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To what extent has the conservative party abandoned thatcherism?

To what extent has the conservative party abandoned thatcherism?

Can anyone please give me some pointers on how i should write and word this essay and any key points to potentially get me a top grade. Its out of 25 marks.

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Reply 1

MatureStudent36

Original post by immiihammond

Ken Clarke said that thatchers legacy is that she made labour move to the right

Reply 2

Rakas21

Original post by immiihammond

Not much however you could mention the minimum wage, not overturning the nationalisation of Network Rail, not abolishing tax credits.

Reply 3

immiihammond

Original post by Rakas21

Not much however you could mention the minimum wage, not overturning the nationalisation of Network Rail, not abolishing tax credits.

Okay thanks thats great.

Reply 4

immiihammond

Original post by MatureStudent36

Ken Clarke said that thatchers legacy is that she made labour move to the right

Thank you!!

Reply 5

MatureStudent36

Original post by immiihammond

Thank you!!

The important thing to understand is that Thatcher over saw a change in the uk that the whole west has seen.

Go past the rhetoric from both sides. All that Thatcher advocated was that hard work should be rewarded and that interference by the state should be kept to a minimum.

Thatcher was voted in in 79 to defeat the scourge of militant trade unionism.

Sadly, thrres that much rhetoric that I tend to find it hard to make sense of the period in which she was in power.

Reply 6

KöniginderSchnee

Why can't you do your own homework ? :smile:

Reply 7

Gears265

Conservatives and Thatcherism are completely different now. Thatcher actually opposed the transfer of power to Brussels and was a Eurosceptic. The Tories nowadays are pro-EU and pretend to be against the EU to keep their voters. The party has completely abandoned people in favour for the EU which benefit's their rich friends.

Reply 8

MatureStudent36

Original post by Gears265

Not quite. Thatcher was actually pro Europe. However, you need to remember that this was before the collapse of the Soviet Union so Europe was a lot smaller.

Reply 9

Gears265

Original post by MatureStudent36

Not quite. Thatcher was actually pro Europe. However, you need to remember that this was before the collapse of the Soviet Union so Europe was a lot smaller.

She was pro-trading-bloc Europe in 75 but completely against the idea of a political union known as the EU. She was forced out of her party for believing in that. She regularly argued that powers would be transferred to Brussels and it would be detrimental.

You must be a Tory trying to pretend your party still has SOME affiliation to her. Unlucky for you the Tories today represent nothing of Thatcher.

Reply 10

MatureStudent36

Original post by Gears265

There's many in both labour and the conservatives who are anti Europe.

There's now seems to be an additional dynamic to politics. Left wing versus right wing and pro and anti federal Europe.

Reply 11

Katty3

Original post by Rakas21

Not much however you could mention the minimum wage, not overturning the nationalisation of Network Rail, not abolishing tax credits.

They've cut tax credits to the bone. Cut just about everything they can get their grubby little paws on.

All still Thatcherites in my opinion.

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Reply 12

username402722

Original post by Gears265

Thatcher signed up to the free movement of people in the EU, to the admission of several countries (Spain, Portugal, Austria, maybe Greece) and in the 70s campaigned for a yes vote. Her only Euroscepticism appeared to be over money and towards the end of her time in office.

Privatisation of industries and services is continuing and so this aspect of Thatcherism is very much there. One area that does seem to be being reversed is over local authority responsibilities, where some powers and freedoms are being transferred instead of being reduced.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 13

Gears265

Original post by barnetlad

She campaigned for a common trading block and the free movement of labour (not everyone), and even on that note she supported immigration controls. She was not pro-EU as you wish to make out. She supported a system which was nothing like what we have today. She never supported a political union.

Reply 14

chocolate hottie

Original post by immiihammond

The current Conservative Party has inherited the mantle of New Labour. There was nothing in Cameron's recent Conference speech that Tony B could not have said.

He calls himself the "heir to Blair", he and Osborne call Blair the "Master" and avidly follow episodes from his autobiography. The seek the "centre ground." Classic New Labour.

Most of Labour's social reforms, social liberalism (eg gay marriage) have been adopted by the Tories.

Thatcher was different. She was radical and created her own centre ground. To the right.

Blair never challenged this and was the "heir to Thatcher" in lots of ways.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 15

username878267

The current party are far to the right of where thatcher even was.

Reply 16

Bupdeeboowah

Original post by immiihammond

I think that the answer should be yes, the modern day Conservative party has moved away from Thatcherism, but Thatcherism had redefined the centre ground for UK politics so much that the policies of the mainstream political parties (i.e. Conservative, Labour and even Liberal Democrats) do not really deviate from Thatcherite policies that much (as compared to the much more socialist 1960-90s Labour party and the "Dry" Tories).

I feel that the most difficult part of your essay is how you define Thatcherism, which seems nebulous to say the very least. The decisions and policies of Thatcher and her government were, in addition to being controversial and divisive, highly contradictory in character. For example, Thatcher believed wholeheartedly in libertarianism, the right to self-determination and little government intervention, as seen with her cuts to taxes and right-to-buy schemes - but then under her government the state was very much authoritarian and anti-choice, especially with respect to trade union membership.

Reply 17

username1148663

Original post by immiihammond

Look at the bills passed post thatcher by major Blair and Cameron and you will soon find they all went further than thatcher ever would have.

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Reply 18

chocolate hottie

Original post by paul514

Look at the bills passed post thatcher by major Blair and Cameron and you will soon find they all went further than thatcher ever would have.

Posted from TSR Mobile

We are in a different country politically because of Thatcher.

I would ague there have been two really radical governments since the war. Atlee's and Thatcher's.

Atlee's created the modern welfare state, nationalised much of industry and created what used to be called the "mixed economy."

All governments's after Atlee's followed that model, the so called "Butskellite" consensus..

Lots of other things happened, obviously, there was the wind up of the Empire, Labour and Tories differed widely on lots of policy details , Labour in the 60's was socially reforming, ya de ya but in economic policy there was no attack on the post war economic model.

Thatcher tore up the post Atlee consensus, privatised failing nationalised industries, destroyed trade union power, closed down industries like the coal mines and ship building which were uneconomic and couldn't be continued with, sadly, at great cost to thousands of jobs and whole communities.

Blair didn't renationalise, didn't tear up the Union legislation that Labour had bitterly opposed, he accepted the new situation and so have succeeding governments.

The irony is that the first leader to really challenge Thatcher's broad legacy is Corbyn. Not Major, Blair, Brown or Cameron.