The Impact of Thatcherism 1979-87 Flashcards
When was Britain self-sufficient in oil?
1980
1979 election
If it were held in Autumn 1978 it likely would have win an easy win for Labour
Thatcher v Callaghan
Although solved, the WoD made people question the viability of democratic socialism
“Labour’s not working”
Majority of 44 seats
Conservatives used Saatchi & Saatchi for advertising
What did Callaghan blame for his 1979 loss
A “sea change” (ie the core political views of the country had changed after WoD paving the way for Thatcherism)
What was Thatcher’s background
Methodist daughter of an affluent and political greengrocer. Raised on principles of self-reliance and individualism
Thatcher’s 1981 Tory Party Conference quip
“To those waiting with bated breath for that favourite media catchphrase, the U-turn, I have only one thing to say. You turn if you want to. The lady’s not for turning.”
Examples of wets and dries in Thatcher’s cabinet
Wets:
Jim Prior
Lord Carrington
Willie Whitelaw
Dries:
Norman Tebbit
Nigel Lawson
Geoffrey Howe
New Right view on society
Socially conservative
Anti-permissive society (believes it leads to a breakdown in societal norms and crime)
Society is the collection of individuals, and so we should focus more on the self and family than any broader society or community
What were the first years of Thatcherism called?
The Wasted Years (didn’t have the political capital or cabinet support to see through reforms before Falklands)
Thatcher’s economic policies 1979-83
Income tax cut to 30%
Interest rates hiked to 14% to cut money supply
What was the main disagreement between Thatcher and Jim Prior
Prior (Employment Minister) was seen as too friendly towards unions, so he was moved to NI ministry in 1981
What changed did Thatcher make to her cabinet after winning the 1983 election?
Turned her cabinet into a dry-dominated cabinet
Nigel Lawson promoted to Chancellor
Prior -> Tebbit in employment
Lord Carrington -> Howe in the foreign office
What was the economic ideologies of Thatcher?
Neoliberalism / Supply Side Economics:
Low taxes, privatisation, weak TUs, pro-business
Monetarism: (dropped in 1984)
Limit the money supply in the economy (low public sector spending and high interest rates)
Why did Thatcher drop monetarism?
It was difficult to control the amount of money in the economy in a free market, money flowed into the economy from trade which couldn’t be easily controlled without significant state intervention in the economy
How did Thatcher fail to implement TU reform in her Wasted Years?
The report ‘Stepping Stones’ called for too harsh of an approach according to Prior, and so was never implemented while he was employment secretary
What form of taxation did Thatcher prefer?
Indirect taxation (ie VAT) over direct taxes (income and corporation tax)
Who were the Labour leaders in this period (1979-87)
Jim Callaghan 79-80
Michael Foot 1980-83
Neil Kinnock 1983-92
1980 Labour Leadership election
Michael Foot v Denis Healey
52% - 48%
Led to the Gang of Four breaking away
Which group split off from Labour?
Social Democratic Party (1981)
After the Left-wing Foot became Labour leader, and the hard-left heckled moderated in the 1981 Wembley party conference the moderate Gang of Four made the Limehouse Declaration, declaring they would split from the party over its leftwards shift.
28MPs followed them
Labour’s 1983 manifesto
Nicknamed the ‘Longest Suicide Note in History’ by Kaufman
Written by Foot and Benn
Unilateral nuclear disarmament
Abolition of the House of Lords
Withdrawal from EEC
Higher taxes
Renationalising industries Thatcher had denationalised
Who were the Gang of Four?
Roy Jenkins, Shirley Williams, David Owens, Bill Rodgers
SDP by-election victories
Shirley Williams in Crosby 1981
Roy Jenkins in Glasgow Hillhead 1982
Both displaced Tory MPs
The Alliance
An electoral pact between the SDP and the Liberals from 1981-88. The two parties wouldn’t stand two candidates in one constituency to avoid splitting the moderate vote
‘Two Davids’ - The two party leaders (Steele for Liberals and Owens for SDP)
Overtook Labour as the credible opposition to Thather during the Foot-era
How many seats were the SDP predicted to win in some 1981 polls
600 (Labour too left, Thather to impotent)
Millitant Tendency
A Trotskyite organisation that had infiltrated Labour in the 70s and 80s. Took over the Liverpool branch of the party. Part of the reason why moderates abandoned Labour in the Thatcher era.
