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{{Short description|British conservative ideology from the 1980s onward}}
{{About|the political ideology|the optical illusion|Thatcher effect}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}}
{{Thatcherism}}
{{Neoliberalism sidebar|movements}}
{{Conservatism UK|Ideologies}}
{{Thatcher sidebar}}
'''Thatcherism''' is a form of [[British conservative]] ideology named after [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] leader [[Margaret Thatcher]] that relates to not just her political platform and particular policies but also her [[personal character]] and style of management while in office. Proponents of Thatcherism are referred to as '''Thatcherites'''. The term has been used to describe the principles of the [[Premiership of Margaret Thatcher|British government under Thatcher]] from the [[1979 United Kingdom general election|1979 general election]] to [[1990 Conservative Party leadership election|her resignation in 1990]].{{sfn|Gallas|2017|p=1}} In international terms, Thatcherites have been described as a part of the general [[Social movement|socio-economic movement]] known as [[neoliberalism]], with different countries besides the United Kingdom (such as the United States) sharing similar policies around expansionary [[capitalism]].<ref name=Ross>{{cite news|url=https://www.smh.com.au/opinion/the-neoliberalism-of-margaret-thatcher-and-ronald-reagan-has-run-its-course-20170718-gxda42.html|title=The neoliberalism of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan has run its course|first=Ross|last=Gittins|date=18 July 2017|journal=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]|access-date=6 December 2022}}</ref>

Thatcherism represents a systematic, decisive rejection and reversal of the [[post-war consensus]] inside Great Britain in terms of governance, whereby the major political parties largely agreed on the central themes of [[Keynesianism]], the [[Welfare state in the United Kingdom|welfare state]], [[nationalised industry]], and [[Regulated economy|close regulation]] of the [[British economy]] before Thatcher's rise to prominence. Under her administration, there was one major exception to Thatcherite changes: the [[National Health Service]] (NHS), which was widely popular with the British public.{{sfn|Campbell|2011|p=173}} In 1982, Thatcher promised that the NHS was "safe in our hands".{{sfn|Klein|1985|pp=41–58}}

The exact terms of what makes up Thatcherism and its specific legacy in British history over the past decades are controversial. Ideologically, Thatcherism has been described by [[Nigel Lawson]], Thatcher's [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]] from 1983 to 1989, as a political platform emphasising [[free market]]s with restrained [[government spending]] and [[tax cut]]s that gets coupled with [[British nationalism]] both at home and abroad.{{sfn|Lawson|1992|p=64}} Thatcher herself rarely used the word "Thatcherism". However, she gave a speech in [[Solihull]] during her campaign for the [[1987 United Kingdom general election|1987 general election]] and included in a discussion of the economic successes the remark: "that's what I call Thatcherism".{{sfn|Campbell|2011|p=517}}

''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' stated in April 2008 that the programme of the next non-Conservative government, with [[Tony Blair]]'s "[[New Labour]]" organisation governing the nation throughout the 1990s and 2000s, basically accepted the central reform measures of Thatcherism such as [[deregulation]], [[privatisation]] of key national industries, maintaining a [[flexible labour market]], marginalising the [[Trade unions in the United Kingdom|trade unions]] and [[Centralized government|centralising power]] from [[local authorities]] to central government.<ref name="inspire">{{cite news|last=Kampfner |first=John |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/themargaretthatcheryears/1895878/Margaret-Thatcher-inspiration-to-New-Labour.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/themargaretthatcheryears/1895878/Margaret-Thatcher-inspiration-to-New-Labour.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Margaret Thatcher, inspiration to New Labour|access-date=30 June 2011|work=The Telegraph|date=17 April 2008}}{{cbignore}}</ref> While Blair distanced himself from certain aspects of Thatcherism earlier in his career, in his 2010 autobiography ''[[A Journey (memoir)|A Journey]]'', he argued both that "Britain needed the industrial and economic reforms of the Thatcher period" and as well that "much of what she wanted to do in the 1980s was inevitable, a consequence not of ideology but of social and economic change."{{sfn|Blair|2010|p=101}}

== Overview ==
{{blockquote|[A] mixture of free markets, financial discipline, firm control over public expenditure, tax cuts, nationalism, "Victorian values" (of the Samuel Smiles self-help variety), privatisation and a dash of populism. |source=[[Nigel Lawson]]'s definition of Thatcherism<ref>{{harvnb|Lawson|1992|p=64}}, quoted in {{harvtxt|Berlinski|2011|p=115}}.</ref>}}

Thatcherism attempts to promote low inflation, the [[small state]] and [[free market]]s through tight control of the [[money supply]], [[privatisation]] and constraints on the [[Trade unions in the United Kingdom|labour movement]]. It is often compared with [[Reaganomics]] in the United States, [[economic rationalism]] in Australia and [[Rogernomics]] in New Zealand and as a key part of the worldwide [[economic liberal]] movement.

Thatcherism is thus often compared to [[classical liberalism]]. [[Milton Friedman]] said that "Margaret Thatcher is not in terms of belief a Tory. She is a [[Classical liberalism|nineteenth-century Liberal]]".{{sfn|Leach|1987|p=157}} Thatcher herself stated during a speech in 1983: "I would not mind betting that if Mr Gladstone were alive today he would apply to join the Conservative Party".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/105454|title=Speech to Conservative Party Conference |date=14 October 1983 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation|access-date=3 November 2020}}</ref> In the 1996 Keith Joseph memorial lecture, Thatcher argued: "The kind of Conservatism which he and I [...] favoured would be best described as 'liberal', in the old-fashioned sense. And I mean the liberalism of Mr Gladstone, not of the latter day [[collectivists]]".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/108353|title=Keith Joseph Memorial Lecture ('Liberty and Limited Government') |date=11 January 1996 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation|access-date=3 November 2020}}</ref> Thatcher once told [[Friedrich Hayek]]: "I know you want me to become a Whig; no, I am a Tory". Hayek believed "she has felt this very clearly".{{sfn|Kresge|Wenar|2008|p=183}} The relationship between Thatcherism and liberalism is complicated. Thatcher's former defence secretary [[John Nott]] claimed that "it is a complete misreading of her beliefs to depict her as a nineteenth-century Liberal".{{sfn|Nott|2002|p=183}}

As Ellen Meiksins Wood has argued, Thatcherite [[capitalism]] was compatible with traditional British political institutions. As prime minister, Thatcher did not challenge ancient institutions such as the [[Monarchy of the United Kingdom|monarchy]] or the [[House of Lords]], but some of the most recent additions, such as the trade unions.{{sfn|Wood|1991|p=167}} Indeed, many leading Thatcherites, including Thatcher herself, went on to join the House of Lords, an honour which [[William Ewart Gladstone]], for instance, had declined.{{sfn|Matthew|1997|p=608}} Thinkers closely associated with Thatcherism include [[Keith Joseph]], [[Enoch Powell]], Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman. In an interview with [[Simon Heffer]] in 1996, Thatcher stated that the two greatest influences on her as Conservative leader had been Joseph and Powell, who were both "very great men".{{sfn|Heffer|1999|p=958}}

Thatcher was a strong critic of [[communism]], [[Marxism]] and [[socialism]]. Biographer [[John Campbell (biographer)|John Campbell]] reports that in July 1978, when asked by a Labour MP in Commons what she meant by socialism, "she was at a loss to reply. What in fact she meant was Government support for inefficient industries, punitive taxation, regulation of the labour market, price controls{{snd}}everything that interfered with the functioning of the free economy".{{sfn|Campbell|2007|p=95}}

