45 years ago today Margaret Thatcher became the British prime minister, the first woman to hold such a position in Europe. After five years of Labour, the Tories had taken back power, which they then retained for the next 18 years.
As the results of yesterday’s local and mayoral elections continue to come in, I wonder what she would make of the mess the current Tory party has made of this country during their last 14 years of rule, including the failure that was the Tory / Lib Dem coalition.
They’ve lost over 400 councillors and lost control of 10 councils in this week’s elections, yet Sunak still thinks the public are going to support him in the general election? Is that man living on another planet?!
I’d not heard the term “Basildon man” before, but it apparently stems from Thatcher’s day – the “the archetypal Thatcher supporter that had previously been expected to vote Labour.” The Tories have now lost control of Basildon, so does that mean those areas that went blue in the last general election will turn a different colour come the general election?
I was a child of Thatcher’s Britain who grew up under Blair. I joined the civil service under a Labour Government, where money seemed no object, and worked through the Tory austerity years, taking redundancy just before the Brexit referendum.
A lot has happened politically since Thatcher became PM, especially in the past few years where there’s practically been a revolving door at Number 10 Downing Street, but in many ways the divide she created is getting worse, and the negative impact of her privatising core infrastructure has never been felt more.
Whether you were a fan or not, it feels like we are missing the strong political leader, like Thatcher, that we need to lead this country out of the mess that has been created. Neither Tory nor Labour seem the right choice, and perhaps that’s why there’s been gains across other parties and independent candidates too. I bet she’s rolling in her grave just looking at what’s going on above her.
If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman.
Margaret Thatcher
I promise I’ll go back to talking about things other than politics soon.