Britain in the 20th Century: Thatcherism, 1979-1990 - Professor Vernon Bogdanor

Margaret Thatcher sought to solve the deep-seated problems of the British state outside the parameters of the postwar settlement. The main ideological victims of the collapse of the postwar settlement were One Nation Conservatism, the paternalistic ethos of Churchill and Macmillan, and the belief in government intervention, the idea that governments could fine-tune the economy to secure full employment. Margaret Thatcher’s governments encouraged the spread of ownership so that Britain could become a property-owning democracy and a capital-owning democracy. Thatcherism seemed for a time to be in accordance with the trends of social change and by the end of the 20th century, Britain was a far more fluid and individualistic society than it had been in the immediate postwar years. The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: Gresham