Richard
Vinen
I
was interested to read this when i saw it listed in a catalogue as i
have different feelings about Mrs. Thatcher than, i think, any i have
heard expressed since i returned
to the UK some six years ago. In every case when she has been
mentioned or, to a lesser extent, her government, i have received the
impression that were it not for the politeness of the company the
speaker would spit to cleanse his mouth after uttering her name.
My
feelings about her, as i say, are quite different, in that i lived
through some of the incredible and appalling mess of the 1970s Labour
government, hamstrung by unions, humiliated by inability to pay
debts, and unable to accept (or perhaps even to see) the lesser rôle
Britain was being cast in; i was fairly aware of the the beginnings
of Mrs. Thatcher's government ~ i was in the UK at the very beginning
~ but after about 1985 my attention was focussed elsewhere as it
became more and more apparent that i was to stay in the USA for at
least the foreseeable future, and therefore i took an interest in
their politics and politicians. So, having experienced the skill
with which the Conservative government of '79-'85 was able to curb
the power of the unions, most especially during the events of the
miners' strike in 1984-85, and able to rein in inflation and bring
the economic stability of the country back to an even keel, and able
to support the financial growth of the UK through privatising some of
the moribund state industries and allowing the City to begin its
growth, i did not experience and was not aware of the difficulties
she ran into, the Poll Tax riots, the social disjunction, and her
fall from power and favour.
Fascinating
it was, then, to read this account by Vinen, a man who is not a
Thatcher fan, i would say, as he shows how and why Thatcher was
successful, both as leader of the Conservatives and as Prime
Minister, and why she ended up being removed. Also interesting are
the links that he makes between Thatcher and Enoch Powell, a man who,
perhaps, did not rise to the level of his potential, but pointed a
way to the future. Altogether an enjoyable book and a success for
me.
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