=== Thatcherism before Thatcher ===
Several commentators have traced the origins of Thatcherism in post-war British politics. The historian Ewen Green claimed there was resentment of the inflation, taxation and the constraints imposed by the labour movement, which was associated with the so-called [[Butskellism|Buttskellite consensus]] in the decades before Thatcher came to prominence. Although the Conservative leadership accommodated itself to the [[Clement Attlee]] government's post-war reforms, there was continuous right-wing opposition in the lower ranks of the party, in right-wing pressure groups like the Middle Class Alliance and the People's League for the Defence of Freedom and later in think tanks like the [[Centre for Policy Studies]]. For example, in the [[1945 United Kingdom general election|1945 general election]], the Conservative Party chairman [[Ralph Assheton, 1st Baron Clitheroe|Ralph Assheton]] had wanted 12,000 abridged copies of ''[[The Road to Serfdom]]'' (a book by the anti-socialist economist Friedrich Hayek later closely associated with Thatcherism),{{sfn|Vinen|2009|p=7}} taking up one-and-a-half tons of the party's paper ration, distributed as election propaganda.{{sfn|Green|2004|pp=214–239}}

The historian Christopher Cooper traced the formation of the [[monetarist]] economics at the heart of Thatcherism back to the resignation of the Conservative chancellor of the Exchequer, [[Peter Thorneycroft]], in 1958.{{sfn|Cooper|2011|pp=227–250}}

As early as 1950, Thatcher accepted the consensus of the day about the welfare state, claiming the credit belonged to the Conservatives in a speech to the [[Conservative Association]] annual general meeting. Biographer [[Charles Moore, Baron Moore of Etchingham|Charles Moore]] states:{{blockquote|Neither at the beginning of her career nor when she was prime minister, did Margaret Thatcher ever reject the wartime foundations of the welfare state, whether in health, social policy or education. In this she was less radical than her critics or some of her admirers supposed. Her concern was to focus more on abuse of the system, on bureaucracy and union militancy, and on the growth of what later came to be called the dependency culture, rather than on the system itself.{{sfn|Moore|2013|p=87}}}}

Historian [[Richard Vinen]] is sceptical about there being Thatcherism before Thatcher.{{sfn|Vinen|2009|p=6}}{{explain|date=August 2020}}

=== Ideological definition ===
Thatcher saw herself as creating a [[libertarian]] movement,<ref>{{cite news |first=Robin |last=Oakley |author-link=Robin Oakley |title=Thatcherism's end begins debate over style and ideology |newspaper=The Sunday Times |date=23 November 1990 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Matthew |last=d'Ancona |author-link=Matthew d'Ancona |title=Into the age of the individual&nbsp;– Labour's chance to write the next chapter of political history |newspaper=The Guardian |date=5 March 1991}}</ref> rejecting traditional [[Toryism]].<ref>{{cite news |title=What Was Right With the 1980s |newspaper=Financial Times |date=5 April 1994 }}</ref> Thatcherism is associated with libertarianism within the Conservative Party,{{sfn|Heppell|2002}} albeit one of libertarian ends achieved by using strong leadership.<ref>{{cite news |title=Resignation of Thatcher&nbsp;– Strident heroine of the corner shop who fought for hard-headed virtues |newspaper=The Sunday Times |date=25 November 1990 }}</ref> British political commentator [[Andrew Marr]] has called libertarianism the "dominant, if unofficial, characteristic of Thatcherism".<ref>{{cite news |first=Andrew |last=Marr |author-link=Andrew Marr |title=Why unhappy British are yearning for days of order |newspaper=The Straits Times |date=3 January 1994}}</ref> Whereas some of her heirs, notably [[Michael Portillo]] and [[Alan Duncan]], embraced this libertarianism, others in the Thatcherite movement such as [[John Redwood]] sought to become more [[Right-wing populism|populist]].<ref>{{cite news |first=Robert |last=Shrimsley |title=Redwood Pushes for Populist Right |newspaper=Financial Times |date=17 August 1995 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Robert |last=Shrimsley |title=Think Right&nbsp;– The Thatcherites are Divided, but May Yet Rule |newspaper=The Times |date=18 August 1995 }}</ref>

Some commentators have argued that Thatcherism should not be considered properly libertarian. Noting the tendency towards strong central government in matters concerning the trade unions and local authorities, [[Andrew Gamble]] summarised Thatcherism as "the free economy and the strong state".{{sfn|Gamble|1988|p=38}} [[Simon Jenkins]] accused the Thatcher government of carrying out a nationalisation of Britain.{{sfn|Jenkins|1995|pp=29, 87}} Libertarian political theorist [[Murray Rothbard]] did not consider Thatcherism to be libertarian and heavily criticised Thatcher and Thatcherism, stating that "Thatcherism is all too similar to [[Reaganism]]: free-market rhetoric masking [[statist]] content".{{sfn|Rothbard|1995|p=229}} Stuart McAnulla said that Thatcherism is actually [[liberal conservatism]], a combination of liberal economics and a strong state.{{sfn|McAnulla|2006|p=71}}

=== Thatcherism as a form of government ===
{{Main|Premiership of Margaret Thatcher|List of ministers under Margaret Thatcher}}
Another important aspect of Thatcherism is the style of governance. Britain in the 1970s was often referred to as "ungovernable". Thatcher attempted to redress this by centralising a great deal of power to herself as prime minister, often bypassing traditional cabinet structures (such as cabinet committees). This personal approach also became identified with personal toughness at times, such as the [[Falklands War]] in 1982, the [[Brighton hotel bombing|IRA bomb at the Conservative conference]] in 1984 and the [[1984–1985 United Kingdom miners' strike|miners' strike]] in 1984–85.{{sfn|Campbell|2011|pp=2, 198, 441}}

[[Sir Charles Powell]], the foreign affairs private secretary to the Prime Minister (1984–1991 and 1996), described her style as such: "I've always thought there was something [[Leninist]] about Mrs Thatcher which came through in the style of government: the absolute determination, the belief that there's a vanguard which is right and if you keep that small, tightly knit team together, they will drive things through&nbsp;... there's no doubt that in the 1980s, No. 10 could beat the bushes of Whitehall pretty violently. They could go out and really confront people, lay down the law, bully a bit".{{sfn|Hennessy|2001|p=397}}

===Criticism===
By 1987, after Thatcher's successful third re-election, criticism of Thatcherism increased.{{sfn|Campbell|2011|p=529}} At the time, Thatcher claimed it was necessary to tackle the "culture of dependency" by government intervention to stop socialised welfare.{{sfn|Campbell|2011|p=529}} In 1988, she caused controversy when she made the remarks, "You do not blame society. Society is not anyone. You are personally responsible" and, "Don't blame society – that's no one."{{sfn|Campbell|2011|p=531}} These comments attracted significant criticism, including from other conservatives due to their belief in individual and collective responsibility.{{sfn|Campbell|2011|p=532}} In 1988, Thatcher told the party conference that her third term was to be about 'social affairs'. During her last three years in power, she attempted to reform socialised welfare, differing from her earlier stated goal of "rolling back the state".{{sfn|Campbell|2011|p=534}}

== <span class="anchor" id="economicposition"></span>Economic positions ==

=== Thatcherite economics ===
Thatcherism is associated with the economic theory of [[monetarism]], notably put forward by Friedrich Hayek's ''[[The Constitution of Liberty]]'' which Thatcher had banged on a table while saying "this is what we believe". In contrast to previous government policy, monetarism placed a priority on controlling inflation over controlling unemployment. According to monetarist theory, inflation is the result of there being too much money in the economy. It was claimed that the government should seek to control the money supply to control inflation. By 1979, it was not only the Thatcherites arguing for stricter inflation control. The Labour Chancellor [[Denis Healey]] had already adopted some monetarist policies, such as reducing public spending and selling off the government's shares in [[BP]].

