Simon Jenkins

Complete the Thatcher revolution

Simon Jenkins says that the Iron Lady’s work will not be complete without the devolution of power to local communities. Is the Tory leader ready to embrace this mission?

Simon Jenkins says that the Iron Lady’s work will not be complete without the devolution of power to local communities. Is the Tory leader ready to embrace this mission?

The Tory party still has to come to terms with Margaret Thatcher. As she broods this week in Chester Square, the revolution associated with her name is still swamping British politics. Labour and Conservative front benches wrangle over the upheavals she initiated like crews clinging to the same wreckage. But with Gordon Brown possibly about to swim free, the Tories must redefine their Thatcherite heritage if they are to persuade electors that they are genuinely new Tories. But redefine does not mean deny.

David Cameron has wisely steered clear of policy, adhering to the Blair maxim that policies never win elections, only lose them. But he has yet to come up with an ideological penumbra, a sense in the air of what a Cameron Britain would be like — the so-called narrative. The message of the polls is that the public likes him but has no idea what he is about.

Most Tories still declare themselves Thatcherites but add such qualifications as ‘with a human face’ or ‘compassionate’. Yet in reality Thatcherism in government is, if anything, stronger than ever. Brown’s last Budget with its emphasis on the private-sector delivery of public services and an insistence on City finance for public investment was near-fundamentalist. It contained nothing to which Lord Howe or Lord Lawson could take exception. Tax credits, benefits reform and fiscal centralism, however ineptly handled, are of the faith. There is as yet no such thing as post-Thatcherism.

Accurately defining the last revolution of the 20th century remains the central challenge of contemporary politics. This means understanding that there was not one Thatcher revolution but two.

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