A spectre is haunting British politics. Its outline is instantly recognisable to every Briton of a certain age: hair coiffed into a halo, shoulders firmed up with pads and, jutting out from the left wrist, the inevitable handbag.
More than three decades after she was driven out of No 10, and a decade after her death, Margaret Thatcher still casts a long shadow over the country she once ruled, and her party. Rishi Sunak sat in her old Rover ( and tweeted about it, naturally) and Liz Truss copied her wardrobe. She influenced the Labour party under Tony Blair, though this admiration was first tempered by Labour under Ed Miliband and even more under Jeremy Corbyn. Sir Keir Starmer’s praise for Mrs Thatcher is perhaps more about internal Labour politics than about the Tories’ “leaderene”.
For some, however, she remained the country’s “saviour”. As the UK became the sick man of Europe, along came its first woman prime minister – closing down industries and cutting spending. Supporters acknowledge this hurt, but say it worked. History has not been kind about such judgments. Her emphasis on monetarism proved wrong. She bequeathed a dismal legacy of greed and inequality. » | Editorial | Wednesday, December 6, 2023