Moreover, it has been argued that the Thatcherites were not strictly monetarist. A common theme centres on the Medium Term Financial Strategy, issued in the 1980 budget, which consisted of targets for reducing the growth of the money supply in the following years. After overshooting many of these targets, the Thatcher government revised the targets upwards in 1982. Analysts have interpreted this as an admission of defeat in the battle to control the money supply. The economist C. F. Pratten claimed that "since 1984, behind a veil of rhetoric, the government has lost any faith it had in technical monetarism. The money supply, as measured by [[M3 (economics)|M3]], has been allowed to grow erratically, while calculation of the [[public sector borrowing requirement]] is held down by the ruse of subtracting the proceeds of privatisation as well as taxes from government expenditure. The principles of monetarism have been abandoned".{{sfn|Minogue|Biddiss|1987|p=73}}

Thatcherism is also associated with [[supply-side economics]]. Whereas [[Keynesian economics]] holds that the government should stimulate economic growth by increasing demand through increased credit and public spending, supply-side economists argue that the government should instead intervene only to create a free market by lowering taxes, privatising state industries and increasing restraints on trade unionism.{{Citation needed|date=August 2015}}

=== Trade union legislation ===
{{further|1984–1985 United Kingdom miners' strike}}
{{See also|Opposition to public-sector trade unions|History of trade unions in the United Kingdom}}
Reduction in the power of the trades unions was made gradually, unlike the approach of the [[Edward Heath]] government, and the most significant single confrontation with the unions was the [[National Union of Mineworkers (Great Britain)|National Union of Mineworkers]] (NUM) strike of 1984–1985, in which the miners' union was eventually defeated. Evidence shows that the Conservative Party and the NUM anticipated this confrontation with the trade unions. The outcome contributed to the resurgence of the [[Labour power|power of capital over labour]].{{sfn|Jakopovich|2011|pp=429–444}}

== Domestic and social positions ==
{{blockquote|All too often the ills of this country are passed off as those of society. Similarly, when action is required, society is called upon to act. But society as such does not exist except as a concept. Society is made up of people. It is people who have duties and beliefs and resolve. It is people who get things done. [Thatcher] prefers to think in terms of the acts of individuals and families as the real sinews of society rather than of society as an abstract concept. Her approach to society reflects her fundamental belief in personal responsibility and choice. To leave things to {{em|society}} is to run away from the real decisions, practical responsibility and effective action.<ref>{{cite web |title=Interview for ''Woman's Own'' ('no such thing as society') with journalist Douglas Keay|date=23 September 1987|url=https://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=106689|publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation|access-date=10 April 2007 |quote=Most unusually a statement elucidating the remark was issued by {{sic|No.|10}}, at the request of the ''Sunday Times'' and published on 10 July 1988 in the 'Atticus' column.}}</ref>|author=No.&nbsp;10|title=Statement|source=''[[The Sunday Times]]'' (10 July 1988)}}

=== Thatcherite morality ===
Thatcherism is associated with a conservative stance on [[morality]].{{sfnm|1a1=Tracey|1a2=Herzog|1y=2014|1pp=63–76|2a1=Wallerstein|2a2=Huggins|2a3=Davis|2y=1991|2p=142|3a1=Skidelsky|3y=1989|3p=165}} {{harvp|Sutcliffe-Braithwaite|2012}} argues that Thatcherism married conservatism with [[free-market economics]]. Thatcherism did not propose dramatic new [[wikt:panacea|panacea]]s such as Milton Friedman's [[negative income tax]]. Instead, the goal was to create a rational [[Tax-benefit model|tax-benefit economic system]] that would increase British [[Economic efficiency|efficiency]] while supporting a conservative social system based on traditional morality.  There would still be a minimal [[Social safety net|safety net]] for the poor, but the major emphasis was on encouraging individual effort and [[wikt:thrift|thrift]].  Thatcherism sought to minimise the importance of welfare for the middle classes and reinvigorate Victorian [[bourgeois]] virtues. Thatcherism was family centred, unlike the extreme individualism of most neoliberal models. It had its roots in historical experiences such as [[Methodism]] and the fear of the too-powerful state that had troubled Hayek.

[[Norman Tebbit]], a close ally of Thatcher, laid out in a 1985 lecture what he thought to be the [[permissive society]] that conservatives should oppose:
{{blockquote|Bad art was as good as good art. Grammar and spelling were no longer important. To be clean was no better than to be filthy. Good manners were no better than bad. Family life was derided as an outdated bourgeois concept. Criminals deserved as much sympathy as their victims. Many homes and classrooms became disorderly; if there was neither right nor wrong there could be no basis for punishment or reward. Violence and soft pornography became accepted in the media. Thus was sown the wind; and we are now reaping the whirlwind.<ref>{{cite news |last=Tebbit |first=Norman |title=Back to the old traditional values |newspaper=The Guardian Weekly |date=24 November 1985}}  Quoted in {{harvtxt|Eccleshall|2002|p=247}}.</ref>}}

Despite her association with [[social conservatism]], Thatcher voted in 1966 to legalise homosexuality, one of the few Conservative MPs to do so.<ref>{{cite Hansard|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1966/jul/05/sexual-offences-no-2|title=Sexual Offences (No. 2)|date=5 July 1966|house=House of Commons|volume=731|page=267 |access-date=3 November 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Doran|first=Tom |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/margaret-thatchers-legacy-on-gay-rights|title=Margaret Thatcher's Legacy on Gay Rights |date=21 April 2017 |orig-date=8 April 2013 |work=[[The Daily Beast]] |access-date=3 November 2020}}</ref> That same year, she also voted in support of legal abortion.<ref>{{Cite Hansard|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1966/jul/22/medical-termination-of-pregnancy-bill|title=Medical Termination of Pregnancy Bill |date=22 July 1966|house=House of Commons|volume=732|page=1165 |access-date=3 November 2020}}</ref> However, in the 1980s during her time as prime minister, the Thatcher government enacted [[Section 28]], a law that opposed the "intentional promotion" of homosexuality by local authorities and "promotion" of the teaching of "the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship" in schools.<ref>{{Cite legislation UK |type=act |year=1988 |chapter=9 |act=Local Government Act 1988 |section=28 |access-date=3 November 2020}}</ref> In her 1987 speech to the Conservative Party conference, Thatcher stated:{{blockquote|
Children who need to be taught to respect traditional moral values are being taught that they have an inalienable right to be gay&nbsp;... All of those children are being cheated of a sound start in life—yes, cheated.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/106941 |title=Speech to Conservative Party Conference |date=9 October 1987 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation |access-date=30 December 2018}}</ref>}}

The law was opposed by many [[LGBT rights in the United Kingdom|gay rights]] advocates such as [[Stonewall (charity)|Stonewall]] and [[OutRage!]]. Tony Blair's Labour government repealed it in 2000 (in Scotland) and 2003.<ref>{{cite news |work=BBC News |title=When gay became a four-letter word |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/611704.stm | date=20 January 2000 | access-date=4 January 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite legislation UK |type=act |year=2003 |chapter=26 |act=Local Government Act 2003 |section=122 |access-date=3 November 2020}}</ref> Conservative prime minister David Cameron later issued an official apology for previous Conservative policies on homosexuality, specifically the introduction of the controversial Section 28 laws from the 1980s, viewing past ideological views as "a mistake" with [[Political positions of David Cameron|his ideological direction]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/british-conservatives-lead-charge-for-gay-marriage/2012/03/29/gIQAzatzjS_story.html|title=British Conservatives lead charge for gay marriage|first=Anthony|last=Faiola|date=29 March 2012|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|access-date=3 November 2020|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Regarding [[feminism]] Thatcher said "The feminists hate me, don't they? And I don't blame them. For I hate feminism. It is poison"<ref>{{cite book |title=Women's Writing, 1660-1830 Feminisms and Futures |date=2016 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |page=57}}</ref> and "I owe nothing to [[Women's lib]]".<ref>{{cite book |title=Rethinking Right-wing Women Gender and the Conservative Party, 1880s to the Present |date=2017 |publisher=Manchester University Press}}</ref>

=== Sermon on the Mound ===
{{Main|Sermon on the Mound}}
In May 1988, Thatcher gave an address to the [[General Assembly of the Church of Scotland|General Assembly]] of the [[Church of Scotland]]. In the speech, Thatcher offered a theological justification for her ideas on capitalism and the market economy. She said, "Christianity is about spiritual redemption, not social reform", and she quoted [[St Paul]] by saying, "If a man will not work he shall not eat". Choice played a significant part in Thatcherite reforms, and Thatcher said that choice was also Christian, stating that [[Jesus Christ]] chose to lay down his life and that all individuals have the God-given right to choose between [[good and evil]].

