Margaret Thatcher and Her Downfall - Essay Example

Margaret Thatcher and her downfall Margaret Thatcher and her downfall Introduction Britain’s former prime minister, Margaret Thatcher is consideredas the “lady of Iron” in British politics. She was very much adamant with her policies and was never afraid of the consequences since she was absolutely sure about of the success of her policies. Margaret Thatcher’s reformation policies were still discussed by political analysts because of its relevance in the current world of Globalization and Liberalization. Her policies were not understandable to the common public at that time because of their lack of awareness about the need and usefulness of Globalization, Liberalization and Privatization. The concept of collective development through Globalization was a new concept for the British public at that time. Unemployment, Privatization of the public companies and the revised tax system were the main areas were the British public differenced with Mrs. Thatcher which ultimately resulted in her ouster from the prime minister ship. Now the “Thatcherism” and its importance were recognized by the British public more than ever. Mrs. Thatcher was fortunate enough to witness all such changes in attitudes of the British public against her and her policies. Margaret Thatcher as Britain’s Prime Minister Though Margaret Thatcher was succeeded in three consecutive elections, it doesn’t mean that her prime minister- ship provided golden days for the British people. Margaret Thatcher and her downfall 2 Most of her economic, social and political policies were still debated. Though her policies succeeded in reducing inflation and budget expenditures the people of Britain suffered lot of indirect tax increases, social inequalities and unemployment during her services in the prime minister’s office. Privatization policies of Margaret Thatcher “Even as the rest of Europe toyed with socialism and state ownership, she set about privatizing the nationalized industries, which had been hitherto sacrosanct, no matter how inefficient. It worked. British Airways, an embarrassingly slovenly national carrier that very seldom showed a profit, was privatized and transformed into one of the worlds best and most profitable airlines”1 “When Margaret Thatcher took office, there were 3 million private shareholders; when she left, there were almost 11 and a half million. The tabloid newspapers latched onto this and joined their broadsheet cousins in publishing alongside the racing columns share market information and news. The popularity of privatization increased as each industry was floated on the stock exchange. When the gas industry was launched, the shares were oversubscribed by 500 percent”2 . “Before 1987 several key industries and public utilities had been transferred to private ownership, including the telephone system, the ports, British Gas, Margaret Thatcher and her downfall 3 and British Airways. Thatcher continued this policy of privatization, notably in two key areas: water and electricity.3 Thatcher believed in reduced involvement of state in economic matters and she went ahead with free market policies which were not understandable to the public at that time. She thought that the state intervention in economic matters is more than what is required. For the sustained growth of economy she believed that the free markets are the option which involves more and more private participation in the public sectors as well. Based on this view she reduced expenditure on social services like health, education, housing etc. Such privatization policies were strongly opposed by the left parties and the general public as well. But when we think about such policies with respect to the current world of Globalization, Liberalization and Privatization we can conclude that Thatcher was right in her reforms and she was succeeded in shaping the economy of Britain with respect to the future demands of the world. The Globalization, Liberalization and Privatization policies which are popular at present were not widely accepted by the British public during the Thatcher era. The British people were not aware of the benefits of Globalization and Privatization in the 80’s. The denationalisation of major public organizations like, British Airways, British Telecom, British Steel Rolls Royce etc were hard to digest for the British people. These companies were considered as some kind of monuments for the British public. But Margaret Thatcher and her downfall 4 Thatcher was confident of her reformation policies and she was well aware of the long term benefits of such policies. So she decided to avoid the public protest and continued with her reformation processes for the long term benefits of Britain. Tax policies of Margaret Thatcher “Her popularity was severely damaged when the Community Charge (Poll Tax) was introduced in Scotland in April 1989.The new tax was extremely unpopular and led to public demonstrations.” 4 By 1990, a growing opposition to Margaret Thatcher’s tax policies and foreign policy created a situation where her popularity within the Conservative Party was challenged5 The new tax system in which she replaced local taxes with community tax was not acceptable to the general public at that time though the present analysts are of the view that Thatcher made the right step in the already messed up tax system in Britain. The property taxes were made uniform and the residential property tax was replaced by head tax or individual taxes. The general public failed to realize the long term benefits of such a tax system to the country and they started to criticise Thatcher’s policies more severely. Her popularity started to decline as she refused to compromise on the newly employed tax system which finally resulted in her resignation. Margaret Thatcher and her downfall 5 