Blair goes, Thatcherism lives on
In the last days of Blair’s premiership, Simon Jenkins is struck by the stunning resilience of Thatcherite doctrine: in time, New Labour will be seen as nothing but a change of crew
As a result, on taking office in 1997, Blair’s policy cupboard was astonishingly bare of originality. Apart from devolution and a ragbag of targetry, it was a vapid concoction of ‘third way’ platitudes. Civil servants expecting to receive detailed briefs from incoming policy groups received nothing, only demands from Blair for daily initiatives to respond to headlines. Brown arrived at the Treasury scarcely better equipped, committed only to honouring Tory spending limits and to a modest scheme, ludicrously overspun, to relocate the monetary policy committee in the Bank of England. Blair and Brown were like two generals who knew how to win a bridgehead but lacked a plan for moving beyond.
There was one institution to hand with policies and to spare — the Treasury, and the new government grasped at its offerings with alacrity. The Treasury was the holy shrine of Thatcherism. Flitting through its corridors were the Marx and Engels of the new ideology, Geoffrey Howe and Nigel Lawson. To Brown, here was a department of clever, aloof, secretive ascetics who talked only to bankers and to God. Though Brown did not warm to Treasury officials — or anyone in government — he liked their ethos. Under the 1994 Granita agreement with Blair he enjoyed sovereignty over domestic policy and now happily delivered Thatcherism to the Downing Street court, against any amount of Cabinet and party scepticism.
Brown proved more Thatcherite than any of his predecessors, plunging where they had feared to tread. Thatcher had opposed rail, coal and Post Office privatisation. Brown not only accepted every privatisation so far undertaken but faced down Blair and insisted that the London Tube be sold on risk-free 30-year contracts to private companies. He privatised the Royal Mint, the Tote, the Commonwealth Development Corporation and as much as he could of the government estate, even selling the Inland Revenue to an offshore tax shelter. He encouraged councils to privatise their tower blocks, pension funds, parking schemes, even themselves (Westminster City is run by a private company). Brown loved Thatcherite terminology, talking about tiger economies, turbo-capitalism, cyber-revolution and e-government.
More articles from: Simon Jenkins | this section
Post this entry to: del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit
Advertisement
Labour’s U-turn on social housing for non-immigrants is welcome but too late
Rod LiddleRod Liddle says that metropolitan liberal ideology is too deeply ingrained in local councils, social services and the judiciary to be overturned by one panic measure driven by Labour’s sudden fear of the BNP
To become an extremist, hang around with people you agree with
Cass SunsteinCass Sunstein — co-author of the hugely influential Nudge and an adviser to President Obama — unveils his new theory of ‘group polarisation’, and explains why, when like-minded people spend time with each other, their views become not only more confident but more extreme
Who would have thought a herd could moonwalk?
Mark EarlsThe acclaimed web theorist, Mark Earls, says that the death of Michael Jackson unleashed the extremes of collective action: mass mourning and sick jokes
A splendid lunch with Jimmy McNulty
Deborah RossIn the first of an occasional series of interviews over meals, Deborah Ross talks to Dominic West about The Wire and the challenge to an Old Etonian of playing an American cop
What Jacko needed was someone to say ‘No’
Uri Geller
My defining memory of Michael Jackson — vulnerable, brilliant, otherworldly — is of watching him dance to the soundtrack of a movie.
No more consensus: this time there is a choice
Irwin StelzerThe next election will present voters with two distinct futures, says Irwin Stelzer: Labour’s rising taxes and love of the EU, or the Tories’ spending cuts and plans for the ‘broken society’
Gordon pleads for one last chance from the girls
Melissa KiteMelissa Kite says that the PM is ill at ease with female colleagues. No surprise that it was the women — Blears, Flint, Kennedy — who rebelled while the men hid under the table
The real sickness is Labour’s, not Brown’s
Fraser NelsonFraser Nelson says that the governing party has lost its hunger for office — and is now unhealthily dominated by the mega-union Unite and its political chieftain, Charlie Whelan
We came close to losing our democracy in 1979
Douglas EdenDouglas Eden reveals the extraordinary penetration of the 1970s Labour movement by pro-Soviet trade unionists and the extent of Callaghan’s toleration of the hard Left
Hague’s EU policy would be suicidal for Britain
David Miliband
The year ahead is crucial for the European Union.
Latest blog posts
sponsored links
BIG SAND STEEL BAND
IF YOU ARE PLANNING A CHAMPAGNE RECEPTION and looking for some light entertainment, you can now hire London's busiest steel
BOSC LEBAT, Tarn et Garonne.
BOSC LEBAT, SW France. Only 45 minutes from Toulouse Airport with daily flights from most provincial airports avoiding the horrors
ROME CENTRE
PORTA METRONIA, ROME Standing high on the top of one of the seven hills of Rome- the Coelian- this unique
Spectator Business | Apollo Magazine
Corporate | Advertising | Privacy | Terms
Spectator, 22 Old Queen Street, London, SW1H 9HP
All Articles and Content Copyright ©2008 by The Spectator | All Rights Reserved