4:13 The Thatcher governments Flashcards
What were the five key tasks of the 1979 Conservative manifesto?
- Control inflation and find a balance between rights and duties of unions
- Restore incentives to create new jobs
- Uphold Parliament and the rule of law
- Create more homeowners, improve education and welfare
- **Strengthen Britain’s defences **and work with allies to protect Britain’s interests
Thatcher wanted to create a…
‘property-owning democracy’
Britain had just been through the Winter of Discontent. How did Thatcher utilise this to appeal to the public?
> The public opinion was now swayed against the trade unions and the Labour government - Thatcher criticised the unions and blamed them
> The Conservatives showed themselves as determined to prevent another WoD
> Labour failed to improve industrial relations (Social Contract, giving in to pay rise demands); Conservatives promised to do this, Thatcher proposed strict measures to cut down on industrial actions
Which other Labour failure did the Conservatives capitalise on?
They were unsuccessful in curbing inflation - the Conservatives aimed to achieve this
The Conservatives appealed to the public by being firmly against nationalisation:
reduced government intervention - the public was no longer interested in this
Thatcher was against the post-war consensus. How did this appeal to the public?
The five giants had been broadly solved and no longer needed lots of attention
They also appealed to the public by promising…
limited immigration
Overall, Thatcher symbolised…
a radical change/bringer of change that the public very much wanted
How did Thatcher describe herself?
As a conviction politician - someone who follows policies based on their own beliefs rather than because they are popular or because they have been in place before
Thatcher was dismissive of…
the post-war consensus: she saw it as responsible for Britain’s failures
Why couldn’t Thatcher do much until 1983?
She didn’t have the support. In her early years, her position is very fragile and uncertain
Thatcher’s policies were based on her own beliefs, which were very much based on her own experiences. This includes:
> Her middle-class upbringing, as the daughter of a grocer. Thus, she had internalised principles of self-reliance and self-improvement.
> She was not from a traditional Tory background: she was suburban, from trade and a woman.
What did Thatcher famously say at the 1981 party conference, at the peak of discontent with her policies?
‘You turn if you want to - the lady’s not for turning’
> This created her image as a conviction politician
> Also a sly criticism of the Heathites who U-turned in 1972
Thatcher herself was not an intellectual, but she was influenced by other intellectuals in the Conservative Party:
> Enoch Powell
A number of ‘New Right’ think tanks and academics
What was the ‘New Right’?
A number of academic and theoretical organisations which challenged the Keynsian orthodoxy. Instead, they favoured monetarism and free-market economics.
What is monetarism?
The theory or practice of controlling the supply of money as the chief method of stabilizing the economy
What is free-market economics?
An economic system based on supply and demand with little or no government control.
Why did Thatcherites link a moral decline to the post-war consensus and previous governments?
In contrast, the free market was moral as it encouraged individuals to take responsibility for their own actions - equally true in personal decisions as well as economic ones.
Who was Norman Tebbit?
> Trade Secretary in Thatcher’s first cabinet
Very down-to-earth but also harsh with little sympathy
What did Norman Tebbit argue to be the trigger of an outburst of crime and violence in the 1980s?
The era and attitudes of ‘post-war funk’ which created the ‘Permissive Society’
Thatcherites put a lot of emphasis on order in society:
> The family stabilised society
> Thatcher famously said that there is no such thing as society, that ‘there are individual men and women and there are families’
> To Thatcherites, threats to the family were serious as they were threats to order in society
For this reason, Thatcherites were also supportive of the police, and were tough on law and order issues:
> This was an important aspect of their 1979 manifesto and continued throughout Thatcher’s premiership
> By the mid-1980s, this had led to accusations that the police had became politicised, especially during industrial disputes.
While the Conservative Party won the 1979 election, the party was not wholly Thatcherite:
There were still many ‘wets’ - a derisive nickname given by Thatcherite party members to those who were soft and squeamish about the social consequences of monetarist economic policies; they could also be seen as one-nation Conservatives.
There were still many senior Tories in the first cabinet who were ‘wets’, such as…
William Whitelaw was Home Secretary.
However, Thatcher ensured that…
most of the key posts were held by members she regarded as ‘dries’ - members who were firm and uncompromising in their support for monetarism
Give some examples of ‘dries’ in key posts.
> Geoffrey Howe as Chancellor of the Exchequer
Keith Joseph held the Department of Industry
John Biffen and Nigel Lawson had economic posts
One exception was…
Jim Prior, a ‘wet’ who became employment minister
As a result, there were disagreements between Prior and Thatcher:
disputes were mainly over anti-union legislation, as Thatcherites believed Prior was too friendly with trade union leaders.
Prior was moved to the Northern Ireland Office in 1981 and replaced by Norman Tebbit.
