1. The Historian’s Toolkit Block 1 – 1979 and all that: writing contemporary history Making Thatcher’s Britain? in British History
Dr Simon Peplow

2. Making Thatcher’s Britain? 1979 in British History
Introduction: the view from 2013.
The Critics.
The Supporters.
Questions for us as historians to consider.

3. 4 May 1979 – a moment in history?
1979: Margaret Thatcher’s Conservatives won 339 seats, Labour 269, the Liberals 11, Ulster Parties 22, and Nationalists 4.
Thatcher re-elected in and 1987.
Thatcher resigns as Prime Minister in 1990.
Conservatives remain in power until 1997 election of ‘New Labour’ – influence of Thatcher on this shift.

4. The view from 2013
Thatcher’s death in 2013 prompted reflection upon her time in power and legacy.
Divided response to her death – polarised reactions.

5. Making Thatcher’s Britain? 1979 in British History
Introduction: the view from 2013.
The Critics.
The Supporters.
Questions for us as historians to consider.

6. The critics

7. Deindustrialisation and breaking the power of organised labour
Miners’ Strike – followed announcement of coal pit closures.
After miners’ defeat: further pit closures, and then privatisation in 1994.
Production falls by 50% between
Decline of heavy industry and shift to new industries. Part-time work and service industry see fall in trade union membership from 12.6m (1979) to 10.3m (1984) and 7.8m (2000).

8. Ending a ‘postwar consensus’?
Unemployment rises to 3m by 1982, as government no longer committed to full employment.
Decline of the North, particularly hit by deindustrialisation (7.1m employed in manufacturing in 1979, nearly halves to 4m by 1993).
Keynesian economics -> Monetarism.

9. Dismantling the Welfare State
Margaret Thatcher image as ‘Milk Snatcher’.
Labour had previously removed free milk for secondary schools.
In the 1980s, Thatcher’s Conservatives attempted to dismantle the Welfare State (contracting out education, health, etc.) – but had mixed results.
Thatcher portrayed as an axe attacking the welfare state

10. Foreign policy and jingoism
1982 Falklands/Malvinas War – Thatcher’s saving? (Or is ‘Falklands Factor’ exaggerated?)
‘Great Britain has lost an Empire and not yet found a role’ – US Secretary of State Dean Acheson (1962).
Thatcher’s Cold War image as ‘Iron Lady’.
Growth of anti- Europeanism.

11. ‘Moral Authoritarianism’
Stuart Hall coined term in attempting to explain electoral attraction of Thatcherism for working class voters.
Conservative stances on, for example:
Section 28 of 1988 Local Government Act – banned ‘promotion’ of homosexuality in schools until it was abolished in 2003.
AIDS public health ‘scare’ campaign in 1987.
British National Identity: 1978 portrayed image of country being ‘swamped’ by immigration, Nationality Act 1981, etc.

12. Making Thatcher’s Britain? 1979 in British History
Introduction: the view from 2013.
The Critics.
The Supporters.
Questions for us as historians to consider.

13. Tributes: 1979 as point of ‘rescue’
Televised ceremonial funeral with full military honours at St Paul’s Cathedral.
David Cameron: Thatcher ‘made Britain great again’.
Tony Blair: Thatcher changed British political landscape and influenced creation of New Labour.
Much talk of the importance of never returning to crises of 1970s – (but were 1970s really that bad?)

14. Thatcher rescuing Britain from the ‘crisis’ decade of the 1970s
Strikes during ‘winter of discontent’ ( ).
National Union of Miners strike victorious in 1972.
Three-Day Week (1974) – oil crisis and threat of repeated industrial action from miners forced conservation of electricity.
Conservative Edward Heath loses 1974 election – hoping for stronger mandate, he had asked ‘Who Governs Britain?’
Inflation peaks at 24% in 1975 (July 2018 = 2.5%)
British government forced to seek IMF bail out in 1976.

15. A ‘property-owning democracy’
Sale of council houses to tenants from 1980 – ‘Right to Buy’.
1 million sold by 1987.
Many benefitted from buying cheap council houses, which were soon worth much more due to rise in property prices.
Populist and profitable policy at the time.
BUT… displacement of traditional communities and collapse of social house building -> housing crisis?