== Foreign policy ==
=== Atlanticism ===
{{further|Special Relationship#Thatcher and Reagan}}
[[File:Thatcher - Reagan c872-9.jpg|thumb|upright|Thatcher and Reagan publicly appear together on the [[South Lawn]] in 1981.]]

Whilst Thatcher was prime minister, she greatly embraced [[Atlanticism|transatlantic relations]] with US president [[Ronald Reagan]]. She often publicly supported Reagan's policies even when other Western allies were not as vocal. For example, she granted permission for American planes to use British bases for raids, such as the [[1986 United States bombing of Libya]], and allowed American cruise missiles and Pershing missiles to be housed on British soil in response to Soviet deployment of SS-20 nuclear missiles targeting Britain and other Western European nations.{{sfn|Berlinski|2011|pp=275–278}}

=== Europe ===
While [[Euroscepticism in the United Kingdom|Euroscepticism]] has for many become a characteristic of Thatcherism, Thatcher was far from consistent on the issue, only becoming truly Eurosceptic in the last years of her time as prime minister. Thatcher supported Britain's entry into the [[European Economic Community]] in 1973, campaigned for a "Yes" vote in the [[1975 United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum|1975 referendum]]<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4609131.stm |title=How Britain first fell for Europe |work=BBC News |date=4 June 2005 |access-date=23 October 2010 |last=Cockerell |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Cockerell}}</ref> and signed the [[Single European Act]] in 1986.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/3644793/Thatcher-would-have-backed-the-EU-treaty.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/3644793/Thatcher-would-have-backed-the-EU-treaty.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |last=Rudd |first=Roland |title=Thatcher would have backed the EU treaty |date=18 December 2007 |access-date=23 October 2010 |work=The Telegraph}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Towards the end of the 1980s, Thatcher (and so Thatcherism) became increasingly vocal in its opposition to allowing the [[European Community]] to supersede British sovereignty. In a famous 1988 Bruges speech, Thatcher declared: "We have not successfully rolled back the frontiers of the state in Britain, only to see them reimposed at a European level, with a European superstate exercising a new dominance from Brussels".{{sfn|Tiersky|2001|pp=103–111}}

== Dispute over the term ==
It is often claimed that the word ''Thatcherism'' was coined by cultural theorist [[Stuart Hall (cultural theorist)|Stuart Hall]] in a 1979 ''[[Marxism Today]]'' article.<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Stuart |last=Hall |url=https://www.amielandmelburn.org.uk/collections/mt/pdf/79_01_hall.pdf |title=The Great Moving Right Show |journal=Marxism Today |date=January 1979 |access-date=3 November 2020}}</ref> However, this is not true as Tony Heath first used the term in an article he wrote that appeared in ''[[Tribune (magazine)|Tribune]]'' on 10 August 1973. Writing as ''Tribune''{{'}}s education correspondent, Heath wrote: "It will be argued that teachers are members of a profession which must not be influenced by political considerations. With the blight of Thatcherism spreading across the land that is a luxury that only the complacent can afford".<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Heath |first=Tony |magazine=Tribune |title=[Article] |date=10 August 1973}}{{Title missing|date=March 2023}}</ref>{{sfn|Procter|2004|p=98}} Although the term had been widely used before then,{{sfn|Vinen|2009|p=4}} not all social critics have accepted the term as valid, with the [[High Tory]] journalist [[T. E. Utley]] believing "There is no such thing as Thatcherism".<ref>{{cite news |first=T. E. |last=Utley |title=Monstrous invention |work=The Spectator |date=9 August 1986}}</ref>

Utley contended that the term was a creation of Thatcher's enemies who wished to damage her by claiming that she had an inflexible devotion to a particular set of principles and also by some of her friends who had little sympathy for what he called "the English political tradition" because it facilitated "compromise and consensus". Utley argued that a free and competitive economy, rather than being an innovation of Thatcherism, was one "more or less permanent ingredient in modern Conservative philosophy":
<blockquote>It was on that principle that Churchill fought the 1945 election, having just read Hayek's ''Road to Serfdom''. [...] What brought the Tories to 13 years of political supremacy in [[1951 United Kingdom general election|1951]] was the slogan 'Set the people free'. [...] There is absolutely nothing new about the doctrinal front that she presents on these matters. [...] As for 'privatisation', Mr. Powell proposed it in [...] 1968. As for 'property-owning democracy', I believe it was [[Anthony Eden]] who coined the phrase.{{sfn|Utley|1989|pp=76–77}}</blockquote>

In foreign policy, Utley claimed Thatcher's desire to restore British greatness did not mean "primarily a power devoted to the preservation of its own interests" but that she belonged "to that militant Whig branch of English Conservatism...her view of foreign policy has a high moral content". In practical terms, he claimed this expressed itself in her preoccupation with "the freedom of Afghanistan rather than the security of Ulster".{{sfn|Utley|1989|pp=77–78}}

Such leftist critics as [[Anthony Giddens]] claim that Thatcherism was purely an ideology and argue that her policies marked a change which was dictated more by political interests than economic reasons:
{{blockquote|Rather than by any specific logic of capitalism, the reversal was brought about by voluntary reductions in social expenditures, higher taxes on low incomes and the lowering of taxes on higher incomes. This is the reason why in Great Britain in the mid 1980s the members of the top decile possessed more than a half of all the wealth.{{sfn|Giddens|1993|p=233}} To justify this by means of economic "objectivities" would be an ideology. What is at play here are interests and power.{{sfn|Drago|Leskosek|2003|p=37}}}}

The Conservative historian of [[Peterhouse]], [[Maurice Cowling]], also questioned the uniqueness of "Thatcherism". Cowling claimed that Thatcher used "radical variations on that patriotic conjunction of freedom, authority, inequality, individualism and average decency and respectability, which had been the Conservative Party's theme since at least 1886". Cowling further contended that the "Conservative Party under Mrs Thatcher has used a radical rhetoric to give intellectual respectability to what the Conservative Party has always wanted".{{sfn|Cowling|1990|pages=xxvii–xxviii}}

Historians Emily Robinson, Camilla Schofield, Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite and Natalie Thomlinson have argued that by the 1970s, Britons were keen on defining and claiming their individual rights, identities and perspectives. They demanded greater personal autonomy and self-determination and less outside control. They angrily complained that the establishment was withholding it. They argue that this shift in concerns had helped cause Thatcherism and was incorporated into its appeal.{{sfn|Robinson|Schofield|Sutcliffe-Braithwaite|Thomlinson|2017|pp=268–304}}

== Criticism ==
[[File:Trends in UK income inequality 1979-2005-6.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Trends in UK income inequality, 1979–2006]]
Critics of Thatcherism claim that its successes were obtained only at the expense of great [[social cost]]s to the British population. There were nearly 3.3&nbsp;million unemployed in Britain in 1984, compared to 1.5&nbsp;million when she first came to power in 1979, though that figure had reverted to 1.6&nbsp;million by the end of 1990.

