From consensus to conflict: Thatcher and the transformation of politics

Abstract

Much of the extant literature on Thatcherism sees the approach of Thatcher and her Government as gradual and piecemeal. This article argues, using material from the Thatcher archive, whilst it is clear that a distinct Thatcherite policy took time to implement, a relatively coherent new Right programme existed from the 1970s. The article argues, however, that central to the impact of Thatcher was not so much policy but the way she reshaped politics. The Thatcher Government effectively rejected politics as compromise rather seeing it as a zero-sum game. In doing so Thatcherism politicized a range of social relations and transformed the nature of British politics.