Iain Dale, in his new life of the former prime minister, fails to convey either how loved or how loathed she was.
Thatcherism was about many things – free contract, lower taxes, enterprise, graft, home ownership, privatisation, victory in the Cold War. But, above all, it was about revival. “I can’t bear Britain in decline, I just can’t”
Historians now know that Wilson hesitated to remain Labour Leader following his 1970 defeat.
As strike leader in 1984-85 he was incompetent, closed-minded, and devoid of tactics or strategy. During the course of the year, he walked into every trap set for him by the National Coal Board (NCB) and the Government.
Fifty years ago, the battle between government and the National Union of Mineworkers fatally undermined the corporatist model by which both parties had governed Britain.
The unions were small-c conservatives. They paraded under heraldic banners, had no truck with such new-fangled ideas as women’s rights, and wanted to keep every coal mine in the country open.
The situation will fester, which will pose major challenges for statecraft, and for the stability both of Ukraine and of surrounding areas.