Unemployment and Margaret Thatcher Unemployment was a big problem during the first phase of Thatcher era which resulted in dissatisfaction among the public about her policies. The cutting down of business subsidies and the privatization strategies were adversely affected the business sector during this period. The social inequalities were increased and the authority of local governing authorities and public sector professionals weakened during the first phase of Thatcher administration. The insecurity among the workers increased a lot during this period. Critiques accuse Thatcher for her failure in tackling the unemployment problem. We can see that this accusation is partly correct as the early stages of Thatcher era was marked with severe unemployment problems. But at the same time we can see that because of the reforms implemented by Thatcher unemployment problem has reduced a lot later. The policies adopted by Thatcher for tackling unemployment problem did not yield immediate results. As we know people need immediate solutions for every problem and in that respect we can say that Thatcher failed her attempts Trade Unions and Margaret Thatcher “The defeat of the trade unions, together with privatization, represented one of Margaret Thatchers greatest successes.” 6 “The labor movement as a whole put up bitter resistance to the governments trade union reforms, which began with legislation Margaret Thatcher and her downfall 6 in 1980 and 1982 and continued after the General Election. The miners strike was one of the most violent and long lasting in British history. The outcome was uncertain, but after many turns in the road, the union was defeated. This proved a crucial development, because it ensured that the Thatcher reforms would endure. In the years that followed, the Labor Opposition quietly accepted the popularity and success of the trade union legislation and pledged not to reverse its key components.”7 Mrs. Thatcher was against excessive unionism and she has imposed lot of regulations over the labour unions which raised lot of agitations among the workers. But such objections were short lived and Thatcher finally succeeded in imposing strong control over unions. At that time lot of people alleged Thatcher as a dictator especially the left parties and the working class. The British people should be grateful to Mrs. Thatcher for destroying the unhealthy strikes and unionism in Britain. The manufacturing units of Great Britain in the 21 st century is not much agitated with unionism or strikes and the people of Britain should be grateful to Thatcher for her contributions in the trade union sector. The current positive trends and productivity in manufacturing field is greatly owed to Mrs. Thatcher. Events leading up to Margaret Thatcher’s downfall Margaret Thatcher’s ouster from power was mainly due to her policies on local government taxes and the differences in her party regarding the European integration. Margaret Thatcher and her downfall 7 One of Thatcher’s greatest supporters Geoffrey Howe resigned from his post as deputy prime minister because of his protest against European policy. His resignation speech in house of commons laid foundation for Thatcher’s ouster from power. More over one of her cabinet colleague Michael Heseltine gained immense support and challenged her for the leadership post. The differences in her party made her think about withdrawing her candidature as she suspected the differences may result in a defeat for her party in the elections. She has given more value to her party rather than power and finally informed the cabinet and the Queen that she has decided against competing in the elections which actually stunned the British public. “Walters was an official adviser to Thatcher for two periods: from 1981 to 1984, and in 1989. In the early days of Thatchers government, he was a valued member of the small group of outsiders who provided intellectual and academic support for its policies. His departure in 1989 was a symptom, rather than a cause, of the complete breakdown of trust between the prime minister and her chancellor, Nigel Lawson”8 “Facing heightened opposition from Howe and Lawson over her refusal to consider British membership of Europe’s exchange-rate mechanism, Thatcher asked Walters to take up what had been a longstanding open invitation to return once again as her full-time adviser. The result was interpersonal conflagration. As onlookers recalled, Thatcher’s well-known closeness to Walters soon prompted questions about whether he or Lawson was the real Chancellor. Walters, almost from the day of his arrival, was Margaret Thatcher and her downfall 8 accused of showing insufficient circumspection, making remarks undermining Lawson’s position”.9 The controversial figure of Sir Alan Walters, as an economic adviser, sometimes official, sometimes unofficial, to Margaret Thatcher when she was Conservative prime minister, was also contributed immensely to Margaret Thatcher’s decision, not to context in the next elections. There was a cold war between Thatcher’s chancellor Nigel Lawson and economic adviser, Alan Walters. Lawson was not at all interested in Walter’s intervention in his authorities and also he suspected that Mrs. Thatcher was unable to control the activities of Walters properly. Both of them looked suspiciously to each other. Also Thatcher’s blind belief in Walter’s abilities has angered Lawson and finally he decided to quit his post as chancellor. These bureaucratic conflicts resulted in making Thatcher’s policies unpopular among public which finally contributed to the decision of Mrs. Thatcher to withdraw his candidature from competing for another term in the prime minister’s office. Comparison of Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher “Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair have many similarities