Thatcher & the Conservative Governments, 1979-1987 (AQA A Level History: Component 2: Depth study): Revision Note

Margaret Thatcher: character and ideology

How Thatcher reached the top

• Margaret Thatcher became Conservative leader in February 1975

  • She defeated Edward Heath, after the Conservatives had lost the two general elections of 1974

• Thatcher was unusual within the traditional Conservative leadership

  • She was the daughter of a grocer from Grantham

  • She studied chemistry at Oxford before becoming a barrister

  • She was the first woman to lead a major British political party

• Under Heath, she served as Secretary of State for Education and Science between 1970 and 1974

• Thatcher rejected much of the post-war consensus

  • She believed it had contributed to Britain's long-term economic decline

  • She was particularly critical of Heath's U-turn of 1972

    • His government had abandoned parts of its free-market programme during the recession

    • Thatcher later used this as an example of the need to hold firmly to a chosen policy

A conviction politician

• Thatcher described herself as a 'conviction politician', rather than a pragmatist

  • She believed politicians should act according to firm principles

• At the 1980 Conservative Party Conference, she rejected demands to change economic course during the recession

  • She famously told critics: "You turn if you want to. The lady's not for turning"

    • The remark was also aimed at Conservatives who wanted a return to Heath-style policies

• Her political beliefs were influenced by her upbringing

  • She valued:

    • self-reliance

    • thrift

    • hard work

    • individual responsibility

  • Her father, Alfred Roberts, was a grocer, local councillor and Methodist lay preacher

Approach: Thatcher gave this television interview in January 1983, while she was prime minister and preparing for a general election later that year. She argues that compassion should not be measured only by how much government provides, but also by what individuals are prepared to do for themselves

The source is useful for showing how Thatcher explained ideas such as self-reliance and individual responsibility to a mass audience. However, she was presenting her own political values shortly before an election, so it shows how she wanted Thatcherism to be understood rather than whether those policies worked in practice

Thatcherism and the New Right

• Thatcherism drew heavily on ideas associated with the New Right

  • The New Right was a network of economists, academics and think tanks that challenged Keynesian economics

• Important influences included:

  • Milton Friedman

  • Friedrich von Hayek

    • Both were associated with free-market economics

• Conservative think tanks helped spread these ideas

  • The Centre for Policy Studies was founded by Keith Joseph in 1974

  • The Adam Smith Institute followed in 1977

  • The New Right also attracted people who had previously been on the left

    • These included economist Peter Jay and former New Statesman editor Paul Johnson

• Thatcherites argued that economic decline was linked to a wider decline in personal responsibility

  • They supported the free market because they believed people should take responsibility for their own choices

  • They also stressed:

    • the family

    • law and order

    • personal discipline

• Thatcher was not herself a political theorist

  • She relied on figures such as Keith Joseph and Enoch Powell to help develop and shape these ideas

Social conservatism

• Thatcherism was not only about economics

  • Thatcher criticised many of the social changes associated with the 1960s

  • She placed importance on:

    • family responsibility

    • order

    • duty

    • respect for authority

• Thatcherites often argued that rising crime and disorder reflected a decline in individual responsibility

  • This helped link support for free-market economics with a tougher approach to law and order

Thatcher's ministers: 'Wets' and 'Dries'

The split inside the Conservative Party

• The division was mainly about economic policy

  • It also became linked to disagreements over Thatcher's leadership style

Wets

• Thatcher used the term 'Wet' for Conservatives who disagreed with her economic policies

  • Many Wets were One-Nation Conservatives

  • They wanted to protect important parts of the post-war consensus

Dries

• Thatcher's supporters were known as 'Dries'

  • They backed monetarism

  • They supported tighter control of the money supply and a stronger break with the post-war consensus

The first Cabinet, 1979

• Thatcher's first Cabinet was not completely Thatcherite

  • She was not yet strong enough to remove many senior Conservatives associated with Heath

• Willie Whitelaw became Home Secretary

  • He also served as Thatcher's deputy and acted as a steadying influence

• Thatcher placed trusted supporters in key economic posts

  • Geoffrey Howe became Chancellor of the Exchequer

  • Keith Joseph became Industry Secretary

  • John Biffen and Nigel Lawson were also given economic roles

• Jim Prior was the main exception

  • He became Employment Secretary

    • He was a leading 'Wet', disagreeing with Thatcher over trade union reform

Shifting the balance, 1981–1983

• The dispute with Jim Prior showed the growing divide inside the Cabinet

  • Thatcherites wanted faster action against trade union power

  • Prior preferred negotiation and slower reform

• In 1981, Prior was moved to the Northern Ireland office

  • The move was widely seen as a demotion

  • He was replaced at Employment by Norman Tebbit

• Thatcher gradually promoted more of her own supporters

  • Wets, such as Prior, were increasingly moved away from the main economic posts

• Victory in the 1983 general election strengthened Thatcher's control

  • Most remaining Wets were pushed to the margins

  • Nigel Lawson became the new Chancellor

  • Geoffrey Howe moved to the Foreign Office

• By 1983, Thatcher was leading a Cabinet that was much more supportive of her political and economic aims

