As debate rages over the cost and scale of Margaret Thatcher’s funeral Dr Ben Wellings examines - another topic causing division - the Iron Lady’s legacy.
Not long after her entry into No.10 Mrs Thatcher claimed that she had been ‘elected to change the facts’. This she certainly did, although perhaps it is fairer say that she changed the ideas through which facts were interpreted rather than the facts themselves. Nevertheless her legacy is that of a ‘game-changer’ and it is a legacy that extends from Britain, into Europe and down to Australia.
Mrs Thatcher’s most important legacy in her home country to date has been the continuing search for what we might call ‘Thatcherism with a human face’.
The Conservative party struggled with her legacy throughout the 2000s. David Cameron appeared to have reconciled the high regard in which Mrs Thatcher was held within the party with an electorate far more sceptical about the impact of her policies. However, since in government, Cameron has been forced to adopt policies that are at variance with his brand of compassionate conservatism that he had to promote when in opposition and being forced back into Thatcherite territory.
The Labour party’s search for Thatcherism with a human face was particularly damaging. When New Labour triumphed in 1997, it also conceded defeat. By adopting economic policies designed to woo swing voters and big interests such as the City of London, the Labour leadership alienated much of its core support. Once the Labour party had refashioned itself in fear of Thatcher’s shadow, it created an ideological legacy in which its policy-makers are still caught.
As for Europe, Thatcher is remembered primarily for her negativity: ‘No. No. No’. Translated into Latin, this could almost be seen as Britain’s motto in Europe. However, her legacy in Europe is far more varied than her later opposition suggests and indeed she played a key role in ‘re-launching’ Europe in a neo-liberal garb in the mid-80s.
In Australia Thatcher’s legacy goes far beyond simple analogies regarding the advent of a female prime minister or the manner of the prime minister’s dismissal. The real legacy lies in the changes that Thatcher forced through in her own party, changing the Conservative party from Tory to neo-liberal in order to save Britain from itself. This involved a shift from consensus to conviction politics, a shift that has taken place here within the Liberal Party of Australia. But although a neo-liberal, Thatcher rarely strayed into political territory occupied by neo-conservatives across the Atlantic. This may be different here. If we assume that that Tony Abbott will be prime minister come September, then we might be in for ‘Thatcherism with a conservative face’.
Dr Ben Wellings, from the School of Politics and International Relations, is the Convenor of European Studies. He is currently in Italy as the Australia-EUI Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence.