A Tribute to Margaret Thatcher--30 Years On

By Robin Harris, D. Phil : Thirty years ago, Britain embarked upon a conservative revolution that not only transformed the country but left an indelible and unmistakable impact on the rest of the world. Only two British Prime Ministers--Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher--have by force of personality and power of example done anything like this.

In The Gathering Storm, Winston Churchill wrote of his initial thoughts after his election as Prime Minister in May 1940:

As I went to bed at about 3 a.m., I was conscious of a profound sense of relief. At last I had the authority to give directions over the whole scene. I felt as if I were walking with destiny and that all my past life had been but a preparation for this hour and for this trial.[1]

While it is not recorded whether Mrs. Thatcher felt the same way in the early hours of May 4,
1979, she very well may have.

Britain Before Thatcher: The Sick Man of Europe

Britain, when Margaret Thatcher took office, was, as the phrase had it, the "sick man of Europe" and the sickness, also known as the British disease, looked incurable. Indeed, the consensus, which most of the Conservative Party (like the rest of the political class) shared, was that cure was not the issue. Rather, and to change to another contemporary expression, what was required of any British government was the "orderly management of decline."

The last period of the Labour government had, of course, been disorderly. Militant trade unionists that winter brought the country to a halt, while the dead lay unburied and the rubbish piled up in Trafalgar Square. Hardly anyone believed that a fresh leader could reverse decline, recreate the conditions for prosperity, rebuild capitalism, and restore the country's international standing. So the question most frequently asked--not least within the cynical, defeatist ranks of the Conservative Party, which Mrs. Thatcher had just dragged to electoral success--was how long before this "tiresome" woman and her ideological cronies could be ditched.

At times it was a close-run thing. She needed luck, and in this case fortune did favor the brave. So on through strikes, a war, recession, attempted assassination, simmering dissension, and outright political revolts, she ploughed until the job (or most of it, at least) was done.

That continuing inspiration is, indeed, a crucially important element of the Thatcher legacy. In Britain, much of what she did is being, or has already been, reversed by the Labour government's financial profligacy, class-hate-driven tax policy, and sweeping centralization. The eventual outcome will depend on a new generation of conservatives able and willing to fight the same battles she did. At least they have something she (of necessity) lacked, because--to adapt the words of her eulogy to Ronald Reagan--they have her example.