Decoding 'Thatcherism'

The policy platform known as ‘Thatcherism’ is, as even some of its believers would contest, not a fully-fledged ideology. Instead, it merely refers to a loyalty to the policies that Margaret Thatcher pursued as Prime Minister. One can attempt to rationalise this position as an effort to reconcile traditional Toryism with more radical ‘Neo-Liberal’ and New Right ideas but, over the course of this short article, I shall show that such a standpoint gives ‘Thatcherism’ more than it is due.

As a starting point, we must define this concept of traditional Toryism from which Thatcher broke from. The key tenets of the British Conservative creed are, much like the elements of the constitution itself, derived from many sources. Political writers such as Burke, Oakeshott, Hobbes, and Bagehot have all played their part and, together, form the backbone of Conservative thought in the UK. Central to all is constitutionalism. Under this bracket comes a belief in parliamentary sovereignty; primus inter pares cabinet relations; and trust in the civil service, House of Lords, and monarchy. Closely associated with these ideals are unionism and the nation. Unionism can be defined today as a commitment to deliver for and safeguard the entire United Kingdom, but of course historically had been a hot topic tied to religion and imperial policy. Finally, the nation is the most amorphous of Conservative values but the Burkean idea of the “little platoons” around which society functions perhaps best describes this. The Nation can be seen as a single great interlocking Venn diagram of individuals, families, groups, and associations, and the Conservative must protect this organic web.

Having defined this traditional Conservatism, it is time then to find Margaret Thatcher’s place in this intellectual world. A key precursor to Thatcher from the Right was Enoch Powell who, despite his radical economics based around a tighter grip on the supply of money, was, in many ways, a politician of an older, pre-war conservatism motivated by the values I have outlined above. The Conservative manifesto of 1979 echoed the harsh monetarist sentiments using much of the language of the Powellite Right while key disciples of this monetarist theory such as Geoffrey Howe found themselves in high government positions after the election. However, the “little platoons” of universities, trade unions, local councils, and the Church of England all came heavily under fire from the Thatcher administration. Secondly, while Powell became a firebrand for Unionism in Ireland, defecting to the Ulster Unionists in 1974, Thatcher grossly misunderstood the issue within Great Britain, alienating her own party in both Wales and Scotland due to her omission of unionism in her conception of Conservatism. The most important inheritance of Powell, however, was the antagonistic style of politics which describes both characters. Powell’s famous rhetoric of the “enemy within” in regards to immigrants but also, more crucially, striking miners was echoed strongly in the Thatcher government’s response to the 1984-5 Miners’ Strike which frequently associated unions with terms such as “Gestapo” and “stormtroopers”. Therefore, ‘Thatcherism’ finds its economic roots in the monetarist Powellite Right while failing to incorporate the traditional conservatism which kept it grounded. However, the most important and impactful legacy of that grouping was Thatcher’s antagonistic and belligerent rhetoric and style of government.

Therefore, the policies of Thatcher were not necessarily correctives to the policies of previous governments but were instead simply portrayed as such to shore up her own position. The dire state that the nation found herself in during the Callaghan government allowed Thatcher to use her skill in confrontational politics to full advantage, following in the footsteps of radical figures such as Powell. Once in government, Thatcher set about identifying elements of the past and threatened their return, most clearly with the issues of inflation and poor industrial relations. Subscribing to radical ideas such as monetarism and pursuing broad changes to the concept of social conservatism through consistently belligerent policies with the justification of necessity allowed Thatcher to rise to near unparalleled electoral success. Looking beyond the Thatcher years then, John Major’s difficult tenure as Prime Minister shows how attempts to view ‘Thatcherism’ as a stable ideology fail without the confrontational political style of Thatcher which, itself, contributed to her downfall. 

The Thatcher programme was as practical as it was coherently ideological. Her antagonistic style and rhetoric were inspired by previous figures of the right, but this took precedence over the traditional Toryism which had inspired the very figures she emulated. What resulted was a policy platform which lacked ideological glue, attacking or neglecting the issues which could amend this and transform it into a positive mission of government.

Edmund Smith (The President-elect) is a second year undergraduate reading Politics and History at Corpus Christi College.