16. Privatisation
Thatcher saw privatisation as ‘fundamental to improving Britain’s economic performance’.
Policies of privatisation and share sales on British Telecom, British Gas, and other utilities including water, electricity, and rail.
More than 50 companies sold or privatised during Thatcher years.
‘Big bang’ deregulation of City of London (1986).
Attempts to create a Britain of share owners, rather than trade unionists?

17. Dismantling the Welfare State?
Movement towards privatisation of National Health Service.
Education reforms introduce markets into schools – league tables, reduces power of local education authorities, etc.
Thatcher attempted to remove ‘reliance upon the state’.
(BUT – to what extent was this actually achieved?)

18. Dismantling the Welfare State?
Movement towards privatisation of National Health Service.
Education reforms introduce markets into schools – league tables, reduces power of local education authorities, etc.
Thatcher attempted to remove ‘reliance upon the state’.
(BUT – to what extent was this actually achieved?)

19. Making Thatcher’s Britain? 1979 in British History
Introduction: the view from 2013.
The Critics.
The Supporters.
Questions for us as historians to consider.

20. 1) Coherence of the concept of ‘Thatcher’s Britain’?
Is there a coherent political ideology of ‘Thatcherism’? (or are there inconsistencies at its heart – e.g., between liberal economic policy and conservative morals?)
How far does support of this ideology extend? (e.g. ‘Wets’ in her own Cabinet – Jim Prior, Peter Walker, etc.)
How successful? (Endurance of welfare state, increasingly liberal morals during 1980s, etc.)
Was Thatcher more pragmatic or opportunistic than a singular ‘Thatcherism’ suggests?

21. 2) Broader causes of change
Many economic aspects linked with globalisation (City of London, deindustrialisation, economic philosophies).
The broader international picture?
Pace of technological change.
Demographic ‘time-bomb’ – impact of an ageing population on attempted challenges to the Welfare State.
Big cultural and moral changes in the 1980s that clash with Thatcherism – multicultural Britain, gender, etc.

22. 3) Chance, as well as causality
It isn’t clear that Labour Party would have been defeated if election in 1978 – signs of recovery, the 1970s a time of rising affluence for most, not a ‘crisis’.
Conservative 1979 election victory was vote for Conservative Party, not ‘Thatcherism’.
Thatcher’s initial fragility ( urban ‘riots’, low popularity after spending cuts) – extent ‘Falklands Factor’ boosted popularity?
A divided Left?

23. 4) ‘Thatcherism’ before Thatcher?
Governments and parties had adopted/discussed some key tenants of Thatcherism well before 1979.
E.g. Council house sales had been considered by Labour – ‘for most people, owning one’s house is a basic and natural desire’ (1977 Labour Party housing study).
Historians now more critical of ‘postwar consensus’ – not level of cross-party agreement as was previously thought!
Thatcher’s Britain – or Britain’s Thatcher?

24. 5) The 1970s: ‘Crisis? What Crisis?’
Were the 1970s actually that bad?
Should we focus on the positive experiences and suggestions of affluence, rather than framing decade as one of crisis?
If conditions in the 1970s weren’t actually that dire – why does a common sense of crisis exist?

25. 6) Had The Forward March of Labour (already been) Halted?
Essay by Eric Hobsbawm in 1978 – written before Thatcher’s Britain.
Focusses on long-term changes weakening Labour Party, left, and the union movement.
Argues many of these issues are ‘bigger’ than Margaret Thatcher alone.

26. 7) The Great Moving Right Show
Essay by Stuart Hall (1979) in Marxism Today – one of first to use the term ‘Thatcherism’.
Discusses appeal of ‘moral authoritarianism’ during crisis (importance of anxieties around race, gender, and permissiveness).
Thatcher used ‘language of “the people”’, avoiding ‘class’ – instead, ‘ordinary’ people vs ‘crisis’, ‘people’ vs the ‘state’.
Hall argues the Right more successful in responding to crisis – and a cultural shift to ‘New Times’.