While credited with reviving Britain's economy, Thatcher also was blamed for spurring a doubling of the relative poverty rate. Britain's childhood-poverty rate in 1997 was the highest in Europe.<ref name="HALLEN" /> When she resigned in 1990, 28% of the children in Great Britain were considered to be below the [[poverty line]], a number that kept rising to reach a peak of nearly  30% during the government of Thatcher's successor, [[John Major]].<ref name="HALLEN">{{cite news |last1=Nelson |first1=Emily |last2=Whalen |first2=Jeanne |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB116674870703357351 |title=With U.S. Methods, Britain Posts Gains in Fighting Poverty |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=22 December 2006 |access-date=18 October 2007}}</ref> During her government, Britain's [[Gini coefficient]] reflected this growing difference, going from 0.25 in 1979 to 0.34 in 1990, at about which value it remained for the next 20 years, under both Conservative and Labour governments.<ref>{{cite periodical |url=http://www.ifs.org.uk/bns/bn33.pdf |last=Shephard |first=Andrew |title=Income Inequality under the Labour Government |magazine=Briefing Notes |number=33 |publisher=[[Institute for Fiscal Studies]] |date=March 2003 |access-date=18 October 2007 |page=4 |archive-date=26 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926033230/http://www.ifs.org.uk/bns/bn33.pdf }}</ref>

== Thatcher's legacy ==
{{further|Margaret Thatcher#Political impact}}

[[File:TonyBlairArmagh1998.jpg|thumb|right|Prime Minister Tony Blair, shown speaking in 1998 while visiting [[Armagh]], has publicly proclaimed his support for various aspects of Thatcherism despite leading an opposing political party years after Thatcher left office.]]

The extent to which one can say Thatcherism has a continuing influence on British political and economic life is unclear. It could be said that a "post-Thatcherite consensus" exists in modern British political culture, especially regarding monetary policy. In the 1980s, the now defunct [[Social Democratic Party (UK)|Social Democratic Party]] adhered to a "tough and tender" approach in which Thatcherite reforms were coupled with additional welfare provisions. [[Neil Kinnock]], leader of the Labour Party from 1983 to 1992, initiated Labour's rightward shift across the [[political spectrum]] by largely concurring with the economic policies of the Thatcher government. The [[New Labour]] governments of [[Tony Blair]] and [[Gordon Brown]] were described as "neo-Thatcherite" by some on the left since many of their economic policies mimicked those of Thatcher.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newstatesman.com/200506060022 |title=New Labour Neo-Thatcherite |work=[[New Statesman]] |date=6 June 2005 |access-date=1 April 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927231942/http://www.newstatesman.com/200506060022 |archive-date=27 September 2007 }}</ref>

In 1999, twenty years after Thatcher had come to power, the Conservative Party held a dinner in London Hilton to honour the anniversary. During the dinner, several speeches were given. To Thatcher's astonishment, the Conservatives had decided that it was time to shelve the economic policies of the 1980s. The Conservative Party leader at the time, [[William Hague]], said that the party had learnt its lesson from the 1980s and called it a "great mistake to think that all Conservatives have to offer is solutions based on free markets".{{sfn|Campbell|2011|p=790}} His deputy at the time [[Peter Lilley]] elaborated and said, "belief in the free market has only ever been part of Conservatism".{{sfn|Campbell|2011|p=790}}

In 2002, [[Peter Mandelson]], who had served in Blair's Cabinet, famously declared that "we are all Thatcherites now".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://politics.guardian.co.uk/labour/story/0,9061,730718,00.html|title=Mandelson: we are all Thatcherites now|work=The Guardian|date=10 June 2002|access-date=15 September 2006 | location=London | first=Matthew | last=Tempest}}</ref>

Most major British political parties today accept the trade union legislation, privatisations and general free market approach to government that [[Thatcher's governments]] installed.{{citation needed|date=March 2019}} Before 2010, no major political party in the United Kingdom had committed to reversing the Thatcher government's reforms of the economy, although in the aftermath of the [[Great Recession]] from 2007 to 2012, the then Labour Party leader [[Ed Miliband]] had indicated he would support stricter [[financial regulation]]<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-19775686 |title=Labour conference: Miliband threat to break up banks |work=BBC News |date=30 September 2012 |access-date=14 January 2013}}</ref> and industry-focused policy<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/mar/06/patriotic-economic-policy-british-industry |title=Patriotic economic policy needed to boost British industry, Miliband says |work=The Guardian |date=6 March 2012 |access-date=14 January 2013}}</ref> in a move to a more mixed economy. Although Miliband was said by the ''[[Financial Times]]'' to have "turned his back on many of New Labour's tenets, seeking to prove that an openly socialist party could win the backing of the British electorate for the first time since the 1970s",<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.ft.com/content/734f0578-f34a-11e4-8141-00144feab7de |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/734f0578-f34a-11e4-8141-00144feab7de |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-access=subscription|work=Financial Times|title=Ed Miliband's move to the left lost Labour the election|date=8 May 2015|access-date=18 September 2020 |first=Jim | last=Pickard}}</ref> in 2011 Miliband had declared his support for Thatcher's reductions in income tax on top earners, her legislation to change the rules on the [[closed shop]] and strikes before ballots, as well as her introduction of [[Right to Buy]], saying Labour had been wrong to oppose these reforms at the time.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/ed-miliband/8791870/Labour-Party-Conference-Ed-Milibands-speech-in-full.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/ed-miliband/8791870/Labour-Party-Conference-Ed-Milibands-speech-in-full.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Labour Party Conference: Ed Miliband's speech in full |work=The Telegraph |date=27 September 2011 |access-date=12 April 2013 |location=London}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Moreover, the UK's comparative [[macroeconomic]] performance has improved since implementing Thatcherite economic policies. Since Thatcher resigned as British prime minister in 1990, British economic growth was, on average, higher than the other large European economies (i.e. Germany, France and Italy).{{citation needed|date=August 2020}} Such comparisons have been controversial for decades.<ref>{{Cite web |title=No, Margaret Thatcher Didn't Save the British Economy |url=https://jacobin.com/2020/12/margaret-thatcher-british-economy-tories-austerity |access-date=2024-07-01 |website=jacobin.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

Tony Blair wrote in his 2010 autobiography ''[[A Journey (memoir)|A Journey]]'' that "Britain needed the industrial and economic reforms of the Thatcher period". He described Thatcher's efforts as "ideological, sometimes unnecessarily so" while also stating that "much of what she wanted to do in the 1980s was inevitable, a consequence not of ideology but of social and economic change." Blair additionally labelled these viewpoints as a matter of "basic fact".{{sfn|Blair|2010|p=101}}

On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Thatcher's 1979 election victory, the [[BBC]] surveyed opinions which opened with the following comments:<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3681973.stm |title=Evaluating Thatcher's legacy |work=BBC News |date=4 May 2004|access-date=18 October 2007}}</ref>
{{blockquote|To her supporters, she was a revolutionary figure who transformed Britain's stagnant economy, tamed the unions and re-established the country as a world power. Together with US presidents Reagan and [[George H. W. Bush|Bush]], she helped bring about the [[end of the Cold War]]. But her 11-year premiership was also marked by social unrest, industrial strife and high unemployment. Her critics claim British society is still feeling the effect of her divisive economic policies and the culture of greed and selfishness they allegedly promoted.}}

