



"It's a form of symbolic protest," he said.


Some lawmakers from Thatcher's Conservative Party had called for the publicly funded broadcaster to drop the song, while others warned such a move would mean censoring a form of dissent.

The BBC, caught between allegations of censorship and complaints about poor taste, split the difference, saying it would broadcast only part of the tune - along with a news item explaining why it was there.

BBC director-general Tony Hall said while the broadcaster found the campaign "distasteful and inappropriate," he and other executives decided the song should not be banned, but should not be broadcast in full, either.


Ben Cooper, controller of Radio 1 - which broadcasts the chart show - said the clip would be "four or five" seconds long, though he did not say what part of the song would be aired.

The controversy - which made the front pages of many national newspapers - serves as a strange musical coda to Thatcher's time in office. The woman known to many as the Iron Lady was in power for 11 years, during which she wrenched Britain from the economic doldrums and successfully retook the Falkland Islands after Argentina's 1982 invasion.