Persecuted under Kinnock, with him denouncing them at the 1985 Labour party conference.
Neil Kinnock
Welsh leader of the Labour party 1983-92
Left-wing beliefs but realised the need for the modernisation of the party after losing in 1983.
Attacked the hard-left (Militant Tendency, Scargill and Bennites). Went against his own unilateralist and socialist principles to try and unseat Thatcher.
Thatcher’s popularity in 1982
One of the least popular in living history
1983 Election
Thatcher v Foot
Khaki election (Falklands)
Labour was very Left
150 seat majority
Labour got 27% of the vote
13m Tory votes v 16m anti-Tory votes
Alliance had half a million fewer votes that Labour but 186 fewer seats
1987 election
Thatcher v Kinnock
Tories promised lower taxes, growth and strong defence
Tories backed by the press
Labour still seen as Left-dominated
Labour made gains against Alliance, with 31%
Tory vote at 1983 levels
First time a leader had won three successive elections since 1820
Labour gained 20 seats from Tories
102 seat majority for Thatcher
SDP golden era
1981-82 between founding and Falklands War
Polled at 40% before Falklands War
NI: Hunger Strike
The blanket protest at Maze Prison by IRA prisoners stripped of their Special Category Status had escalated into a hunger strike in 1981.
One of the imprisoned hunger strikers Bobby Sands was elected an MP for the ‘Anti H-Block Party’ in the Fermagh by-election in 1981, before starving to death that year, leading to a large amount of publicity for the hunger strike.
Thatcher did not give in to their demands
10 prisoners starved to death in the end
NI: High-profile targets of nationalists under Thatcher
Lord Mountbatten (1979 IRA)
Airey Neave MP (1979 INLA)
NI: Armalite and Ballot Box Strategy
Sinn Fein / IRA strategy divised by Gerry Adams wherein the terror campaign would continue (Armalite), but they would also focus on winning electoral seats after the election of Bobby Sands showed they could win seats.
Sinn Fein remained abstentionist though, as they didn’t want to swear allegiance to the queen
NI: Brighton Bombing
The IRA detonated a bomb in the Grand Hotel in Brighton while the cabinet was staying there for the 1984 Tory party conference.
Five were killed including Sir Anthony Berry MP
Right to Buy Scheme
Allowed people to buy their council houses at a reduced cost (33-50% discount, 70% for flats)
Councils told to use the money gained to pay off debts instead of building new houses
Tried to end the reliance of tenants on the state
Very popular
Initially opposed by Labour, but adopted due to its popularity
How many people bought their council houses with the Right to Buy Scheme?
2m by 1988
Millitant in Liverpool
Militant Tendency had infiltrated the Liverpool City Council under a Labour ticket
In 1985, the council rebelled against the Conservative government by passsing an illegal budget spending more than the government gave them, and when the government didn’t give the council the extra money, the council fired all 33,000 of its public sector workers in protest.
This was heavily criticised by Neil Kinnock in the 1985 party conference, and led him to expell Militant Tendency from the party
What percentage of government income came from North Sea Oil under Thatcher?
10%
NI: Anglo-Irish Treaty
aka Hillsborough Agreement 1985
Gave Ireland an advisory role in how NI is run.
Tried to strengthen moderate nationalists against Sinn Fein.
Opposed by nationalists and unionists
NI: Troubles bombings and attacks under Thatcher
1982- Hyde Park Bombings killed 11 soldiers
1984- Brighton Bombings killed 5
1987- SAS kileld 8 IRA members and 1 civillian in the Loughgall Ambush
Recession under Thatcher
Early 80s Recession:
1980-83
Most severe since WW2
17% interest rates, pursuance of monetarism, and the transition to a service based economy caused it
Stagflation was back
Began the era of systemic high unemployment
Inflation, growth and unemployment in 1980
15% inflation
-4% growth
2m unemployed
1981 budget
During a recession partially caused by monetarist measures
Government borrowing decreased
Grants to councils cut
Benefits frozen despite 15% inflation
“Biggest fiscal squeeze of peacetime” according to a government advisor
Change in top rate of income tax, standard rate of income tax and VAT under Thatcher
Top Rate: 83% -> 40%
Standard Rate: 33% -> 25%
VAT: 8% -> 15%
Greater London Council Leader
Ken Livingston
Left-wing socialist
Clashed with Thatcher as she didn’t like the GLC’s high spending education and transport
So she shut down the GLC in 1981
Loony Left
Derogatory term for hard-left councils that spent a lot and allegedly had overly progressive ideologies during the 80s
Often supported unilateralism, Irish republicanism and Fidel Castro.
