewer than 10,000 over two years.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Swaine |first=Jon |date=30 December 2009 |title=Margaret Thatcher complained about Asian immigration to Britain |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/margaret-thatcher/6906503/Margaret-Thatcher-complained-about-Asian-immigration-to-Britain.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100525084645/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/margaret-thatcher/6906503/Margaret-Thatcher-complained-about-Asian-immigration-to-Britain.html |archive-date=25 May 2010 |access-date=20 January 2011 |work=The Telegraph}}</ref>