Margaret Thatcher spent much of her final hours as British prime minister in tears after being "betrayed" by the "weasel words" of those she counted as he allies and friends, her memoirs revealed Sunday.
In excerpts from "The Downing Street Years" printed in the Sunday Times, Thatcher also writes of her affection for her husband, Denis, who stood at her side during 11 years in power."Being prime minister is a lonely job. But with Denis there I was never alone," Thatcher said. "What a man. What a husband. What a friend."
But other men suffer in comparison with the irascible Denis. "A number of the men I have dealt with in politics demonstrate precisely those characteristics which they attribute to women - vanity and an inability to make tough decisions," she said.
The excerpts are the second to be published in the Sunday Times. The first extracts, attacking several of her key ministers, were widely condemned by her former colleagues.
Thatcher believes many members of her Cabinet were two-faced when Michael Heseltine, now trade and industry secretary, issued a challenge to her leadership of the Conservative party in November 1990.
After the first vote among Conservative members of Parliament, which narrowly failed to give her a winning majority, she called on ministers to gauge their support.
One after another, she said, they told her they would back her but "regretfully they did not believe I could win" the second ballot.
"I was sick at heart. I could have resisted the opposition of opponents and potential rivals and even respected them for it," Thatcher said.
"But what grieved me was the desertion of those I had always considered friends and allies; and the weasel words with which they had transmuted their betrayal into frank advice and concern for my fate."
Before going to bed on Nov. 21, she had decided to resign. "It was a mournful night. Every now and again I found I had to wipe away a tear as the enormity of what had happened crowded in," she said.
In a bid to stop Heseltine from taking over as prime minister, Thatcher supported John Major, then chancellor of the exchequer, in the second ballot.