in their policies, especially when it comes to the economy. But they also have some differences. Though they are from different political parties, they were fairly like-minded when running the government. Margaret Thatcher and her downfall 9 Both did many great things to bring Great Britain to the forefront of world economics.”10 Margaret Thatcher’s greatest achievement was her success in bringing Britain back from the evils of recession in 1970. The greatest difference between Blair and Thatcher was in their views on government’s role in economy. Blair’s policies were more aligned towards the left views while Thatcher adheres with the right front views. Thatcher was interested in cutting down the taxes and inflation while Tony Blair has raised the taxes when he first came to the office. Contributions & Relationships of Margaret Thatcher   As everybody knows she was a severe critique of the Soviet Union till Michael Gorbachev introduced his famous policies like ‘perestroika’ and ‘glasnost’ in Soviet Union. Her meeting with Gorbachev contributed in changing her policies towards Soviet Union and she also played a vital role in ending the cold war. So we can conclude that, Thatcher was not adamant in her policies and she was ready to reconsider her views based on the changing world politics. She had kept a good relationship with US and the president Ronald Reagan. Since both of them belong to the conservative parties, their views and policies were similar in nature. Political analysts are still not clear about Mrs. Thatcher’s relationships with Queen Elizabeth II. Though Thatcher visited the Queen once in every week, many people believed that there were a lot of differences between Thatcher and the Queen in Margaret Thatcher and her downfall 10 most of the social and political issues though there was no animosity between them. Both of them kept a diplomatic silence about their relationships which resulted in many speculations even now. Being a chemist in her former profession Thatcher was interested in environmental issues and her speeches regarding the global warming, acid rain, and ozone depletion were widely accepted and noticed. Her contributions were not limited to the British people alone as seen in the cases of her views about environmental issues and relationships with Soviet Union Conclusion “After her resignation in 1990, a MORI poll found that 52% of Britons agreed that "On balance she had been good for the country", while 48% disagreed, thinking she had not. In April 2008, the London Daily Telegraph commissioned a poll asking who Britons regard as the greatest post-World War II prime minister; Thatcher came in first, receiving 34% of the vote, while Winston Churchill ranked second with 15%.Thatcher has been the subject of a number of television programs, documentaries, films and plays. She was also the inspiration for a number of protest songs”.11 For the supporters, Margaret Thatcher will be remembered as a saviour who regained Britain’s status as a world power and also revitalized the British economy through the Liberalization and privatization policies which were unknown to the world earlier. Even the successive Tory Margaret Thatcher and her downfall 11 and Labour governments followed by the Thatcher regime followed the same privatization policies started by Mrs. Thatcher which is considered as a recognition to Thatcher’s economic policies even by the opposition. Most of the policies adopted by Thatcher were with the view of long term growth prospects rather than the short term benefits. Margaret Thatcher was firm in her policies and thoughts and its implementations. She was never afraid of any type of criticisms and continued with her reformations for the development of a prosperous Britain in which she succeeded. Thatcher’s policies were not evaluated properly at the time of her regime which resulted in many criticisms from every corner. Even her party colleagues failed in evaluating her policies and reforms. “In 1990, her cabinet was divided over issues including the European Community which forced her resignation” (Britain’s Prime ministers)But the modern world now recognized the importance of Thatcherism and the current British people respect her contributions more than the people under her regime. Margaret Thatcher and her downfall 12 Works Cited 1. Britain’s Prime ministers, Margaret Thatcher - Retrieved on February 19, 2009 http://www.britannia.com/gov/primes/prime56.html 2. Margaret Thatcher,(2009) Answers.com - Retrieved on February 19, 2009 http://www.answers.com/topic/margaret-thatcher 3. John Simkin (BA, MA, MPhil, (1997)Spartacus Educational - Retrieved on February 19, 2009 http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/COLDthatcher.htm 4. Paul Johnson, (1998) Leaders and Revolutionaries – Margaret Thatcher, Retrieved on February 19, 2009 http://www.time.com/time/time100/leaders/profile/thatcher2.html 5. Alan Budd (2009) Obituary Sir Alan Walters, Retrieved on February 19,2009, http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/jan/06/sir-alan-walters-obituary 6. Sir Alan Walters: the Times obituary (2009), Retrieved on February 19,2009, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article5451385.ece Margaret Thatcher and her downfall 13 7. Blair vs. Thatcher, (2007) Retrieved on February 19, 2009, http://jacob17.wordpress.com/2007/02/12/blair-vs-thatcher/ 8. Sir Boyson Rhodes and Martino Antonio,(1999) What We Can Learn from Margaret Thatcher, Retrieved on February 19, 2009, http://www.heritage.org/research/politicalphilosophy/hl650.cfm 9. Malcolm Tatum,(2003) Who is Margaret Thatcher? Retrieved on February 19, 2009, http://www.wisegeek.com/who-is-margaret-thatcher.htm 10. Margaret Thatcher Foundation,(2009) Biography, Retrieved on February 19, 2009, http://www.margaretthatcher.org/essential/biography.asp Read More