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Thatcher – Ideologue or Pragmatist?

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Heath and Thatcher in Opposition
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Abstract

Previous chapters have examined the tensions within Margaret Thatcher’s 1975–79 Opposition over policy-formulation, particularly in the key areas of economic management and industrial relations. Chapter 12 offers a detailed scrutiny of where Thatcher herself stood on the key questions which emerged from the policy-making exercise; how she managed those on either side of the on-going debates; and how her attitudes and political awareness affected the tone of the policy documents which were produced from time to time including, most importantly, the 1979 election manifesto.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    S. Hall, ‘The Great Moving Right Show’, Marxism Today, January 1979; ‘“Thatcherism” is a term which Lawson claims to have established in a speech which he made as Financial Secretary to the Treasury in 1981 (though he has since had the grace to concede “the recherché, and now defunct publication Marxism Today” had actually got there first)’, P. Clarke, ‘The Rise and Fall of Thatcherism’ in Historical Research, lxxii, 1999.

  2. 2.

    K. Minogue, ‘The Context of Thatcherism’ in K. Minogue and M. Biddis, Thatcherism, Personality and Politics (Macmillan Press, Basingstoke, 1987), Introduction, p. x.

  3. 3.

    Liverpool Daily Post, 20 June 1975.

  4. 4.

    CPA, KJ 24/1, Patten to Joseph and Maude, 23 June 1975.

  5. 5.

    CPA, KJ 24/1, Patten to Thatcher, 4 June 1975.

  6. 6.

    CCA, Thatcher MSS (2/6/1/156), LC/75/68; Paper by Joseph, 10 March 1975.

  7. 7.

    CCA, Hailsham MSS (1/1/19); Hailsham diary entry, 8 November 1974.

  8. 8.

    CCA, Thatcher MSS, LCC (75) 57th Meeting, 11 April 1975.

  9. 9.

    H. Young and A. Sloman, The Thatcher Phenomenon (British Broadcasting Corporation, London, 1985), p. 31.

  10. 10.

    Young and Sloman, The Thatcher Phenomenon, p. 30.

  11. 11.

    The Economist, 1 February 1975.

  12. 12.

    S. Brittan, Encounter, April 1985.

  13. 13.

    J. Campbell, Margaret Thatcher, Volume One: The Grocer’s Daughter (Jonathan Cape, London, 2000), p. 299.

  14. 14.

    Young and Sloman, The Thatcher Phenomenon, p. 32.

  15. 15.

    M. Thatcher Interview for the Observer, 7 August 1975, Thatcher CD-ROM.

  16. 16.

    P. Junor, Margaret Thatcher: Wife, Mother, Politician (Sidgwick and Jackson, London, 1983), p. 106.

  17. 17.

    K. Middlemas, Power, Competition and the State, Volume 3. The End of the Postwar Era: Britain Since 1974 (Macmillan, London, 1991), p. 23.

  18. 18.

    J. Ranelagh, Thatcher’s People: An Insider’s Account of the Politics, the Power and the Personalities (Fontana, London, 1992), p. 159.

  19. 19.

    The Economist, 8 February 1975.

  20. 20.

    CPA, PUB 195/8,Crossbow, April 1975.

  21. 21.

    M. Wickham-Jones, ‘Right Turn; A Revisionist Account of the 1975 Conservative Party Leadership Election’Twentieth Century British History, Vol. 8, No. 1, 1997, p. 85.

  22. 22.

    Ranelagh, Thatcher’s People, p. 127.

  23. 23.

    P. Walker, Staying Power (Bloomsbury, London, 1991), p. 126.

  24. 24.

    Campbell, Margaret Thatcher: The Grocer’s Daughter, p. 266.

  25. 25.

    Young and Sloman, The Thatcher Phenomenon, p. 59.

  26. 26.

    Young and Sloman, The Thatcher Phenomenon, p. 28.

  27. 27.

    Young and Sloman, The Thatcher Phenomenon, p. 29.

  28. 28.

    B. Ingham, Kill the Messenger (Fontana, London, 1991), p. 225.

  29. 29.

    M. Thatcher, interview with ITN, 31 January 1975, Thatcher CD-ROM.

  30. 30.

    M. Thatcher, ‘What’s Wrong With Politics’, CPC lecture, 11 October 1968.

  31. 31.

    K. Joseph, Stranded on the Middle Ground? (Centre for Policy Studies, 1978), pp. 20–1.

  32. 32.

    Middlemas, Power, Competition and the State, p. 22.