Approach: The source is useful for showing how tensions between Thatcherites and traditional Conservatives were remembered by someone who had worked inside the party. His account also suggests that Thatcher valued intellectual arguments even though she was not herself a political theorist

However, Ranelagh wrote with hindsight and presents the divisions through memorable personal stories. It is therefore more useful for attitudes and relationships inside the Conservative Party than for measuring how widespread the split actually was

Support and opposition

Where did Thatcher's support come from?

• The Conservative Party became more supportive of Thatcher over time

  • After the 1983 election, this became increasingly clear

  • More senior posts were held by ministers who supported her economic approach

• Most of the national press supported the Conservatives at each election

  • The Sun and the Daily Mail backed the party in 1979, 1983 and 1987, and The Times did so in 1983 and 1987 (it was not published during the 1979 campaign)

• Businesses generally welcomed:

  • lower taxes

  • weaker trade unions

  • deregulation

• Thatcher also attracted some voters who had not traditionally supported the Conservatives

  • Skilled working-class voters in the Midlands and the south were attracted by tax cuts

  • The sale of council houses also widened Conservative support

Opposition inside the government

• Opposition came first from the Wets

  • They objected to the government's economic strategy

  • Their criticism became especially strong during the recession of 1980–1981

• The 1981 Budget became a major test of Thatcher's authority

  • Taxes were increased during a recession to reduce government borrowing

  • 364 economists signed a letter to The Times attacking the policy

  • Thatcher refused to change direction

    • This strengthened her reputation as a conviction politician

• Thatcher gradually removed or sidelined many of her critics

  • Ministers who opposed her economic policy lost influence

  • After 1983, the Cabinet contained more committed Thatcherites

• Not all opposition was ideological

  • John Biffen and Norman Tebbit later fell out of favour despite supporting Thatcherism

  • Personal disagreement and leadership style could, therefore, create opposition as well as policy differences

Approach: The source is useful, as Gow was a loyal supporter writing privately rather than for the public. He admits that Thatcher faced serious political problems, while still praising her leadership. This makes it useful for showing both the pressure she was under in 1981 and the loyalty she still commanded among close supporters

However, Gow was personally devoted to Thatcher, so his praise of her leadership should not be treated as a neutral judgement

The Westland affair, 1986

• The most serious Cabinet challenge to Thatcher's authority came from Michael Heseltine

• The dispute concerned the future of the helicopter company Westland

  • Heseltine supported a European solution

  • Thatcher backed an American-linked alternative

• In January 1986, Heseltine walked out of a Cabinet meeting

  • He resigned as Defence Secretary

  • He claimed that Thatcher had prevented proper Cabinet discussion

• The affair became a wider argument about Thatcher's leadership style

  • Some Conservative MPs believed she was becoming too dominant

  • It raised questions about how far Cabinet government still operated normally

• Heseltine later became the focus of Conservative opposition to Thatcher

  • His later challenge to her leadership came in 1990

Opposition beyond Westminster

• Opposition also came from groups outside Parliament, including from:

  • trade unions

  • some Church of England bishops

  • Labour-run local councils

  • protest movements

• These groups challenged different parts of Thatcher's policies, including:

  • industrial relations

  • unemployment

  • public spending

  • social policy

Electoral success, 1979-1987

The 1979 election

• The Conservatives won 339 seats, giving them an overall majority of 43

  • They won 43.9% of the vote

  • Labour won 36.9%

  • Turnout was 76%

• The Conservatives benefited from the problems of the previous Labour government

  • The Winter of Discontent had damaged Labour's reputation

  • Rising unemployment and industrial unrest also shaped the campaign

The 1983 election

• The Conservatives won 397 seats

  • Their overall majority rose to 144, the largest since 1945

• The size of the victory was striking, as Conservative support had actually fallen

  • Their vote share dropped from 43.9% in 1979 to 42.4%

• Labour suffered its worst result since 1918

  • It won only 209 seats

  • It received only 27.6% of the vote

• The SDP–Liberal Alliance (the Social Democratic Party and the Liberals) won 25.4% of the vote

