Thatcher and Major: Marketing a Conservative Identity

Abstract

Political marketing with respect to the portrayal of class and wealth was present in British politics in advance of the rise to power of Margaret Thatcher in 1979. It was only brought to the fore however as an essential aspect of political presentation with a popular appreciation of the use of advertising agencies by the Conservative party in 1979.¹ Thatcher’s ascendancy through the ranks of the Conservative party and final rise to the position of prime minister marked a clear breakthrough in the realm of political marketing. Not only were advertising agencies used to advance the Conservative cause in the 1979 general election, but Thatcher carefully portrayed herself as a product of lower-middle class Britain, as a woman in tune with the needs of those who were adversely affected by industrial disputes and the winter of discontent which had afflicted Britain at that time. This image was slowly deconstructed during Thatcher’s time in office, culminating in her being ousted by her party in 1990 in anticipation that she was an electoral liability in any forthcoming general election, and that she had become aloof and disconnected from the voting mass. Her successor, John Major, followed a familiar furrow to that ploughed by Thatcher in the creation of a political persona designed to appeal to popular sentiments. He accentuated his working-class roots, played heavily upon his social connections with the British people and had both the skill and good fortune to lead his party to a narrow victory in the 1992 general election.