What is Thatcherism?
Thatcherism is the name for the politics of Margaret Thatcher, who led the British Conservative Party from 1975 and was prime minister from 1979 to 1990. It aimed to reverse what she saw as Britain's decline. Her answer was to cut the power of trade unions, sell state-owned firms, lower taxes on income and let markets work. She also wanted a firm line on crime and defence, and pride in British values. Supporters saw her as the leader who rescued the economy. Critics saw her as the one who widened inequality and weakened communities.
Core beliefs
- Individuals and families, not the state, should take charge of their own lives.
- Markets allocate resources better than government planning.
- Inflation should be fought first, by controlling the money supply and public spending.
- State firms should be sold to private owners, and people should be able to own their homes and shares.
- Trade union power should be limited by law.
- Britain should defend its sovereignty and keep a strong military and a close bond with the United States.
History
In the 1970s, Britain suffered high inflation, strikes and slow growth. Keith Joseph and Thatcher pushed the Conservatives toward new ideas, drawing on Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman, through the Centre for Policy Studies founded in 1974. She won the 1979 election. Her government raised interest rates, cut public spending, and saw unemployment rise above three million by the mid 1980s. It let council tenants buy their homes from 1980, and sold British Telecom, British Gas and many other firms. Britain won the Falklands War in 1982. She defeated the long miners' strike of 1984-85, and deregulated the City of London in 1986. The unpopular poll tax of 1989-90 helped bring her down, and she resigned in November 1990.
Variants
Scholars point to a split between the free-market side, which stressed economic freedom, and the authoritarian conservative side, which stressed order, law and national pride. A phrase used about it was the free economy and the strong state. Some Thatcherites focused on the economy and others on moral renewal. Her successors in the Conservative Party claimed her legacy in different ways. Abroad, the term is sometimes used for similar policies of deregulation and privatisation, often grouped with Reaganomics in the United States and with neoliberalism.
Criticisms
Critics say Thatcherism caused mass unemployment, closed industries and mining towns, and widened the gap between rich and poor. They argue that selling council homes without building new ones worsened housing shortages, and that privatisation produced private monopolies. Some said it eroded community spirit, a point her own remark that there is no such thing as society is often used to illustrate. Others accuse her governments of weakening local councils and of deepening the divide between the south of England and the industrial north and Scotland. Supporters point to lower inflation, a stronger economy in the 1980s and 1990s, and wider home ownership.
In practice
Thatcherite policies reshaped British life and encouraged privatisation in many other countries. Later Labour governments accepted much of the settlement, such as limits on strikes. On the 12 axes it scores at the high end toward Private on Ownership and Free on Markets, and strongly toward Strength on Foreign policy. It scores toward Global on Trade, because she backed free trade, and clearly toward Central on Structure and Order on Security.