  • It finished only just behind Labour in vote share

  • However, it won only 23 seats

Why the Conservatives won so decisively

• Thatcher's political position had changed sharply since 1981

  • At the beginning of 1982, she had been one of the most unpopular prime ministers on record

  • Victory in the Falklands War strengthened her reputation for firm leadership

• The economy had begun to recover

  • Inflation was falling

    • This helped the government argue that its economic policies were beginning to work

• The opposition vote was badly divided

  • Labour and the Alliance competed for many of the same anti-Conservative voters

• Labour itself was in a weak position

  • Michael Foot was widely regarded as a weak leader

  • Labour fought the election on policies including unilateral nuclear disarmament and withdrawal from the European Economic Community (EEC)

• The first-past-the-post (FPTP) electoral system increased the scale of the Conservative majority

  • The Alliance received only 2.2 percentage points less of the vote than Labour

    • Yet, it won 186 fewer seats

Approach: Thatcher wrote this account in her memoirs, published in 1993, ten years after the 1983 election. She argues that Conservative support had already begun to recover before the Falklands War because voters were starting to see an economic recovery

The source is useful for showing how Thatcher later explained her electoral success. However, her own reputation is part of the argument. She has a reason to present the Falklands as only one factor and to give greater importance to the success of her economic policies. Her account should therefore be compared with contemporary opinion polls and economic evidence

The 1987 election

• The Conservatives won 376 seats, giving them an overall majority of 102

  • They received 42.2% of the vote

  • Labour received 30.8%

  • The Alliance received 22.6%

• Thatcher became the first prime minister since 1820 to win three general elections in succession

• The Conservatives campaigned on their record in office:

  • the economy was growing

  • taxes were lower

  • defence remained an important issue

• Economic conditions had improved

  • Unemployment had fallen below 3 million for the first time since 1982

  • Inflation remained at around 4%, its lowest level since the 1960s

• The opposition remained divided

  • Neil Kinnock had improved Labour's organisation and discipline since 1983

    • Labour increased its vote share, but remained well behind the Conservatives

  • The Alliance fell from 25.4% in 1983 to 22.6%

    • Relations between David Steel and David Owen had also become strained

• FPTP again increased the Conservative advantage

  • A vote share of 42.2% produced another large Commons majority

Northern Ireland & the 'Troubles'

Thatcher's approach

• Thatcher took a strongly unionist approach

  • She treated the conflict mainly as a security problem rather than a political dispute

  • In public, she refused to negotiate with terrorist organisations

• Private contacts with republicans still continued

  • Messages were passed through intermediaries and go-betweens

• In 1982, Jim Prior's "rolling devolution" plan set up a new Northern Ireland Assembly, but nationalists boycotted it and it was dissolved in 1986

The hunger strikes, 1980–1981

• Republican prisoners in the Maze Prison, near Belfast, demanded Special Category Status

  • This would mean being treated as political prisoners, rather than ordinary criminals

  • Earlier protests had begun during the 1970s

  • Hunger strikes began in 1980

• Bobby Sands led a second hunger strike in 1981

  • While on hunger strike, he was elected MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone

  • He died a few weeks later, aged 27

  • Nine more hunger strikers died before the protest ended in October 1981

• Thatcher refused to restore Special Category Status

  • She argued that giving in would recognise republican prisoners as political rather than criminal

  • She presented the end of the strikes as a defeat for the IRA

• The hunger strikes also strengthened republican support

  • Sands became a martyr figure for many republicans

  • Sinn Féin increasingly saw elections as another way to pursue its aims

    • This approach became known as the 'ballot box and the Armalite'

• Gerry Adams became president of Sinn Féin in 1983

  • He was elected MP for West Belfast in the same year

  • He refused to take his seat at Westminster

The Brighton bombing, 1984

• The IRA bombed the Grand Hotel in Brighton during the Conservative Party Conference in October 1984

  • Thatcher escaped unharmed

  • Five people were killed

• Thatcher insisted that the conference continue the following morning

  • Her response strengthened her image of refusing to give in to terrorism

• The bombing hardened Thatcher's public position

  • However, contacts with the Irish government continued behind the scenes

The Anglo-Irish Agreement, 1985

• Talks between London and Dublin led to the Anglo-Irish Agreement

  • It was signed at Hillsborough Castle in November 1985

• The Agreement increased cooperation between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland

  • It created regular intergovernmental consultation

  • The Irish government gained a consultative role in Northern Ireland

    • It did not receive executive power

  • It also aimed to improve security cooperation

• The Agreement tried to strengthen moderate nationalism

  • The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and the Alliance Party supported it