Myths of Hackney Council banned the singing of Baa Baa Black Sheep because it was racist
Rate capping
The Conservative government imposed spending restrictions on high-spending Labour councils.
Led to the rate-capping rebellions (eg Millitant in Liverpool)
1986 Local Government Act
Closed down metropolitan local authorities set up by Heath, centralising power in Westminster
Section 28 infamously banned schools talking about homosexuality
Privatisation Timeline
1984 - BT
1986 - British Gas
1988 - British Steel
1989 - Water
Pros and Cons of denationalisation
Pros:
-Influx of money to government to fund tax cuts
- Increased competition
- Taxpayer no longer had to fund inefficient firms
Cons:
- Sold off too cheaply to ensure all the shared were sold off
- In many cases competition didn’t increase (water and rail)
- Led to unemployment
Number of shareholders increase under Thatcher
3m -> 9m
How did Thatcher support small businesses
Loan Guarantee Scheme made it easier for small businesses to apply for loans
Enterprise Allowance Scheme gave money to unemployed people who started their own business to the tune of £40 a week for its first year
The Big Bang
1986
Financial deregulation of the City
Lines between jobbers and brokers blurred
Large banks flooded into London bringing trillions to store in London
Made London the financial capital of Europe
Created yuppies, and a get-rich-quick mentality in the UK
Average GDP growth of economies 1980-88
Japan - 4%
UK - 2.2%
UK was above France and Germany though, less than Italy and US
80s was about the same level of growth as 70s
Peak and trough of GDP growth under Thatcher
4.6% in 1986
-4.0% in 1980
Lowest and average inflation under Thatcher
Lowest - 3% (1986)
Average - 7%
Employment in manufacturing under Thatcher
7m -> 5m
Highest and average unemployment under Thatcher
13.5% (3m) in 1983
10% Average
Liverpool unemployment rate
25% peak - 60% amongst black youth
Manufacturing output fall
Down 15% in two years
Steel production down 30%
Outcome of the increasing North-South divide on society
Uptick in drug usage, violence and depression in destitute areas
1981 riots
Conservative policy on Liverpool
Leave it to a “managed decline” - Howe
1981 Riots
Political riots in English cities with high unemployment due to deindustrialisation
Brixton, Toxteth and Handsworth notably
Scarman Report identified poverty and race as the key causes of it
Support for Thatcher polled at 27%
Sus law
Gave police the right to stop and search those that look like they might commit a crime.
Racial minorities were unfairly targeted by police officers
1000 people were stopped in 6 days during Operation Swamp shortly before Brixton riots
Who was Thatcher’s nemesis in the party?
Michael Heseltine
Heseltine in Liverpool
Heseltine clashed with Thatcher and the rest of the cabinet by pushing for greater Keynesian investment into the declining Liverpool dockyards.
Spent a lot of his time as Environment Secretary improving Liverpool
Tried a similar campaign to rennovate the West India Dockywards in Canary Wharf
Pros and Cons of the Right to Buy Scheme
Pros:
Allowed many to get onto the property ladder for a low cost
Paid off debts of councils
Gave tenants more of a choice over how to run and design their household
Cons:
Increased house prices in the long run as the prices for more houses were dictated by the market
Buy-to-rent sector that emerged boosted prices
Quality of rental houses decreased sharply
High interest rates meant many homes were repossessed
Which public sector workers went on stike under Thatcher
Teachers (first time)
NHS workers (public support)
Fleet Street printers
Coalminers
How were TUs restrained under Thatcher
GCHQ were banned from unionising
1980 Employment Act force TUs to hold ballotsand banned secondary picketting
Confrontation with Miners
Wapping Dispute
- Rupert Murdoch tried union-bashing, newspaper printers in his Wapping plant on Fleet Street. The strike was unsuccessful but lasted a year and showed how private sector unions also lost power after the Miner’s Strike as attitudes changed.
NUM: When was the Miners’ Strike?
1984-85
NUM: What did Thatcher call the miners?
“The enemy within”, in reference Galtieri
NUM: Background of the strikes
National Coal Board warned of the need to close 23 mines in 1981.
