What does Margaret Thatcher have in common with Monica Lewinsky? | Peter Kellner
Like the Democrats after Bill Clinton's affair, the Conservative party must move on from the Thatcher eraAs I returned from the Himalayas only at the weekend, I can't be sure that the comments below are wholly original; but a quick search via Google News suggests that I am the first commentator in the past few days to include Margaret Thatcher in the same sentence as Monica Lewinsky.I should hasten to add that the connection is purely political, and not really about the two women themselves but the reaction of their compatriots to news about them. More of that later, but first some of YouGov's latest findings that have prompted these reflections.Our poll for the Sunday Times confirms how Thatcher's reputation divides the British. We asked people to judge five recent prime ministers: were they great, good, average, poor or terrible? The table below shows how many people gave "extreme" responses (great/terrible), how many gave "moderate" responses (good/poor), how many said "average", an |
Margaret Thatcher: looking back on the life of the Iron Lady
The UK's first female prime minister changed the way Britons viewed politics and economics and the way Britain was viewed around the worldMargaret Thatcher was the first woman to rule rather than merely reign over the British state since Elizabeth I in 1603. Though she lacked the great queen's personal popularity and defter political skills, Thatcher's sheer willpower and courage sustained her ascendancy over male rivals for a turbulent 11½ years. It was the longest premiership since 1812-27 and the most formidable since Churchill's in his wartime prime.More than the exercise of political power at a time when Britain's fortunes had reached a postwar low in the winter of industrial discontent of 1978-79, Thatcherism changed the way Britons viewed politics and economics, as well as the way the country was regarded around the world. The "Iron Lady" was more admired abroad than at home, where even many Conservative voters recoiled from her apparent lack of compassion for those whose lives |
Ed Miliband climbs on to his pallet to take politics to the people
The Labour leader may not be on the traditional soapbox, but his humbler prop is a useful way of reaching the votersCheer up, Ed Miliband, it won't be the bare wooden pallet you spoke from during your local election tour this week that may do you long-term harm. Some reporters have mocked the pallet, but what do they know? The reptiles also mocked John Major's use of a soapbox during the 1992 election campaign. It was the poll they all said he'd lose. He didn't.No, what may have damaged Miliband more was his widely abused refusal (at least eight times) to confirm the blindingly obvious to Radio 4's Martha Kearney, namely that a Miliband-led government that wants Britain to grow its way out of debt will have to front-load the project with a bit more borrowing. It is no longer risky to admit this now that the "paradox of thrift" is slowly bankrupting even Germany. The Labour leader has since owned up.The link between pallets and on-air dithering is a real one. In |
Thatcher resigns: from the archive, 23 November 1990
Prime minister's resignation opens way for Douglas Hurd and John Major to stand against Michael Heseltine Margaret Thatcher yesterday took the last great gamble of her political career when she announced her intention to resign her remarkable premiership in an attempt to prevent Michael Heseltine from storming the gates of Downing Street against the wishes of most of the Cabinet.In a concerted response, negotiated privately as the 20-day crisis mounted, Douglas Hurd, the Foreign Secretary, and John Major, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, emerged as the Cabinet's unofficial "Stop Michael" alternatives with a twin candidacy designed to maximise the anti-Heseltine vote in the second round of the leadership election on Tuesday.Norman Tebbit resisted strong pressure to stand as a spoiler for the right, and later endorsed Mr Major as "an economic dry" who would prove resistant to a single European currency. He joined a staunch minority of MPs insisting it had been "a mistake to dump the Prim |
