The Britain that Margaret Thatcher inherited
With remembrances of the late prime minister dominating the press, it is easy to forget the economic woes and issues of identity that gripped Britain in the years preceding her rule.
With remembrances of the late prime minister dominating the press, it is easy to forget the economic woes and issues of identity that gripped Britain in the years preceding her rule.
鈥淏RITAIN AT THE CROSSROADS,鈥� blared a Monitor headline in July 1978, less than a year before Margaret Thatcher became the country鈥檚 prime minister. 鈥淎re law and order wilting?鈥�
鈥淧olitical, labor storms grow louder in Britain,鈥� warned another, in January 1979.
鈥淏ritons鈥� patience 鈥� wears thin,鈥� read a third.
As both tributes to Mrs. Thatcher and attacks on her leadership have poured in since her death, it is easy to forget the near-crisis that gripped Britain in the years preceding her rule, as the economy sagged under the weight of rampant inflation and broad unemployment. During the winter of 1978-79, just before the Tories swept to power, strikes rippled across the public sector 鈥� the infamous British 鈥淲inter of Discontent鈥� 鈥撀� 颅in response to a government wage cap.
Meanwhile, as nationalist rumblings rose in Scotland and parliament debated stricter limits on immigration, England seemed to be descending into a crisis of confidence about its very Englishness.
As a look through Monitor archives show, this was the deeply divided Britain that Thatcher and her Conservative Party took control of in May 1979 鈥� beleaguered and world-weary, its patience for government tanking and its economy on shaky ground. 聽
As the Monitor鈥檚 Takashi Oka reported, 聽
The strikes were just the last spasm of the economic malaise of 1970s Britain, which featured high unemployment and double-digit inflation. In Sept. 1976, Mr. Oka noted that nearly 1.5 million Britons 鈥� 6.2 percent of the working population 鈥� were unemployed (鈥淪oaring joblessness challenges Britain,鈥� Sept. 22, 1976), a number that held roughly as national elections approached (鈥渕ore than 1.5 million鈥� in 鈥淪unny Jim and Iron Lady about to face off in Britain,鈥� Sept. 7 1978). Inflation averaged around 13 percent throughout the 鈥�70s, peaking at 25 percent.
Meanwhile, as the parties debated across the aisle in Parliament, Britain also revisited its own place in Europe.
If those were the looming questions that faced Thatcher as she took office, however, she had also already earned some of the fierce loyalty that still characterizes her supporters. As Oka reported shortly after Thatcher became head of the Conservative Party in 1975,
鈥淢ore cheers and applause,鈥� Oka went on. 鈥淚t was a rousing partisan speech, as it was meant to be.鈥澛