From the viewpoint of late 2019, the state of British politics showed that Thatcherism had suffered a "sad fate", according to ''[[The Economist]]'' Bagehot column.{{sfn|Bagehot|2019|p=59}} As a political-economic philosophy, Thatcherism was originally built upon four components:  commitment to [[free enterprise]];{{sfn|Evans|2014|pp=321–341}} [[British nationalism]];{{sfn|Dixon|1983|pp=161–180}} a plan to strengthen the state by improving efficiency;  and a belief in traditional [[Victorian values]] especially hard work and civic responsibility.{{sfn|Sutcliffe-Braithwaite|2012|pp=497–520}} The tone of Thatcherism was establishment bashing, with intellectuals a prime target, and that tone remains sharp today.{{sfn|Harrison|1994}} Bagehot argues that some Thatcherisms have become mainstream, such as a more efficient operation of the government. Others have been sharply reduced, such as insisting that [[deregulation]] is always the answer to everything. The dream of restoring traditional values by creating a property-owning democracy has failed in Britain – ownership in the stock market has plunged, as has the proportion of young people who are homebuyers. Her privatisation programme became suspect when it appeared to favour investors rather than customers.{{sfn|Marsh|1991|pp=459–480}}

Recent developments in Britain reveal a deep conflict between Thatcherite free enterprise and Thatcherite nationalism. She wanted to reverse Britain's decline by fostering entrepreneurship – but immigrants have often played an important role as entrepreneurial leaders in Britain.{{Citation needed|date=July 2020}} Bagehot says Britain is "more successful at hosting world-class players than producing them." In the course of the [[Brexit]] process, nationalists have denounced European controls over Britain's future, while business leaders often instead prioritise the maintenance of their leadership of the European market. Thatcher herself showed a marked degree of Euroscepticism when she warned against a "[[European superstate]]".{{sfn|Alexandre-Collier|2015|pp=115–133}}<ref>{{cite magazine
  | author    = Bagehot
  | title     = The sad decline of Thatcherism
  | url       = https://www.economist.com/britain/2019/10/12/the-sad-decline-of-thatcherism
  | date      = 12 October 2019
| magazine  = The Economist
  | page      = 59
  }}</ref>

Evaluating whether or not political conservatives of the 2020s continue the neoliberal legacy of prior years, [[Theresa May]]'s Conservative Party election manifesto has attracted attention due to its inclusion of the lines: "We do not believe in untrammelled free markets. We reject the cult of selfish individualism. We abhor social division, injustice, unfairness and inequality." Journalists such as Ross Gittins of ''[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]'' have cited this as a move away from the standard arguments made historically by Thatcherites and related advocates.<ref name=Ross/>

== See also ==
{{div col}}
* [[Blairism]]
* [[Brownism]]
* [[Gladstonian liberalism]]
* [[History of the Conservative Party (UK)]]
* [[New public management]]
* [[Orbanomics]]
* [[Pinochetism]]
* [[Powellism]]
* [[Privatisation of British Rail]]
* [[Water privatisation in England and Wales]]
{{div col end}}