  33. 33.

    Young and Sloman, The Thatcher Phenomenon, p. 33.

  34. 34.

    J. Ranelagh, Interview with Sir A. Sherman, 30 April 1990, quoted in Ranelagh, Thatcher’s People, p. 35 and footnote.

  35. 35.

    The Economist, 26 October 1974, p. 13.

  36. 36.

    Finchley Press, 4 October 1974, quoted in Campbell, Margaret Thatcher: The Grocer’s Daughter, p. 278.

  37. 37.

    M. Thatcher, The Path to Power (HarperCollins, London, 1995), pp. 252–7.

  38. 38.

    H. Young, One of Us (Macmillan, London, 1989), p. 82.

  39. 39.

    Young, One of Us, p. 93.

  40. 40.

    T. E. Utley, ‘Thatcherism: A Monstrous Invention’, The Spectator, 9 August 1986.

  41. 41.

    Utley, ‘Thatcherism: A Monstrous Invention’.

  42. 42.

    M. Thatcher, interview, LBC, 17 May 1974, Thatcher CD-ROM.

  43. 43.

    M. Thatcher, interview, Daily Mail, 24 September 1974, Thatcher CD-ROM.

  44. 44.

    M. Thatcher, TV interview with ITN, 11 February 1975, Thatcher CD-ROM.

  45. 45.

    M. Thatcher, press conference, Conservative Central Office, 11 February 1974, Thatcher CD-ROM.

  46. 46.

    M. Thatcher, interview, Sunday Mirror, 2 February 1975, Thatcher CD-ROM.

  47. 47.

    M. Thatcher, interview with IRN, 31 January 1975; Powell interview with ITN, 31 January 1975, Thatcher CD-ROM.

  48. 48.

    M. Thatcher, ‘The owner-occupiers’ party’, Daily Telegraph, 1 July 1974, Thatcher CD-ROM; M. Thatcher, general election address, 23 September 1974, Thatcher CD-ROM.

  49. 49.

    M. Thatcher, interview, Sunday Express, 17 October 1974, Thatcher CD-ROM.

  50. 50.

    Daily Mail, 24 September 1974, Thatcher CD-ROM.

  51. 51.

    The Times, 31 January 1975.

  52. 52.

    M. Biddis, ‘Thatcherism: Concept and Interpretations’ in Minogue and Biddis, Thatcherism: Personality and Politics, p. 2.

  53. 53.

    CPA, PPB 55/1, Conservative Party Political Broadcast, 5 March 1975.

  54. 54.

    M. Thatcher, speech accepting the Conservative Party leadership, 20 February 1975, Thatcher CD-ROM.

  55. 55.

    Party Political Broadcast, 5 March 1975, Thatcher CD-ROM.

  56. 56.

    P. Jenkins, Mrs Thatcher’s Revolution (Jonathan Cape, London, 1989), pp. 84–5.

  57. 57.

    D. Marquand, ‘The Paradoxes of Thatcherism’ in R. Skidelsky (ed.), Thatcherism (Chatto and Windus, London, 1988), p. 164.

  58. 58.

    M. Thatcher, interview for Crossbow, 29 August 1975, Thatcher CD-ROM.

  59. 59.

    M. Thatcher, speech to Zurich Economic Society, 14 March 1977, Thatcher CD-ROM.

  60. 60.

    Thatcher, speech to Zurich Economic Society, Thatcher CD-ROM.

  61. 61.

    Middlemas, Power, Competition and the State, p. 26.

  62. 62.

    M. Thatcher, interview for Crossbow, 29 August 1975, Thatcher CD-ROM.

  63. 63.

    Biddis, ‘Thatcherism: Concept and Interpretations’ in Minogue and Biddis, Thatcherism: Personality and Politics, p. 6.

  64. 64.

    S. R. Letwin, The Anatomy of Thatcherism (Fontana, London, 1992), pp. 114 and 115.

  65. 65.

    M. Thatcher, article in The Guardian, 1 July 1975, Thatcher CD-ROM.

  66. 66.

    J. Redwood, Popular Capitalism (Routledge and Keegan Paul, London, 1988).

  67. 67.

    M. Thatcher, speech to the Institute of Socio-Economic Studies, 15 September, Thatcher CD-ROM.

  68. 68.

    M. Thatcher, interview with Evening Standard, 18 October 1974, Thatcher CD-ROM.

  69. 69.

    M. Thatcher, ‘My Kind of Tory Party’, The Daily Telegraph, 30 January 1975, Thatcher CD-ROM.

  70. 70.

