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To what extent was there a Thatcherite Revolution in Britain.
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An A* standard A- Level Essay on whether there was a Thatcherite Revolution in Britain.
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To what extent was there a ‘Thatcher revolution’ in Britain 1979- 90? Edie ParryIt is without doubt that Thatcher’s premier was a stark change from those who had previously followed the
post- war consensus, however to define Britain as experiencing a ‘Thatcher revolution’ arouses much debate.
As revolution implies a change in the fundamentals of Britain’s economy, which has lasting impact, one can
recognise that upon evaluating social, economic policy and industrial relations, it is more accurate to define
this period as a stark change in certain areas but defining it as a revolution would be an overdrawn conclusion.
Certainly, while there were significant advances in many aspects of Britain’s society and economy, this was not
consistent especially between the North and the South, nor was it achieved solely by Thatcher preventing
1979- 90 from completely being defined as a ‘Thatcher Revolution’ in Britain.
Thatcher’s impact on society certainly amounted to significant change between 1979- 90. In terms of
government policy, the Housing Act of 1980 or ‘right to buy’ became a symbol of Thatcher’s success within the
early years of her premier, with 2 million new homeowners by 1988. This certainly caused fundamental
changes within British society both with positive outcomes in establishing a more independent, self- sufficient
society, which was a key aim of Thatcher, and negative outcomes of critically low levels of available housing.
Another key government policy which impacted society was the Education Bill of 1987 developed by Keith
Joseph which abolished the Inner London Education Authority, established a National Core Curriculum
introducing GCSE’s and getting rid of ‘catchment areas’; each school must take pupils up to the maximum
accommodation provided, which created greater independence for schools. Certainly, there was significant
social changes within 1979- 90 however, the negatives ultimately outweighed the positives.
Thatcher’s uncompromising attitudes towards society presented in her belief that “there is no such thing as
society” certainly amounted to a change between 1979- 90, to an extent. A notable factor worth considering is
the surge in riots throughout her premier. As a result of economic realignment, Britain was moving away from
being based on heavy industry towards service industries, crumbling the foundations of the working class and
their communities. This economic realignment developed a division between the prosperous South (focused
on the developing service industries) and the less prosperous North (experiencing the decline in heavy
industry), known as the North- South divide. There was a growth in unemployment which peaked at 3 million
in 1986, a decline in living standards in the North and the continuation of racism which were identified in the
1981 Scarman Report as the reasons for the riots in Brixton, Toxeth, Chapeltown and Handsworth between
April and July 1981. Certainly, the issues of race relations had been a continuation, inherited from previous
Prime Ministers since the early 1950s, intensified by the utilisation of ‘sus law’ which unfairly targeted blacks.
Riots were again experienced in Liverpool and Sheffield in 1985 caused by Thatcher’s rate capping the amount
of money raised by local councils, but the most notable social riots in this period were caused by the Poll Tax
enforced in Scotland in 1989 and the UK in 1990. 250,000 demonstrated on Trafalgar Square on the 31 st March
1990 and this unpopular policy has been recognised by historians as the causation of Thatcher’s downfall. The
policy enhanced divisions between the rich and poor within society, providing a single flat rate per capita tax
on every adult. Whilst changes certainly occurred in society this by no means amounted to a ‘revolution’, in
comparison to her economic policy which, on paper, presented the possibility of an economic revolution.
Between 1979- 90 there were vast economic changes in Britain; however, these economic changes cannot be
solely attributed to Thatcher herself. Thatcher’s adoption of monetarist economic policy in 1979 was
influenced by Milton Friedman and Friedrich Heyek. It was a radical change from the Keynesian economic
policy that marked the post- war consensus, with the aim being to control the money supply in order to reduce
inflation and encourage economic growth. Certainly, Hennessy recognises this change describing it as the “firm
and swift undoing of substantial slices” of the post- war consensus. Ultimately, whilst there was economic
growth by 1990 this was not consistent throughout the period with growth in the second half of the period
being undermined by the underperformance at the beginning of the decade. In 1980 the economy
experienced a serious recession with inflation peaking at 22% in May 1980 and unemployment at 3 million in
1983. In fact, Thatcher’s neglect for unemployment in order to prioritise managing inflation and reducing
government expenditure had a negative consequence as she never managed to cut public spending because
spending on local security went up due to unemployment. However, historians have recognised that the
economic situation would most likely have been worse if it weren’t for the discovery of North Sea Oil which
saved Britain from a Balance of Payments crisis. Whilst this discovery significantly attributed to Thatcher
revolutionising Britain, this was ultimately out of her control, demonstrating that it was not so much a
revolution or change caused by Thatcher but by her government and external circumstances. The subsequent
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