The Thatcher revolution

The Thatcher “revolution” didn’t begin in the ‘80s — the Iron Lady, as she has been dubbed, was elected Prime Minister in 1979 — but it did dominate the decade.

Political observers from all over the world argue that it has been her single influence and her steadfast commitment to her own form of Conservatism which has been responsible for the nation’s dramatic shift in attitudes. A shift, until the advent of the ‘80s, thought by most people to be impossible.

The grocer’s daughter from Grantham - Britain’s first woman prime minister - has served more consecutive years in office than any other Prime Minister since 1827.

Throughout the decade she has come through crisis after crisis - many, some would say, of her own making.

In 1982 she faced an invasion of the Falkland Islands - barren lumps of rock in the South Atlantic Ocean - by right wing aggressors from Argentina. In this instance she met force with force, despatching a military Task Force to replant the Union Flag in Port Stanley, the islands’ capital.

Britain suffered the harsh effects of a world economic recession, with record unemployment. Battles with the trade unions and rioting in the country’s most deprived areas were dealt with in the same way. The year-long miners’ strike, starting in 1984, was the high point of a decade of industrial confrontation.

Despite all this, she became even more popular with the electorate, and won the biggest post-war majority in the House of Commons.

Mrs Thatcher once said she wanted Britain to make a return to Victorian values. In many respects the country has.

Most significant is Mrs Thatcher’s creation of a new breed of Briton. Seizing upon the driving forces of greed and selfishness Mrs Thatcher has, deliberately or not, appealed to many voters for the simple reason that they feel they have more to gain under Tory rule.

Budgets throughout the ‘80s have whittled down income tax, and state-owned facilities such as water and British Gas have been handed over to voters along with council houses.

Mrs Thatcher’s popularity has been built from people wanting more money in their pockets, more home ownership, more of everything.

Thatcherism gave birth to a society of Filofax and cellular phone-wielding Yuppies, a new class drawn from a cross section of other classes, backgrounds and educations.

The Sixties, they say, was a decade of one long party. The ‘70s languished in their wake as a kind of hangover. The ‘80s has been the time when half the nation has woken up, started to feel better, and gone out for another party. The other half of the nation has stayed in - too broke to set foot outside the house.

After a decade of Thatcherism people, overall, ARE better off.

But, some people argue, when Britain has enjoyed such great possessions of knowledge, wealth and communications, why has it still allowed its industry, institutions and world standing to fall to such a low level?

When the need for knowledge has been so great, why have the government’s actions been so dire as to result in discouraging young men and women from entering further education?

When the need and support for health, health education and research has been so great - especially since the discovery of the AIDS virus — why has the government’s continual battering of the NHS gone on?

When have Britons been so money-grabbing, yet so generous, bearing in mind the successes of Live Aid, Children in Need etc?

Mrs Thatcher has been a great leader - great in terms of achieving what she set out to do. Whether historians will judge her as truly great in terms of furthering Britain’s national spirit and identity, only time will tell...