    CPA, PPB 55/1, Conservative Party Political Broadcast, 5 March 1975.

  71. 71.

    Letwin, The Anatomy of Thatcherism, p. 37.

  72. 72.

    CPA, NUA 2/1/81, M. Thatcher, speech to Conservative Party Conference, 14 October 1977.

  73. 73.

    Campbell, Margaret Thatcher: The Grocer’s Daughter, p. 382.

  74. 74.

    Green, Thatcher, pp. 41–3; M. Thatcher, interview with Sir Robin Day, BBC 1, 8 June 1987, Thatcher CD-ROM.

  75. 75.

    A. Tyrie, ‘One Nation Again’, One-Nation Group, December 2006, citing P. Williamson, Stanley Baldwin (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1999).

  76. 76.

    Ranelagh, Thatcher, p. 3.

  77. 77.

    D. Butler and D. Kavanagh, The British General Election of 1979 (Macmillan, London, 1980), p. 65.

  78. 78.

    Campbell, Margaret Thatcher: The Grocer’s Daughter, p. 369.

  79. 79.

    T. Russel, The Tory Party: Its Policies, Divisions and Future (Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1978), p. 13.

  80. 80.

    E. Heath, speech to 93rd Annual Conservative Party Conference, 7 October 1976, CPA, NUA 2/1/80.

  81. 81.

    CPA, CRD (Uncatalogued papers), Box 41, 24 September 1976.

  82. 82.

    The Times, 4 October 1976.

  83. 83.

    The Times, 4 October 1976.

  84. 84.

    Campbell, Margaret Thatcher: The Grocer’s Daughter, p. 389.

  85. 85.

    The Right Approach to the Economy (Conservative Political Centre, 1977).

  86. 86.

    K. Joseph, ‘The Unions We Deserve’, New Statesman, 13 June 1975.

  87. 87.

    The Right Approach to the Economy, p. 16.

  88. 88.

    Thatcher, The Path to Power, p. 404.

  89. 89.

    W. Keegan, Mrs Thatcher’s Economic Experiment (Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1984). James Prior kept his post at the Department of Employment until he was made Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in 1981.

  90. 90.

    Thatcher, The Path to Power, p. 404.

  91. 91.

    CPA, PUB 195/9, Crossbow, Autumn 1977.

  92. 92.

    CPA, PUB 195/9, Crossbow, Spring 1978.

  93. 93.

    The Guardian, 21 April; 19 May; 29 June 1978.

  94. 94.

    CPA, PPB 169, G. Howe, speech to Mid-Oxon Conservative Association, 2 June 1978.

  95. 95.

    CPA, PUB 195/9, Crossbow, Autumn 1978.

  96. 96.

    CPA, PPB 169, G. Howe, speech to Conservative Party Annual Conference, 11 October 1978.

  97. 97.

    Financial Times, 6 February 1979.

  98. 98.

    The Daily Telegraph, 6 February 1979.

  99. 99.

    W. Deedes, ‘What Will the Conservatives Do?’, Political Quarterly, Vol. 48, Issue 4, October 1977, pp. 400–1.

  100. 100.

    Thatcher, The Path to Power, p. 422.

  101. 101.

    Campbell, Margaret Thatcher: The Grocer’s Daughter, p. 420.

  102. 102.

    Butler and Kavanagh, The British General Election of 1979, pp. 144 and 155.

  103. 103.

    Conservative General Election Manifesto 1979 (Conservative Political Centre, 1979).

  104. 104.

    Thatcher, The Path to Power, p. 436.

  105. 105.

    Thatcher, The Path to Power, p. 446.

  106. 106.

    Butler and Kavanagh, The British General Election of 1979, pp. 183–4.

  107. 107.

    Butler and Kavanagh, The British General Election of 1979, p. 189.

  108. 108.

    A. B. Cooke and J. Vincent, The Governing Passion; Cabinet Government and Party Politics in Britain, 1885–6 (Harvester, Brighton, 1974), quoted in R. Behrens, The Conservative Party from Heath to Thatcher (Saxon House, Farnborough, 1980), p. 125.

  109. 109.

    Howe, private interview with author, 30 November 2009.

  110. 110.

    Behrens, The Conservative Party from Heath to Thatcher, p. 124.

  111. 111.

    Deedes, ‘What Will the Conservatives Do?’, p. 409.

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Caines, E. (2017). Thatcher – Ideologue or Pragmatist?. In: Heath and Thatcher in Opposition. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-60246-6_12

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