Thatcher As Leader - Character + Ideology

Question 1

What did Thatcher describe herself as?

Answer 1

-a conviction politician
-dismissive of post war consensus which she saw as responsible for Britains ills

Question 2

How did thatchers home life enable her to win the 1979 election?

Answer 2

-from Grantham - claimed lower middle class but private education, went to Oxford + married millionaire
-daughter of grocer Alf Robert’s, local councillor + Methodist lay preacher

Question 3

What laid at the heart of her policies influenced by her home life?

Answer 3

-self reliance + self-improvement lay at heart of her upbringing
-influenced her political beliefs

Question 4

What was thatcher like as a politician?

Answer 4

-was an outsider as not from traditional Tory background
-was suburban, from trade + a woman
-not traditional Tory + sometimes dismissive of Tory Grandees

Question 5

How did her speech in 1976 contribute to her winning the 1979 election?

Answer 5

-the Iron Lady speech espousing anti-communist + anti-USSR attitude
-questioned lab defence cuts (opposition)
-used femininity to establish herself

Question 6

How did the Iron Lady speech of 1976 further help her to secure 1979 victory through her image?

Answer 6

-telegenic image - wearing red
-marketed herself as Br next leader
-drew on femininity - employed it as a way to market herself

Question 7

How did thatcher present herself as a conviction politician?

Answer 7

-1981 speech at party conference ‘you turn if you want to - the lady’s not for turning’
-created image of conviction politician
-also criticism of heathites who u-turned 1972

Question 8

How did the 1979 election broadcast help thatcher to win?

Answer 8

-professional marketing team Satchi + Satchi made her look telegenic — london based corporate marketing team
-dieted + was told what to wear
-moulded to look good in TV

Question 9

What slogans were produced by her marketing teams to further her chances of winning?

Answer 9

-‘what’s best for Britain’
-‘lab isn’t working - Br better of with cons’

Question 10

What was Thatcherism based on?

Answer 10

-she was influenced by intellectuals in the cons party
-such as Powell + her own political + social instincts
-also ‘new right’ think tanks + academics

Question 11

What was the new right?

Answer 11

-neo-liberalism that challenged Keynesian orthodoxy
-drew on work of Friedman + Friedrich Von Hayeck

Question 12

What did the new right promote?

Answer 12

-small state
-less control + intervention in people’s lives + economy
-free market capitalism + monetarism
-social conservatism

Question 13

How did the new right view humanity?

Answer 13

-positive view of human nature but atomistic view of society
-respects for tradition e.g. Christian church, family, marriage
-string on crime + punishment

Question 14

What did the new right include?

Answer 14

-the Centre for Policy Studies est by Keith Joseph
-the Adam Smith Institute 1977 to promote free market policies

Question 15

How did Thatcherite’s view Br economic decline?

Answer 15

-result of failures of successive post-war govs
-supporters also identified moral decline linked to this consensus

Question 16

How did Thatcherites view the free market?

Answer 16

-it was moral
-due to encouraging individuals take responsibility for own actions
-equally true in personal decisions + econ ones

Question 17

How did Thatcherites view society under the new right?

Answer 17

-emphasised order in society
-Thatcher said ‘there are individual men and woman and there are families’
-threats to the family were threats to the order of society

Question 18

How did the Thatcherites view law + order?

Answer 18

-supportive of police
-important in 1979 manifesto + throughout Thatcher’s premiership
-but mid 1980s accusations police become politicised esp during in disputes

Question 19

What did Thatcherism promise in terms of business?

Answer 19

-reduce business dependency on the state
-privatisation + deregulation encourage free market capitalism + high productivity

Question 20

What would privatisation do?

Answer 20

-fuel enterprises, innovation + entrepreneurs

Question 21

What did Thatcherism promise in terms of spending?

Answer 21

-lower public sounding in welfare
-this would decrease public dependency on ‘nanny state’
-in turn lower taxes

Question 22

What was the ‘nanny state’?

Answer 22

-a state in which the people depend on the state to do everything for them

Question 23

What did Thatcherism want to do to the unions and law + order?

Answer 23

-confront TUs to break cycle of wage increase demands - break their power
-reverse social + moral decline of 60s + 70s through strong institutions of law + order

Question 24

How was this different to the post war consensus?

Answer 24

-this had commitment to employment + welfare (NHS)
-Hugh’s tax to increase public spending
-cooperation + compliance with TUs
-Keynesian + mixed econ (nationalisation + privatisation)