By 1984 it had built up a stockpile as to allow for a confrontation with the NUM. NCB leader Ian MacGregor had government backing to take a hard line towards the tetchy miners.
NUM: President of the NUM
Arthur Scargill; a militant and charismatic Marxist
NUM: What triggered the strike?
National Coal Board announced they would be closing 20 pits, Scargill claimed he had seen secret plans to close 70 pits (this was true).
Scargill did not hold a strike but still declared a NUM strike losing him credibility
NUM: Splinter union
Opposing Scargill’s decision to go on strike without a ballot, and having a historical feud with other miners, the Nottinghamshire members of the NUM decided to splinter and form the Union of Democratic Mineworkers (UDM).
Scargillites called the UDM scabs and traitors
UDM called Scargill more interested in hard-left politics than the wellbeing of his union members
Nottinghamshire miners were also better off than other miners in other parts of the country
NUM: Battle of Orgreave
June 1984
Mass picket at Orgreave coke plant in Yorkshire by 5000 miners.
8000 militarised police officers fought them in a violent confrontation
120 were injured, and the lorries kept on rolling, defeat for the miners
NUM: Why didn’t Labour support the strikers?
Led by the moderate Kinnock who was trying to modernise the party
Scargill didn’t hold a ballot
The NUM were recieving funds from Gadaffi
“The miners didn’t deserve him”-Kinnock
NUM: Ridley Plan
1977 plan by Thatcherite MP Nick Ridley for how to defeat and subvert a future strike from the NUM in order to privatise the pits
Decline in union membership under Thatcher
Down a third
Coal employees decline under Thatcher
200,000 -> 60,000
Reorganisation of British Steel
Following the defeat of the coalminers, British Steel, British airways and other industries were reorganised with large scale redundencies in order to turn the company profitable again
NUM: How productive were British miners?
30% less efficient than European miners
Who was Ian MacGregor
Harsh industrialist who Thatcher made boss of British Steel after the steelworkers went on strike in 1980 to brutally reorganise the firm so it would make a profit again.
Was also head of the National Coal Board during the 1984-85 NUM strike, with a simillarly cost-cutting business attitude
NUM: What attitudes did Thatcher take towards the striking miners?
They were stripped of welfare benefits
They had their assets seized by the government
NUM: December 1984 Gallup poll
88% disapproved of the methods of the miners
How much was made from the sale of British Gas in 1986?
£5.4bn
UK Rebate
UK paid a lot of VAT to the EEC, and the small British agricultural sector meant that we didn’t get much subsidies from the Common Agricultural Policy that we were funding
In the Fontainebleau Council in 1984, Thatcher said “I want my money back”, and got 66% of the difference back
Handbag Diplomacy
Name for Thatcher’s abbrasive and confrontational style of hawkish diplomacy
Thatcher and Reagan in Libya
When the US under Reagan bombed Libya, Thatcher gave the US rights to British airbases, no one else in NATO did except Thatcher
Why did Thatcher and Reagan clash over American defence?
Thatcher thought Reagan’s Star Wars programme would not stop nukes and would substitute deterrent for defence.
In the 1986 Reykjavik Summit, Reagan’s sticking to Star Wars prevented Gorbachev from the total removal of nuclear arsenals globally, which MT was furious about
Grenada Invasion
When Reagan invaded Grenada (a Commonwealth country), Thatcher was angry
Falklands: When was the war?
April - June 1982
Falklands: Leader of Argentina
Military junta headed by General Leopold Galtieri
Falklands: How far away was the war fought from the UK?
8,000 miles
Falklands: Controversial event
Sinking of the Belgrano
Highest casualties of any single event of the war
Happened outside of the exclusion zone
“Gotcha” - The Sun’s title
Falklands: Thatcher’s intel
Foreign Sec Lord Carrington warned Thatcher about a risk of an Argentine invasion, but she refused to reinforce the island. Carrington didn’t want to risk their relationship so didn’t press the issue
Falklands: Legality of the war
Lawyers in the war cabinet
UN protocol followed meticolously
Self-defensive war
Sinking of the Belgrano (as it was technically not a war, it was confined to a specific area called the exclusion zone, which the sinking of the Belgrano, and therefore half of Argentine’s casulties’ demise occured outside the zone and were questionably legal)
Falklands: British losses
255 dead, £3bn cost
Falklands: Political outcome of the war
Conservatives lept 10 points ahead of Foot’s pacifistic Labour.
