To what extent has the Modern Conservative Party abandoned Thatcherism?
by
jessica1990 (student)
To what extent has the Modern Conservative Party abandoned Thatcherism? (25 marks)
Margret Thatcher was Prime minister from 1979 to 1990. Throughout these years, her way of governing was very aggressive; this style and the policies linked to it became known as Thatcherism. Thatcherism’s main aim was to reduce the role of the state in public services and within the economy; having a lot of faith in individualism. This word, ‘individualism’, means that every person should provide for their family and be responsible for their own wellbeing; it was evident that Mrs Thatcher supported the concept of independence and self-reliance as well as free-markets and a privatised economy. However, David Cameron’s alterations are aiming to move the Tories away from their typical right wing stance and into the centre of politics. This has led to Cameron promoting moderation in terms of modern Liberalism and Conservatism in order to adapt to the constant changing society, where a parties policies need to modernise to allow them to stay in power. The only way of measuring the success of this is to look at state of the Conservatives party’s policies, regarding major issues (eg. Economy etc), from previous years in comparison to now.
The Conservatives have not abandoned Thatcherism, with regard to the economy. In 1979, she shifted the country to a speculative market economy away from a manufacturing based economy. The Thatcherite government also privatised energy suppliers, telecommunications and transport services. This was down to her more modern liberal approach, that public services operate more efficiently when privatised. The Tories oppose to partly converting major banks to state ownership during difficult financial times in the UK, sticking to the liberalised economic policies; Cameron hasn’t indicated that he will return to the traditional Conservative idea of taxing foreign goods, protectionism. Although if he did, it would mean that he would have to re-nationalise and go back to a manufacturing based economy. Nevertheless, when Labour were in power, they continued to privatise the industry; implying that this neo-liberal policy has dominated politics relating to the economy. The avoidance of traditional Conservatism also regards the aim to cut corporation tax to 24 per cent (with a plan to bring it down to 22 per cent by 2014). With the Conservatives gaining power in May 2012, this allowed them to cut the income tax rate down to 45% from 50%. This is because the Conservatives currently don’t believe in the traditional Conservative economic approach and follow a more neo-liberal policy, also used by Thatcher; obviously showing that they haven’t abandoned Thatcherism. This also shows that Cameron has a bit of that Margret Thatcher ‘backbone’; abandoning the parties traditions for more applicable policies that fit in with society’s changes.
