The Election Of The Conservative Party Leadership

What, if anything, was new about Thatcherism? The ballot for the Conservative Party Leadership on February 1975 was a turning point for the History of late 20th century politics in England. The figure of Margaret Thatcher had emerged surprisingly as the new Party leader against the incumbent Edward Heath. Thatcher’s importance does not only lies on she being the first woman to lead the Conservative Party, but on the ideas and statecraft that later gave life to a new concept –Thatcherism- that marked British politics during her 11 years in command and managed to influence the future of England’s politics. However, the main point of disagreement and discussion has been what was really Thatcherism and Margaret Thatcher’s ideology†¦show more content†¦She also wanted to make Britain a competitive trading nation. Furthermore, she took the ideas of the Scottish political economist Adam Smith, whom she considered the most important theorist of free trad e. The Wealth of Nations (1776) advocated for removing restrictions that were aimed to advantage national good towards exterior goods. Thatcher wanted to embrace free trade as this would encourage producers and traders. Finally it would stimulate competitiveness and innovation, creating greater wealth and everyone would benefit. The result of these ideals winded up in a revolution in economic policy and three elections won by Margaret Thatcher and the Conservative Party. However there is a thin line between the fact that these ideals were not firstly hers – Victorian values, free trade, monetarism, etc. - making Thatcherism seem as a mixture of well-known goods, and the fact that Margaret Thatcher did introduced such a new statecraft that as a consequence the new ‘ism’ after her name continued for years after she was no longer Prime Minister. It is argued that Margaret Thatcher did not instigate this intellectual revolution and indeed it was the figure of Joseph Keith during Heath’s government that initiated the spread of freedom ideas and the fight against socialism. He set up in 1974 the Centre for Policy Studies as a think-tank that