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Thatcherism 1979-87: Thatcher governments - Coggle Diagram
Thatcherism 1979-87: Thatcher governments
Leadership + ideology
Favoured monetarism and free-market economics.
Thactherites emphasised order in society and saw the permissive society as a loss of this order. They were tough on law and order.
Believed in self-reliance and little state support
Thatcher, was not from the traditional elitist Tory background, instead being middle class.
Dismissive of the post-war consensus - viewed a step cause for Britain's economic decline.
Prime minister 1979 - 1987
Conservative electoral success
1983, General election
Thatcher won a a huge landslide victory with a majority of 144 seats.
Causes of 1983 victory:
Falklands war, unpopularity of Foot, distorting effect of first-past -the- post-system.
1982, Falklands War
military success highlighted Thatcher's bold and decisive leadership - unleashing patriotism in the country and support for Thatcher in the media.
1987, General election
saw another big conservative victory, but less successful than 1983.
1987, Labour saw a heavy defeat, despite Kinnock's modernisation of the party.
Causes of 1987 victory:
The SPD-Liberal Alliance lost support partly due to ideological difference, SDP lost support as ppl went back to Labour Party but it was undermined by the successes of Thatcher.
Northern Ireland
1980, Hunger strikes:
Led by Bobby Sands, IRA prisoners protested against losing Special Category Status - this gained lots of attention and support. Sands died in 1981, making him a martyr.
1983, IRA London bombing
of Harrods - 6 ppl killed.
1984, IRA Brighton bomb
at Conservative party conference - 5 ppl killed.
Thatcher was determined not to give into terrorism.
Thatcher claimed the hunger strikes were unsuccessful for the IRA as they did not get Social Category Status.
1985, Anglo-Irish Agreement
set up permanent intergovernmental cooperation between the Irish Republic and UK. Republicans opposed the agreement as it confirmed that Northern Ireland was still part of the UK.
200,000 ppl protested against the Anglo-Irish agreement in Belfast.
1986, paramilitary organisation Ulster Resistance was set up in response to the Anglo-Irish agreement.
Labour divisions
Labour could no longer depend on its traditional working-class support, as seen in the SPD winning the previously 'safe' working class seat of Bermondsey.
1981, the SDP (Social Democratic Party) broke away, including 28 Labour MPs like Roy Jenkins. They beloved a less extreme Labour Party was needed to appeal to the middle ground.
Media coverage of the Labour Party was hostile.
Between 1979 and 1983, Labour divisions were at their worst.
Some of the working class voted conservative, Liberal, or SDP.
Kinncok replaced Foot as Labour leader in 1983 - he successfully expelled militant Tendency form Labour in 1968 but the part was still priced as dominated by leftists and trade unions.
Michael Foot was Labour leader 1980 to 1983.
People viewed Foot to be extremist e.g. he supported free period products, unilateral disarmament and withdrawal form the EEC.
Foot's manifesto was nicknamed 'the longest suicide note in history'.
Ministers; support & opposition
1985 - 90 The Westland affair:
Michael Hesltine stones out of a cabinet meeting, claiming Thatcher was acting unconstotutioanllly. They clashed over the privatisation of a helicopter company.
Dries:
most of the key posts on the economy were filled with dries such as Nigel Lawson and Geoffrey Howe.
wets (those against Thatcher's economic policies) vs dries (Thatcherites, uncompromising in their support of monetarism).
Wets:
Jim Prior, a 'wet' was appointed employment minister. There was disagreements between Thcther and him over anti-union legislation as Thacter believed he was too firmly to unions. He was demoted to the Northern Ireland office in 1981 and replaced with Thatcherite Norma Tebbit.