• Opposition remained strong

  • Republicans rejected it, as it confirmed that Northern Ireland remained part of the United Kingdom

  • Unionists and loyalists opposed the Irish government having any role in Northern Irish affairs

    • Up to 200,000 people attended an anti-Agreement rally in Belfast addressed by Ian Paisley

    • The loyalist paramilitary group Ulster Resistance was formed in 1986

Approach: Thatcher made this speech in the House of Commons on 26th November 1985, while asking MPs to approve the Anglo-Irish Agreement. She stressed that the Agreement did not change Northern Ireland’s position within the United Kingdom

The source is useful for showing how Thatcher tried to reassure unionists about the Agreement. However, she was defending a controversial policy in Parliament, so it should be compared with the strong unionist reaction to see whether those reassurances were accepted

Approach: Ian Gow was a Conservative minister and former Parliamentary Private Secretary to Thatcher. He gave this resignation speech in the House of Commons on 26th November 1985 because he opposed the Anglo-Irish Agreement

The source is useful because Gow had previously been one of Thatcher’s closest supporters. His resignation shows that opposition to the Agreement came from inside the Conservative Party as well as from Northern Irish unionists. However, it reflects the views of a committed unionist critic rather than the wider Conservative Party

Where did things stand by 1987?

• Violence continued after the Agreement

  • The Special Air Service (SAS) killed eight IRA members at Loughgall in May 1987

  • An IRA bomb at a Remembrance Day service in Enniskillen in November 1987 killed 11 people

• The Agreement survived

  • However, it had not ended republican violence

  • Unionist opposition also remained strong

• It did create a lasting framework for cooperation between Britain and the Republic of Ireland

  • This became important in later attempts to reach a political settlement

How dominant was Thatcher's government by 1987?

• This question weighs the scale of Thatcher's victories against the signs that her position was less secure than the majorities suggest

  • Some key evidence for each side is outlined below

Thatcher's government was dominant

• The Conservatives won three general elections in a row

  • They had majorities of 43 in 1979, 144 in 1983 and 102 in 1987

  • Thatcher became the first prime minister since 1820 to win three successive general elections

• By 1983, the Cabinet was much more Thatcherite

  • Most of the Wets had been removed, demoted or pushed to the margins

  • Senior posts were increasingly held by ministers who supported her economic strategy

• Thatcher survived serious internal disputes

  • Michael Heseltine resigned over Westland in 1986

    • The government remained in office and Thatcher retained control

• Thatcherism became strongly identified with the government

  • Her name became attached to a wider political outlook

  • Few prime ministers had such a clear personal association with their government's direction

• The Conservatives received strong backing from much of the national press across the entire period

• Economic conditions had improved by 1987

  • Inflation was at its lowest level since the 1960s

  • Unemployment had begun to fall

• Thatcher had also shown that she would not reverse course under pressure

  • Her refusal to change the 1981 Budget became associated with the recovery that followed

Thatcher's government's dominance was limited

• Conservative support did not rise across the period

  • The party won 43.9% of the vote in 1979

  • This fell to 42.4% in 1983 and 42.2% in 1987

  • No Conservative government in this period won the support of a majority of those who voted

• The electoral system increased the size of Conservative majorities

  • In 1983, the Alliance finished only 2.2 percentage points behind Labour

    • It still won 186 fewer seats

    • The division of the opposition vote therefore helped turn the Conservatives' largest share of the vote (less than half) into large Commons majorities

• Conservative support was uneven across Britain

  • Labour remained much stronger in Scotland, Wales and the northern cities

  • Thatcher's support was concentrated more heavily in southern England and the Midlands

• Thatcher's position had been much weaker earlier in the decade

  • In 1981, her government was deeply unpopular

  • The Falklands War played an important part in the political recovery that followed

• Cabinet opposition did not disappear

  • Westland demonstrated that a senior minister was willing to resign publicly over Thatcher's leadership

• Northern Ireland also showed the limits of government control

  • The Anglo-Irish Agreement was opposed by both unionists and republicans

  • Violence continued despite the Agreement

Approach: Paddy Ashdown was a Liberal Democrat politician who became party leader in 1988. He wrote these recollections after Thatcher’s period in office and describes her as politically powerful because of her determination and strength of character

The source is useful because the praise comes from a political opponent rather than a Conservative supporter. However, Ashdown was writing with hindsight, after Thatcher’s dominance had already become part of her political reputation. It is therefore stronger for showing how her leadership was remembered than for measuring how secure her position actually was at the time