== References ==
=== Notes ===
{{reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===
{{See also|Bibliography of Margaret Thatcher}}
{{Refbegin|30em|indent=y}}
* {{cite journal
 |last    = Alexandre-Collier
 |first   = Agnès
 |title   = Euroscepticism under Margaret Thatcher and David Cameron: From Theory to Practice
 |year    = 2015
 |journal = Observatoire de la Société Britannique
 |issue   = 17
 |doi     = 10.4000/osb.1778
 |pages   = 15–133
 |s2cid   = 55603749
 |url     = https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-01287011/file/Article%20OSB%20Thatcher%20-%20Cameron%20AAC%20Vdef.pdf
}}
* {{cite book
  | last       = Berlinski
  | first      = Claire
  | author-link = Claire Berlinski
  | title      = There Is No Alternative: Why Margaret Thatcher Matters
  | title-link = There Is No Alternative: Why Margaret Thatcher Matters
  | year       = 2011
  | publisher  = Basic Books
  | isbn       = 978-0-465-03122-1
  }}
*{{cite book
  | last       = Blair
  | first      = Tony
  | author-link = Tony Blair
  | title      = A Journey: My Political Life
  | year       = 2010
  | publisher  = Knopf Canada
  | isbn       = 978-0-307-37578-0
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last1  = Bull
  | first1 = David
  | last2  = Wilding
  | first2 = Paul
  | title  = Thatcherism and the Poor
  | year   = 1983
  | publisher = Child Poverty Action
 | isbn   = 978-0-903963-57-2
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last       = Campbell
  | first      = John
  | author-link = John Campbell (biographer)
  | title      = Margaret Thatcher: Grocer's Daughter to Iron Lady
  | year       = 2009
  | publisher  = Vintage Books
  | isbn       = 978-0-09-954003-8
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last       = Campbell
  | first      = John
  | author-mask    = {{long dash}}
  | title     = Margaret Thatcher: The Grocer's Daughter
  | year      = 2007
  | publisher = Vintage
  | isbn      = 978-0-09-951676-7
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last       = Campbell
  | first      = John
  | author-mask    = {{long dash}}
  | title     = Margaret Thatcher: The Iron Lady
  | year      = 2011
  | publisher = Random House
  | isbn      = 978-1-4464-2008-9
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last       = Cannadine
  | first      = David
  | author-link = David Cannadine
  | title      = Margaret Thatcher: A Life and Legacy
  | year       = 2017
  | publisher  = Oxford University Press
  | isbn       = 978-0-19-879500-1
  }}
* {{cite journal
  | last    = Cooper
  | first   = Christopher
  | title   = Little Local Difficulties Revisited: Peter Thorneycroft, the 1958 Treasury Resignations of the Origins of Thatcherism
  | journal = [[Contemporary British History]]
  | volume  = 25
  | issue   = 2
  | year    = 2011
  | pages   = 227–250
  | doi     = 10.1080/13619462.2011.570113
  | s2cid   = 154550587
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last       = Cowling
  | first      = Maurice
  | author-link = Maurice Cowling
  | title      = Mill and Liberalism
  | year       = 1990
  | publisher  = Cambridge University Press
  | isbn       = 978-0-521-38872-6
  }}
* {{cite journal
  | last    = Dixon
  | first   = David
  | title   = Thatcher's People: The British Nationality Act 1981
  | year    = 1983
  | journal = [[Journal of Law and Society]]
  | volume  = 10
  | issue   = 2
  | doi     = 10.2307/1410230
  | jstor   = 1410230
  | pages   = 161–180
  }}
* {{cite book
 |last1        = Drago
 |first1       = Sreco
 |last2        = Leskosek
 |first2       = Vesna
 |title        = Social Inequality and Social Capital
 |url          = http://www.mirovni-institut.si/eng_html/publications/pdf/MI_politike_social_inequality.pdf
 |location     = Ljubljana, Slovenia
 |publisher    = Institute for Contemporary and Political Studies
 |year         = 2003
 |access-date  = 18 October 2007
|archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20070926033230/http://www.mirovni-institut.si/eng_html/publications/pdf/MI_politike_social_inequality.pdf
 |archive-date = 26 September 2007
}}
* {{cite book
  | last      = Eccleshall
  | first     = Robert
  | title     = English Conservatism Since the Restoration: An Introduction and Anthology
  | year      = 2002
  | publisher = Routledge
  | isbn      = 978-1-134-99775-6
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last       = Evans
  | first      = Eric J.
  | author-link = Eric J. Evans
  | title      = Thatcher and Thatcherism
  | year       = 2018
  | publisher  = Routledge
  | isbn       = 978-0-8153-5313-3
  }}
* {{cite journal
  | last    = Evans
  | first   = Stephen
  | title   = Touching from a Distance: The Younger Generation of One Nation Conservatives and Thatcherism
  | year    = 2014
  | journal = [[Parliamentary History]]
  | volume  = 33
  | issue   = 2
  | pages   = 321–341
  | doi     = 10.1111/1750-0206.12102
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last      = Gallas
  | first     = Alexander
  | title     = The Thatcherite Offensive: A Neo-Poulantzasian Analysis
  | year      = 2017
  | publisher = Brill
  | isbn      = 978-1-60846-697-9
  }}
*{{cite book
  | last       = Gamble
  | first      = Andrew
  | author-link = Andrew Gamble
  | title      = The Free Economy and the Strong State: The Politics of Thatcherism
  | year       = 1988
  | publisher  = Palgrave Macmillan UK
  | isbn       = 978-0-333-36311-9
  }}
* {{cite book
 |last        = Giddens
 |first       = Anthony
 |author-link = Anthony Giddens
 |title       = Sociology
 |edition     = 5th
 |location    = Cambridge
 |publisher   = Polity Press
 |year        = 2006
 |isbn        = 978-0-7456-3379-4
 |url-access  = registration
 |url         = https://archive.org/details/sociology0005gidd
}}
* {{cite book
  | last       = Giddens
  | first      = Anthony
  | author-mask= {{long dash}}
  | title      = Sociology
  | location   = Cambridge
  | publisher  = Polity Press
  | year       = 1993
}}
* {{cite book
  | last       = Gilmour
  | first      = Sir Ian
  | author-link = Ian Gilmour, Baron Gilmour of Craigmillar
  | title      = Dancing with Dogma: Thatcherite Britain in the Eighties
  | publisher  = Simon & Schuster
  | year       = 1992
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last       = Green
  | first      = E. H. H.
  | author-link = E. H. H. Green
  | title      = Ideologies of Conservatism: Conservative Political Ideas in the Twentieth Century
  | year       = 2004
  | publisher  = Oxford University Press
  | isbn       = 978-0-19-927033-0
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last1        = Hall
  | first1       = Stuart
  | author1-link = Stuart Hall (cultural theorist)
  | last2        = Jacques
  | first2       = Martin
  | author2-link = Martin Jacques
  | title        = The Politics of Thatcherism
  | publisher    = Lawrence & Wishart
  | year         = 1983
  | isbn         = 978-0-85315-535-5
  }}
* {{cite journal
  | last    = Harrison
  | first   = Brian
  | title   = Mrs Thatcher and the intellectuals
  | journal = [[Twentieth Century British History]]
  | volume  = 5
  | number  = 2
  | year    = 1994
  | pages   = 206–245
  | doi     = 10.1093/tcbh/5.2.206
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last       = Heffer
  | first      = Simon
  | author-link = Simon Heffer
  | title      = Like the Roman: The Life of Enoch Powell
  | year       = 1999
  | publisher  = Phoenix Giant
  | isbn       = 978-0-7538-0820-7
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last       = Hennessy
  | first      = Peter
  | author-link = Peter Hennessy
  | title      = The Prime Minister: The Office and Its Holders Since 1945
  | year       = 2001
  | publisher  = Penguin
  | isbn       = 978-0-14-028393-8
  }}
* {{cite journal
  | last    = Heppell
  | first   = Timothy
  | date    = 2002
  | title   = The ideological composition of the Parliamentary Conservative Party 1992–97
  | journal = [[British Journal of Politics and International Relations]]
  | volume  = 4
  | issue   = 2
  | pages   = 299–324
  | doi     = 10.1111/1467-856X.t01-1-00006
  | s2cid   = 144304577
  }}
* {{cite journal
 |last    = Jakopovich
 |first   = Daniel
 |title   = Roots of Neoliberalism: Factors Behind the 'Thatcherite Revolution'
 |url     = http://www.rifin.com/images/stories/2011/04/casopis_EE_17_2.pdf
 |year    = 2011
 |journal = Ekonomija Economics
 |volume  = 17
 |issue   = 2
 |pages   = 429–444
}}
*{{cite book
 |last        = Jenkins
 |first       = Simon
 |author-link = Simon Jenkins
 |title       = Accountable to None: the Tory Nationalization of Britain
 |location    = London
 |publisher   = Hamish Hamilton
 |year        = 1995
 |isbn        = 978-0-241-13591-4
 |url-access  = registration
 |url         = https://archive.org/details/accountabletonon00jenk
}}
* {{cite journal
  | last       = Jessop
  | first      = Bob
  | author-link = Bob Jessop
  | title      = Margaret Thatcher and Thatcherism: Dead but not buried
  | year       = 2015
  | doi        = 10.1057/bp.2014.22
  | journal    = British Politics
  | volume     = 10
  | issue      = 1
  | pages      = 16–30
  | s2cid      = 154369425
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last1     = Jessop
  | first1    = Bob
  | last2     = Bonnett
  | first2    = Kevin
  | last3     = Bromley
  | first3    = Simon
  | last4     = Ling
  | first4    = Tom
  | title     = Thatcherism: A Tale of Two Nations
  | publisher = Polity Press
  | location  = Cambridge
  | year      = 1988
  | isbn      = 978-0-7456-0670-5
  }}
* {{cite journal
  | last       = Kavanagh
  | first      = Dennis
  | author-link = Dennis Kavanagh
  | title      = Thatcher and Thatcherism. Do They Still Matter?
  | doi        = 10.4000/osb.1792
  | year       = 2015
  | journal    = Observatoire de la société britannique
  | issue      = 17
  | pages      = 211–221
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last       = Kavanagh
  | first      = Dennis
  | author-mask= {{long dash}}
  | title      = Thatcherism and British Politics: The End of Consensus?
  | year       = 1992
  | publisher  = Oxford University Press
  | isbn       = 978-0-19-827755-2
  }}
* {{cite journal
  | last    = Klein
  | first   = Rudolf
  | title   = Why Britain's conservatives support a socialist health care system
  | doi     = 10.1377/hlthaff.4.1.41
  | year    = 1985
  | journal = [[Health Affairs]]
  | volume  = 4
  | issue   = 1
  | pages   = 41–58
  | pmid    = 3997046
  | doi-access= 
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last1     = Kresge
  | first1    = Stephen
  | last2     = Wenar
  | first2    = Leif
  | title     = Hayek on Hayek: An Autobiographical Dialogue
  | year      = 2008
  | publisher = Liberty Fund
  | isbn      = 978-0-86597-740-2
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last       = Lawson
  | first      = Nigel
  | author-link = Nigel Lawson
  | title      = The View from No. 11: Memoirs of a Tory Radical
  | year       = 1992
  | publisher  = Bantam Press
  | isbn       = 978-0-593-02218-4
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last          = Leach
  | first         = Robert
  | contribution  = What is Thatcherism?
  | editor1-last  = Burch
  | editor1-first = Martin
  | editor2-last  = Moran
  | editor2-first = Michael
  | title         = British Politics: A Reader
  | year          = 1987
  | publisher     = Manchester University Press
  | isbn          = 978-0-7190-2302-6
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last       = Letwin
  | first      = Shirley Robin
  | author-link = Shirley Robin Letwin
  | title      = The Anatomy of Thatcherism
  | year       = 1992
  | publisher  = Routledge
  | isbn       = 978-1-138-51535-2
  }}
*{{cite book
  | last       = Matthew
  | first      = Colin
  | author-link = Colin Matthew
  | title      = Gladstone 1809–1898
  | year       = 1997
  | publisher  = Clarendon Press
  | isbn       = 978-0-19-820696-5
  }}
* {{cite journal
  | last       = Marsh
  | first      = David
  | author-link = David Marsh (political scientist)
  | title      = Privatization under Mrs. Thatcher: a review of the literature
  | year       = 1991
  | journal    = [[Public Administration]]
  | volume     = 69
  | issue      = 4
  | pages      = 459–480
  | doi        = 10.1111/j.1467-9299.1991.tb00915.x
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last      = McAnulla
  | first     = Stuart
  | year      = 2006
  | title     = British Politics: A Critical Introduction
  | publisher = A&C Black
  | isbn      = 978-0-8264-6155-1
  }}
*{{cite journal
 |last1        = Tracey
 |first1       = Michael
 |author1-link = Michael Tracey (British-American television producer)
 |last2        = Herzog
 |first2       = Christian
 |title        = Thatcher, Thatcherism and British Broadcasting Policy
 |url          = https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2656722
 |year         = 2014
 |journal      = Rundfunk und Geschichte
 |volume       = 40
 |issue        = 1–2
 |pages        = 63–76
 |ssrn         = 2656722
 |access-date  = 2 December 2014
}}
* {{cite book
  | last1        = Minogue
  | first1       = Kenneth R.
  | author1-link = Kenneth Minogue
  | last2        = Biddiss
  | first2       = Michael D.
  | author2-link = Michael D. Biddiss
  | title        = Thatcherism: Personality and Politics
  | year         = 1987
  | publisher    = Macmillan
  | isbn         = 978-0-333-44724-6
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last       = Moore
  | first      = Charles
  | author-link = Charles Moore, Baron Moore of Etchingham
  | title      = Margaret Thatcher: The Authorized Biography, From Grantham to the Falklands
  | year       = 2013
  | publisher  = Alfred A. Knopf
  | isbn       = 978-0-307-95894-5
  | url = https://archive.org/details/margaretthatcher0000moor_f2s4/page/n5/mode/2up
  | url-access = registration
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last       = Moore
  | first      = Charles
  | author-mask= {{long dash}}
  | title     = Margaret Thatcher: The Authorized Biography, Everything She Wants
  | year      = 2015b
  | publisher = Penguin Books
  | isbn      = 978-0-241-20126-8
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last       = Moore
  | first      = Charles
  | author-mask= {{long dash}}
  | title     = Margaret Thatcher: The Authorized Biography, Herself Alone
  | year      = 2019
  | publisher = Penguin Books
  | isbn      = 978-0-241-32475-2
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last       = Nott
  | first      = John
  | author-link = John Nott
  | title      = Here Today, Gone Tomorrow: Recollections of an Errant Politician
  | year       = 2002
  | publisher  = Politico's
  | isbn       = 978-1-84275-030-8
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last      = Procter
  | first     = James
  | title     = Stuart Hall
  | year      = 2004
  | publisher = Psychology Press
  | isbn      = 978-0-415-26266-8
  }}
* {{cite journal
 |last1   = Robinson
 |first1  = Emily
 |last2   = Schofield
 |first2  = Camilla
 |last3   = Sutcliffe-Braithwaite
 |first3  = Florence
 |last4   = Thomlinson
 |first4  = Natalie
 |title   = Telling stories about post-war Britain: popular individualism and the 'crisis' of the 1970s
 |year    = 2017
 |journal = Twentieth Century British History
 |volume  = 28
 |issue   = 2
 |pages   = 268–304
 |doi     = 10.1093/tcbh/hwx006
 |pmid    = 28922828
 |url     = https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/69474/3/Telling%20Stories%20about%20Post-war%20Britain%20final.pdf
}}
* {{cite book
  | last       = Rothbard
  | first      = Murray
  | author-link = Murray Rothbard
  | title      = Making Economic Sense
  | year       = 1995
  | publisher  = Ludwig von Mises Institute
  | isbn       = 978-1-61016-401-6
  }}
* {{cite book
  | editor-last  = Skidelsky
  | editor-first = Robert
  | editor-link  = Robert Skidelsky
  | title        = Thatcherism
  | year         = 1989
  | publisher    = Blackwell
  | isbn         = 978-0-631-17325-0
  }}
* {{Cite journal
 |last         = Sutcliffe-Braithwaite
 |first        = Florence
 |title        = Neo-Liberalism and Morality in the Making of Thatcherite Social Policy
 |year         = 2012
 |journal      = [[The Historical Journal]]
 |volume       = 55
 |issue        = 2
 |pages        = 497–520
 |jstor        = 23263347
 |doi          = 10.1017/S0018246X12000118
 |doi-access   = 
 }}
* {{cite book
  | last       = Tiersky
  | first      = Ronald
  | author-link = Ronald Tiersky
  | title      = Euro-skepticism: A Reader
  | year       = 2001
  | publisher  = Rowman & Littlefield
  | isbn       = 978-0-7425-1054-8
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last          = Utley
  | first         = T. E.
  | author-link    = T. E. Utley
  | editor1-last  = Moore
  | editor1-first = Charles
  | editor2-last  = Heffer
  | editor2-first = Simon
  | title         = A Tory Seer: The Selected Journalism of T. E. Utley
  | year          = 1989
  | publisher     = Hamish Hamilton
  | isbn          = 978-0-241-12728-5
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last       = Vinen
  | first      = Richard
  | author-link = Richard Vinen
  | title      = Thatcher's Britain: The Politics and Social Upheaval of the 1980s
  | location   = London
  | publisher  = Simon & Schuster
  | year       = 2009
  | isbn       = 978-1-84737-175-1
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last1        = Wallerstein
  | first1       = Immanuel
  | author1-link = Immanuel Wallerstein
  | last2        = Huggins
  | first2       = Nathan
  | author2-link = Nathan Huggins
  | last3        = Davis
  | first3       = Natalie Zemon
  | author3-link = Natalie Zemon Davis
  | title        = Radical History Review
  | year         = 1991
  | publisher    = Cambridge University Press
  | isbn         = 978-0-521-40559-1
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last      = Williamson
  | first     = Adrian
  | title     = Conservative Economic Policymaking and the Birth of Thatcherism, 1964–1979
  | year      = 2016
  | publisher = Palgrave Macmillan UK
  | isbn      = 978-1-137-46026-4
  }}
*{{cite book
  | last       = Wood
  | first      = Ellen Meiksins
  | author-link = Ellen Meiksins Wood
  | title      = The Pristine Culture of Capitalism: A Historical Essay on Old Regimes and Modern States
  | year       = 1991
  | publisher  = Verso
  | isbn       = 978-0-86091-362-7
  }}
{{Refend}}

