Erstellt am: 4. 2. 2012 - 15:50 Uhr

Margaret Thatcher: Friend or Foe?

Growing up in Thatcher’s Britain. The Iron Lady returns with a mixed legacy to haunt the UK in 2012.

I was no fan of Margaret Thatcher. I grew up in the 1980s in “Billy Elliot” country, the North-East of England. Most of the coal mines had closed down and the remaining ones were under a death sentence. Consett was a town not far away which owed its existence to a large steel plant. That was set to close which meant hundreds of families would lose their livelihoods. And there was little help or support from the government of Margaret Thatcher. In this part of the world there are still plenty of people who feel very bitter about those times. I read something about local cinemas even refusing to show the movie “The Iron Lady” – not that friends or fans of Mrs T are thrilled about the film themselves. But it’s indicative of the depth of revulsion that some harbour in many parts of the UK at the mere mention of her name 30 years on.

An Early Encounter

The first time I saw Margaret Thatcher in person was a Saturday afternoon - out at a place called Alnwick. I was more interested in winning a coconut or something important like that at the fairground but I was nudged into a tent where a rather smart lady stood in front of a microphone talking about something I didn’t understand. I heard a whisper, “She was the one who took the milk away from you, son.” At kindergarten we had free school milk, but as Education Minister Mrs Thatcher thought that was too much of a luxury for 5 years olds. And my calcium intake was curtailed all thanks to this women. I didn’t really care anyway. My two goals in life at that time were annoying my older brother and eating ice-cream. Little did I know back then that her fixation on cutbacks would become dominant in my future teenage Britain.

The backdrop to Thatcher

There was almost a feeling in the late 1970s that Britain was becoming ungovernable. Strikes had crippled the country and successive governments had been held to ransom by the demands of unions. There was a perception even in working-class communities that industrial workers unions had become too powerful and were able to bring people’s
lives to a halt for the sake of their demands for higher wages.

Her philosophy

Thatcher came to power because of three things I believe. She was a good orator. She had determination and you need that if voters are looking to you to make difficult choices. And finally she appeared to know the price of a pint of milk, she stuck out as someone who understood what it was like to add up the shopping bill at the end of a working week. But that was only the start as deep down she also held a mistrust of unions and a vision of Britain where the answer to economic problems lay not with government but with the individual. The only problem with that is that not everyone starts out on the same level playing field. If you have a family of 5 to feed how can you simply leave your manual job behind and study for 3 years to become a specialist in a technology field?

Her legacy for today

Was she right or wrong in her policies? She was convinced that in decades to come her theories would be proven correct and her critics would end up shame-faced. Well, it’s not quite like that. One can argue for hours about her harsh decisions on what to do about the unions and her lack of support for Britain’s old industries. Then there was her dedication to free-market economics. She didn’t invent the idea but she was a keen backer of letting the markets decide. It led to a boom in certain sectors eg. the financial services industry which grew exponentially in the City of London. But the lack of control is the one big thing cited as leading to economic meltdown from 2008.

Relations with the neighbours

The special relationship between Britain and America was taken to new heights. Margaret Thatcher and US President Ronald Reagan hit it off big time which was unusual since she had previously shown little regard for frivolous activities like going to the movies or fawning over movie actors. Closer to home, curiously she held a deep worry about a reunited Germany and campaigned on certain levels against this although to little avail. Her viewpoint probably spoke more to past conversations around post-war family dinner tables on the prospects of a resurgent Germany, rather than much else. She wasn’t anti-EU but held a suspicion of Brussels. She was warm to a single market but deeply resentful of handing over powers to any European body and the idea of a common currency was a non-starter for her. More than anything else this is a legacy that current Prime Minister David Cameron probably sees himself carrying on.

Friend of Foe

“Divisive, ideological, powerful” that’s what Jon Savage author of the punk bible England's Dreaming told me this week. He also added “I loathed her through all her terms in office”. But just think without Maggie would we have had Morrissey, the Cure, Paul Weller? Even as a muse for protest that’s little comfort to an 80s working class generation and raging against the machine doesn’t do much to elevate her memory to those who were deep in despair. Margaret Thatcher - Friend or Foe? Go and see the movie “The Iron Lady” next month and then decide!

Hear again the Reality Check programme on Margaret Thatcher.