A-level Edexcel History Britain Transformed 4 The effect of Thatcherism on politics and party development Summary Notes
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Unit 1H - Britain transformed, 1918-97
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PEARSON (PEARSON)
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History for Edexcel A Level: Democracies in change: Britain and the USA in the twentieth century
Summarised, condensed, easy to understand revision notes for the section 3 historical interpretations section of Britain transformed - what impact did Thatcher's governments have on Britain?
The effect of Thatcherism on politics and party development: Thatcher and the Conservatives, Thatcher and L...
the effect of thatcherism on politics and party development
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4 The effect of Thatcherism on party politics and development
Introduction
- Some argue Thatcherism transformed the Conservatives and Labour
- Her ability to win three successive elections demonstrated her style, ideas and
policies appealed to a considerable portion of the electorate
- Arguable her electoral success shaped the Conservatives, as well as leading to
splits, debate and reform in Labour
- Labour went through a series of ideological transformations in the 1980s and 1990s
as politics reached a new post-Thatcher consensus and they moved from the left to
the political centre ground, embracing many of Thatcher’s key economic principles
by 1997
- Not all historians agree this shift was a result of Thatcher as they see a shift away
from left-wing politics and economics in the 1970s
1 Thatcher and the Conservative Party
- Downfall in 1989 did not end the Conservatives commitment to Thatcherism as she
transformed the party during her govern
Decline of the ‘wets’
- In 1979, her cabinet were dominated by ‘wets’ who had been appointed by Heath
- Committed to post-war consensus and wanted to compromise with socialism
- Referred to as traitors in 1978, but was unable to completely exclude them from her
cabinet in 1979
- Moderate MPs were interested in preventing economic policies causing social
breakdown – e.g. monetarism would be disastrous as it would lead to rising
inequalities and so increase social tension
- ‘One Nation Conservatives’ shared an upper-class background, seeing themselves
as the natural aristocracy who had a duty to ensure the poor were cared for
- Wets in government
o Complacent and weak
o Excluded from key areas of economic policy from 1979, promoting ‘drys’
important economic posts
o Prior was an exception initially being made employment secretary, but he was
moved in a cabinet reshuffle in 1981, indicating Thatcher was unwilling to
change the direction of her policies
Rise of the Thatcherites
- Became increasingly dominant in cabinet following the 1981 reshuffle
- Took two further election victories for Thatcher to win over the majority of the
Conservatives
- Claimed in 1981 she was the rebel leader of an establishment party – viewed herself
as a radical in a party of moderated
- By the end of the 1980s, her ideas were dominant in the Conservative Party and
older consensus ideas were in a minority, indicating she had a powerful effect on the
party
Thatcher and Heseltine
- A wet that survived Thatcher’s 1981 reshuffle
- Secretary of state for the Environment and promoted council house sales in the
Housing Act of 1980
- Challenged Thatcher in cabinet about the scale of unemployment during the 1980s,
believing the government should intervene in the economy to relieve the impact on
the worst-affected areas
- Developed unemployment strategies after the 1981 riots such as Enterprise Zones –
resembled a traditional corporatism rather than free-market thinking
- Policy disagreements and Thatcher’s dominant personal style alienated Heseltine
, 4 The effect of Thatcherism on party politics and development
- The Westland Affair
o Conflict between Thatcher and Heseltine erupted in 1985 in a dispute over the
sale of Westland Helicopters
o Disagreed over the future of the company as it was an important British defence
manufacturer
o Led to Heseltine’s resignation – largely a result of Thatcher’s ‘presidential style’
stifled his determination
Thatcher’s fall
- Poll tax allowed Conservatives to keep governing and push forward with other
Thatcherite policies after her fall in 1990
- The poll tax
o Thatcher’s most controversial policy that arguably caused the party’s popularity
to decline from 1987
o Led to widespread anger and protest – e.g. the All Britain Anti-Poll Tax
Federation organised a mass demonstration in London in March 1990 attended
by 200,000 protesters which turned into a riot
o Led to increased tax bills causing taxpayers to refuse to pay but in 1990 South
Yorkshire Police conceded as it would be impossible to arrest the tens of
thousands of non-payers, showing the tax was unenforceable
o Created extremely bad publicity as they covered stories of pensioners who could
not afford the charge and jailed
o Thatcher refused to compromise leading to a growing feeling in the
Conservatives the only way to ditch poll tax was to remove Thatcher
- Growing unpopularity (1990)
o High interest rates (15%) which drained income from middle-class home owners
o Recent water privatisation
o Party divisions over the amount of powers being given to the EEC
o Howe’s resignation over Thatcher’s anti-European policies as she feared
European law would force Britain to accept ‘socialist policies
- Leadership challenge
o Rejection of Thatcher did not imply a rejection of Thatcherism
o Victory of Major indicated Conservatives wanted to continue with similar policies
as he was the only one to not be associated with the ‘wet’ faction of the party
and was the least pro-European
The Conservatives under Major
- Continued the mix of free-market policies designed to promote a strong state
- Rethought crucial aspects of Thatcherism, mostly poll tax
- Rethinking the poll tax
o In the short term, he increased the government’s grant to local authorities to
reduce the 1990-91 poll tax bills by 50%
o Appointed Heseltine to design a replacement for poll tax
o Heseltine’s council tax re-established the link between local taxation and
property value but had exemptions so people living alone paid less than those in
households with multiple wage earners
o New tax was relatively uncontroversial and much less unpopular than poll tax
o However, it abandoned Thatcher’s principle that taxpayers should share the
burden of government spending to make local government accountable
- Privatisation and the public sector
o Continued privatisation, completing privatisations that had been initiated by
Thatcher, selling off the bulk of the state’s electricity companies in 1991
o Issues with the privatisation of railways, water, gas and electricity included the
fact that water bills increased by 40% in the first 5 years of privatisation –
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