Thatcher: The Conviction Politician

First off, rest in peace Margaret Thatcher. That the death of an elderly lady should be immediately thrust into a political context seems wrong. I maintain that any death is sad; it has been especially humbling to see Mrs Thatcher’s physical and mental decline over the last years, so much so that she could no longer take up her seat in the House of Lords. This blog piece isn’t going to praise Mrs Thatcher; such a move would be contradictory and would go against my political values. Neither will it demonise her.

I have been truly disgusted at the predictable responses from various people, inevitably from the Left. How anyone can gleefully rejoice in someone’s death is beyond me, and no doubt the family and friends of the deceased are not taken into account when vitriol is spouted. This episode has suddenly made people ‘political experts’, many (not all) who were neither born in the Thatcher period nor affected by her reforms. It is likely that many of the offenders would not support the death penalty on principle (I don’t support it either); how ironic then that they should relish someone’s death. I won’t give a platform by naming vicious quotes here, but such views are not only sick and shameful; they are immature, and offer absolutely nothing to the political debate. 

I gave a critique of Thatcherism in a much earlier blog post, but I will try and surmise my views here. She dismantled the post-war consensus, a fraying method which nevertheless brought prosperity to the country and increased social mobility to an unprecedented level. Various industries were privatised, inflation was given priority over unemployment and business and trade were heavily concentrated in the capital. Her neo-liberal free market agenda led to a heavily individualist and uncaring doctrine, and she contradictorily wanted to ‘roll back the state’ whilst at the same time heavily centralising power in Westminster. The poll tax will forever remain her nadir, and she bequeathed a Eurosceptic legacy which has been unhealthy for the country and poisonous for the Conservative Party. I heard someone recently say that she was one of the luckiest leaders, and I believe them. Had Labour Prime Minister Jim Callaghan not dithered in calling an election earlier, it is widely assumed that he would have defeated Thatcher. Furthermore, with the abject failure of Ted Heath’s U-turns and Callaghan’s “winter of discontent”, Thatcher could feasibly offer her radical alternative against both her predecessor and the Labour Party with the cry that “it’s not working”. Harold Wilson’s failure to legislate trade union reform in 1969 with “In Place of Strife” further gave strength to Thatcher’s cause. Her share of the vote remained relatively stagnant over her premiership; more people voted against her, but the opposition vote was split almost 50-50 between the unelectable and radical Labour Party of the 1980s and the SDP-Liberal Alliance. The Falklands attack in 1981 brought her a timely electoral boost when the Conservatives had been lagging at third in the polls. Events aided her, massively. 

Thatcherism remains to this day, a further criticism of mine and a contributor to growing inequality in our society today. For Daily Telegraph and UKIP observers who curiously viewed the New Labour administration as a “radically left-wing” Government, Thatcher named New Labour as her single biggest achievement, with her student Tony Blair saying “we needed the reforms of the Thatcher period...an undoubtedly great Prime Minister”. Yet the fact that Thatcherism remains has shown that “no alternative” has emerged, and will be argued as a pro in Conservative circles. Credit where credit is due, however. The top rate of tax was far too high at 80%, something that she corrected (but at a 40% rate too low for a social democrat’s liking), and trade unions had exerted far too much influence over “who governs Britain”; in 1980 trade unions had 40% of the vote for electing Labour Party leaders, whilst party members and MPs had only 30% each. Enabling people to buy their own council houses was also a good move. 

Whatever people think of Thatcher, and politically I think of her negatively, she was a conviction politician. She stuck to what she believed in, and pursued it with great diligence; “the lady’s not for turning”. She shines over her U-turning predecessor Ted Heath, along with his modern incarnation David Cameron. How often have we seen people in politics dither, and change the course they believe in for the sake of political capital? The examples are far too numerous, but I will name one perhaps tenuous link; Mitt Romney appeared to be liberal as Governor of Massachusetts, yet veered sharply right in the Republican primaries in order to be elected, before cautiously flirting with the centre-ground in the Presidential race. Thatcher would not have countenanced such flip-flopping; what you saw was what you got. 

Thatcher’s death should be solemnly mourned, as anyone’s should. I will continue to criticise her record when asked, and will give credit where credit is due. I will never, however, engage in the basest of humanity and politics, where people believe it is ok to mock the passing of someone who you disagree with.