Thatcher from the perspective of the right

Thatcher from the perspective of the right

Margaret Thatcher is quite a controversial topic when it comes to politics, and this short text will summarize how she would look politically from a right wing perspective, meaning in this context the perspective of the British Conservative Party based on the fundamentals of their idealism (as there is no universal set of policies considered to be conservative). This text only concerns Thatcherism as when it comes the domestic economy.

In short the Conservative Party for British Unionism (meaning it favours the union of Great Britain). Before Thatcher they would be best described as just “Conservative”, meaning typical traditionalists favouring monarchy and social hierarchy (in which we can find the typical conservative thought, namely that every individual has a duty to fulfil in the society). Hence society would consist several social groups which had different tasks to do in order to have continuity and stability. Eventually the ideology became more modernized, focusing more on capitalism, especially when Thatcher came about.

Under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher the course of the Conservative Party changed quite a bit. During her time as leader of her party and PM, the course was set for a free-market heavily influenced by the economic policies in USA. She believed that too much influence from social democracy would in time decline the British market, and her government pushed for bringing a more liberal programme for the economy in Britain, where public industries were sold out from state control and the power of the trade union was drastically decreased. The trade union set the stakes too high and were of too much support of keeping industries up for the workers’ sake (which also meant supporting strikes that were devastating when it comes to macroeconomics) even though the industries concerned weren’t always profitable, according to Thatcher.

Her new line of politics led to an economic boost in England as ordinary people got a chance to buy the previously state-owned industries and stocks and that way grow rich. In other words common people had a shot at getting wealthier. She was a strong supporter on monetarism, meaning that the state should only focus on keeping a stability in prices but otherwise let the market expand on its own without the state setting limits for it. As in the US people could and did become very successful in such a liberal environment.

Her politics were soon to be called Thatcherism, and in a conservative point of view she was rather radical, since conservatism usually prefers a set state of social order (originally we would be speaking of social classes) instead of having a changing one (as the society would change depending on the market). We can see today that the Conservative Party (often called Tories) sets its political position as center-right, and this would have its origins in Thatcherism. So from a liberal view this would be quite suitable, but from a conservative view it might be too radical. Though Thatcher can only be called  a right wing politician as letting up so much state property and being such a strong follower of monetarism, not to mention closing all the industries she did in the north of England, would never be made by a socialist.

Text: Primus Holm Linder

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_inequality
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party_(UK)#Origins_in_the_Whig_Party
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservatism#Great_Britain
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservatism_in_the_United_Kingdom
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thatcherism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premiership_of_Margaret_Thatcher
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Thatcher#Foreign_affairs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_the_United_Kingdom#Conservatives_.28Tories.29