To what extent did Margaret Thatcher transform British politics?
Overall argument: Margaret Thatcher did transform British politics and society
— but her transformation was strongest in the economy & industrial
relations, important and lasting in Britain’s political alignment and Europe
policy, and deep in political culture and ideas (individualism/property)
while also containing important continuities and constraints.
Argument (1): Economy and Industrial Relations
Argument 2: Europe and Foreign policy
Argument 3: Social Policy
Intro -> Use a contrast with the late 1970s (Labour governments,
Winter of Discontent, economic crisis) to show why Thatcher’s
premiership offered scope for transformation. Use a short quotation
from a Labour source or a late-1970s government White Paper to
show the starting point
Primary resources: (1): Economy
- [Link]
- [Link]
-
Secondary resources (1):
- [Link]
thatcher-transform-britain-economy
- [Link]
1980s/
Interpretations:
- [Link]
[Link]
- [Link]
thatcherism_01.shtml
-
Primary resource (2): Foreign Policy
- [Link]
-
Secondary resource (2):
- [Link]
announcing-invasion-1982
- [Link]
-
Primary resource (3): Social Policy
Secondary resource (3):
- [Link]
thatcher-individualism-and-the-welfare-state/
- [Link]
- [Link]
- [Link]
thatcher-trade-union-reform-national-archives
- [Link]
68244762#:~:text=The%20miners'%20strike%20of
%201984,within%20the%20next%2020%20years.
- [Link]
Economy Evaluation: Foreign Evaluation: Social Evaluation:
House of Lords Library
(S)-
Evidence -based, of
high authority this
gives it credibility –
makes it reliable,
however it is limited
as it doesn’t go into
depth with regional
variation
- Privatisation, deregulation and keysian economics, monetary
policy
- Industrial relations: secondary picketing, closed shop
restrictions and made ballots compulsory + miners strike
- Flaws; high unemployment,rise in inequality and failing
business
PRIMARY RESOURCE EVALUATION AND ANALYSIS:
- Falkland’s war; restoring national confidence- Iron Lady
persona
- Worked closely with Reagan and Gorbachev + eurosceptic
view
- Rolled back the state – kept welfare + right to buy scheme,
education: o-level instead of GCSE, NORTH SOUTH DIVIDE AND
URBAN RIOTS IN BRIXTON
- Thatcher – Nicholas Wapshott & George Brock- 1988;
education –‘historically, she did more and got more for
education that any other minister that served.’ Bad impression
of her were around school milk, comprehensive and student
unions – all of these especially the student unions led to street
protest in university towns . One of the members of heaths
cabinet said; “if you had told me in 1973 that she was going
to be the next leader of the party, I would have said that you
needed your head examined” ‘But u=it had clearly been a
formative superintendent for an impressionable politician’.
Falkland’s –
- Thatcher – E.H.H – 2006; ‘ The Conservative party’s economic
policy’ Lawson wrote ‘has two overriding aims. The first is to
bring down the rate of inflation’, ‘trade unions do not cause
and cannot cure inflation’. Thatcher told the conservative
national union that ‘inflation is a threat to our political and
economic system ( she views this as a priority to make
changes and rebuild the economy, as well as if it indirectly
weakened union power ). In her first major news interview
after winning the Conservative leadership, thatcher stated:
inflation affects different groups I very different ways – some
popes have benefited form it – their wages and salary
increases have exceeded price increased by quote large
amounts. She regarded the middle-class as ‘our people’. ‘In
many ways the productivity ‘miracle’ of the 1980s
- Facts about the Prime Ministers – Desmond englefield, Janet
sexton and Isobel white – photo on phone