Thatcherite courtesy in Burnham Market

I didn't just pick up a collection of Auberon Waugh's columns in Norfolk: I also bought some of Simon Hoggart's from the early 1980s. Sitting in the rather luxurious pub in Burnham Market, I started to read it and soon came across this passage:

I hear a touchng and delightful story about the Prime Minister. Recently she held a formal dinner party at Chequers, and one of the serving girls accidentally spilled gravy all over Sir Geoffrey Howe's suit. Seeing this disaster, Mrs Thatcher was on her feet immediately. She rushed round the table to comfort, not the Chancellor, but the girl, cuddling her and saying, "Don't worry, my dear, it could happen to anyone."

Five minutes later a waitress spilt a cup of coffee over a woman at the next table. I am pleased to report that she was just as nice about it as Mrs Thatcher had been.