== Further reading ==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite journal |last = Bevir |first = Mark |author1-link = Mark Bevir |name-list-style = and |author2 = R. A. W. Rhodes |author2-link = R. A. W. Rhodes |title = Narratives of 'Thatcherism' |journal = West European Politics |volume = 21 |number = 1 |year = 1998 |pages = 97–119 |doi = 10.1080/01402389808425234 }}
* {{cite book |last = Jones |first = Daniel Stedman |title = Masters of the Universe: Hayek, Friedman, and the Birth of Neoliberal Politics |edition = updated<!--2nd--> |url = {{GBurl|id=cMs0AwAAQBAJ}} |url-access=limited |year = 2014 |publisher = Princeton University Press |isbn = 978-1-4008-5183-6 |pages = 673–674 and passim}}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Jones |editor-first=Harriet |name-list-style=and |editor2=Michael Kandiah|title=The Myth of Consensus: New Views on British History, 1945–64|year=1996|url={{GBurl|id=oEWuCwAAQBAJ}}|url-access=limited|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK|isbn=978-1-349-24942-8}}
* {{cite journal |last = Marquand |first = David |author-link = David Marquand |title = The literature on Thatcher |journal = Contemporary British History |volume = 1 |number = 3 |year = 1987 |pages = 30–31 |doi = 10.1080/13619468708580911 }}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22079683 What is Thatcherism? (BBC News Online)]
* [http://www.britpolitics.co.uk/thatcherism What is Thatcherism? (Brit Politics)]{{dead|date=May 2025}}

{{Margaret Thatcher}}
{{Conservatism footer}}
{{Subject bar|portal1 = Economics|portal2 = History|portal3 = Politics|portal4 = United Kingdom |wikt = Thatcherism}}
{{Authority control}}

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