Introduction

Abstract

This book offers an analysis of the Thatcher era in British politics. This era is defined most simply by Margaret Thatcher’s long tenure of the leadership of the Conservative Party, first as leader of the opposition between 1975 and 1979, then as prime minister between 1979 and 1990. The 1980s will be remembered under different names in Russia, France and Iran. But in Britain it will always be the decade of Thatcher and Thatcherism. Having lost four of the five general elections before 1979 the Conservatives won four in a row, three of them under the same leader. The electoral triumph of the Conservatives in the 1980s was so marked that it focused attention on the personality of the leader. Yet a little leader worship was understandable. Margaret Thatcher did not just preside over Conservative success. She personified it. Any leader who survived for as long as she did would have attracted attention. But Thatcher did not just survive; she dominated the political landscape in Britain in a way managed by few of her predecessors. The widespread use of the term ‘Thatcherism’ was one sign of this.