SDP’s rise halted
Boosted support for her personally as she was seen as a heroic patriot (wrapped herself in a Union Jack)
Easy victory in 1983 and establishment of a dry cabinet
The Sun began supporting Thatcher
Anti-nuclear protest
Greenham Common Women:
Camp-in began in 1981 protesting against the housing of American cruise missiles in RAF Greenham Common
In 1983, 70,000 protestors formed a 14-mile human chain
Female only
Why was the pound overvalued?
North Sea Oil
Which TV show encapsulated the life of the unemployed working class under MT?
Boys from the Blackstuff
Debt needed to pay for Thatcher’s unemployment benefits
£30bn
Oxford’s rejection of MT
Thatcher was the only former-Oxford PM to have not been given an honorary degree
Playwrights opposing Thatcher
Caryl Churchill and David Hare
Red Wedge
Music festival opposing Thatcher, frontlined by Billy Bragg
Church of England report under Thatcher
Faith in the City
Called on government to do more to help with deprived urban areas
Prominent pressure groups under Thatcher
CND got a boost from the pro-nuke MT
Shelter helping the new homeless
Greenham Common Women
Greenpeace
Falklands: Who resigned over the war?
Foreing Secretary Lord Carrington
Three anti-communist world leaders who emerged 1979-80
Margaret Thatcher
Pope John Paul II
Ronald Reagan
Thatcher’s position on Europe
Campaigned to join them in 1975
Supported them early on
Got the UK Rebate in 1984
Cooperated in building the Channel Tunnel in 1985
Good relationship with Francois Mitterand
Supported the Single European Act
Supported it before 1987
Single European Act
1986 Largest EEC act the UK joined
Help create a single market
Break down non-tarrif barriers
Eroded British sovreignty (eg ECJ)
Uncontroversial in UK, Thatcher liked Europe moving towards a free market economy
Westland Affair
1986
Should failing British helicopter firm Westland be forcibly taken over by a European consortium through the British government, or left to be snatched by the American Sikorsky.
Defence Secretary Micheal Heseltine thought it would be better if the government interfered to help our defence interests, MT prefered letting the free market decide.
This led to Michel Heseltine storming out of a cabinet meeting and resigning on the spot.
Emblematic of the divisions in the party over government intevention in the economy
Thatcher would say it was the closest she ever got to resigning
Falklands: Leaseback Programme
Sovreignty would be transfered over to Argentina, and they would be leased back to Britain for around 100 years.
Proposed by Nick Ridley in 1980, supported by London and Buenos Aires, by rejected by the Falkland Islanders so it fell apart
Falklands: USA
Reagan initially opposed the war, as the US helped put Galtieri in office to be a strong anti-communist, and the US didn’t care much for empire.
Reagan gave in a supported Britain by letting us use their naval bases and gave us Sidewinder missiles to use
Government revenue from privatisation
1988-89:
£7bn
What did Thatcher believe the three pillars upholding the hard-left were?
1) Labour Party (Militant Tendency)
2) Councils (loony left, Ken Livingstone)
3) Trade Unions (Arthur Scargill)
How many Labour MPs defected to the SDP under Foot?
25 and a Tory
Alan Walters
Prominent SPAD for Thatcher, close economic advisor. Would later cause Lawson’s resignation
The Kissinger Plan
In 1976, Ian Smith capitulated and accepted majority rule to the the Bush War.
Rhodesia-Zimbabwe would be transfered back to British control temporarily while majority rule is set up under the presidency of Robert Mugabe
Thatcher and South Africa
Opposed Commonwealth and EEC sanctions on apartheid-era SA, in an attempt to softly transition to majority rule.
Falklands: UN Resolution
Resolution 502
UN resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Falklands, and for Argentina to withdraw their troops.
They did not comply
Increase in welfare spending under Thatcher
LSE reported that welfare spending was up 1/3 in real terms in 1988 compared to 1974
How many supporter water privatisation?
Polls show 83% dissaproved in 1990
Response to Anglo-Irish Treaty
200,000 unionists protested in Belfast
Unionist paramilitary group Ulster Resistance was set up
What was the Lawson Boom?
Economic boom of late 1980s
What did Heseltine say of the Right to Buy scheme?
“no single piece of legislation has enabled the transfer of so much capital wealth from the state to the people”
