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Thatcher Challenges 'Euro-Nonsense'
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16414 |
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CURRENT ISSUES
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5 / 1989 |
2,398 Words |
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Helle Bering-Jensen
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Who would have thought it 10 years ago? When Margaret Thatcher came to power in May 1979--propelled by the devastating strikes that had brought Britain to all but a halt during the 1978-79 so-called winter of discontent--how many would have predicted that the country's first female prime minister would break all British records for political longevity?
After three consecutive election victories there are no signs that Thatcher has any intentions of slowing down. Though maneuvering for the role as heir apparent within the Conservative Party has been going on for years, Thatcher herself has stated that she sees no one obviously suited to succeed her. In an interview with the London Sunday Times on the occasion of her 63rd birthday last year, she stated briskly, "Obviously one isn't indestructible, but I expect myself to do it for the fourth term," leading the party in the elections scheduled for 1991 or 1992.
The prospect of another Thatcher victory clearly has the opposition considerably concerned. Conservatives owe their two past election victories to the divided state of Britain's opposition parties. And the confusion at the center persists. The Social and Liberal Democrats (SLD), led by Paddy Ashdown, have again made overtures to David Owen's rump Social Democratic Party (SDP), the majority of which joined the Liberals to form the SLD in 1988.
As for the Labor Party, from which the SDP itself broke in 1983, it is still smarting from the massive trouncing it received in the election of 1987, despite running a campaign as slick and streamlined as any public relations expert could provide. It was a campaign waged on the presupposition that it was Labour's image rather than its policies that were the problem. Accordingly, it focused on Labor leader Neil Kinnock and his pretty wife, who were shown over and over eagerly waving around Labour's election symbol (the red rose), while more controversial figures--like Ken Livingstone, the radical former chairman of the Inner London Council--were discreetly kept out of sight. As it turned out, Labour's problems were much more fundamental. The British roundly rejected socialism.
The introspection and soul-searching that have been going on within the Labour Party since the election is perhaps the most important indicator of the impact Margaret Thatcher has had on Britain. Kinnock himself declared that all Labour policies hitherto taken for granted--unilateral nuclear disarmament, withdrawal from the EEC, the return to public ownership of major industries--were up for review, thus provoking furious reactions from Labour's own vociferous left wing.
A number of left-wing initiatives began to take form in 1988, led by academics and intellectuals hoping to boost the floundering Labour Party and contribute to its search for identity. One such initiative was the opening, in July, of the Institute for Public Policy Research, chaired by the Labour peer Tessa Blackburn. Another was the June 20th Group, consisting mainly of writers and artists. Their purpose, says British author John Mortimer, a founding father of the group, "is to recapture the intellectual high ground from the government," a task that, he also admits, "is going to be frightfully difficult."
It remains to be seen how permanent a transformation has taken place with British society over the past 10 years. Attitudes toward
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