The general opinion of this topic seems to be that Thatcher was not liked or such a great PM as some like to believe.
Oh, she had personality, and no one will ever forget it. It was another case of emulating Idi Amin Dada, the similarities in their characters were astounding, both being pathological egotists who thought the world waited with baited breath for their next utterance. Meanwhile the truth being that people were merely waiting in dread, to see what disaster they would visit on us next.
Absolutely. An arrogant , obnoxious and refusing to see sense personality is definitely unforgettable, it will be these aspects of her character that will be long remembered. Many of those lucky to be employed were worried sick that the “axe” was going to fall, throwing them out of work, the unemployed could not see a light at the end of the tunnel.
There have possibly been more incompetent PMs, but I doubt that there has ever been one who was hated by a larger percentage of the population. The word being "hated" as opposed to disliked. In most cases there is a spread of emotion from adoration to extreme hatred, but Maggot polarised the population to a degree that this normal "spread" was reduced almost completely to both ends of the spectrum, with the greedy and wealthy just rubbing their hands together, and the poor and disadvantaged left to suffer.
Without a doubt Thatcher was the most hated PM in living memory. Harold Wilson was despised, but nowhere did he achieve the extreme feelings of hatred among the British public at large as Thatcher.
Perhaps in this respect the Falklands conflict also helped remove her, as it gave her party reason to look at what they were doing, realising that it might not be such a good idea to disenfranchise such a large portion of the public, especially seeing that they are the section that has traditionally provided Britains fighting men.
Without the section of society that Thatcher clearly despised with her total disregard for the working man, she would not have achieved the victory she did during the 1983 elections.
I find it unfortunate that Maggot has more recently merely become a comic figure to the people of the world, much the same as her role model, people have short memories and are forgetting the absolute misery that she visited upon a large part of the population and the contempt with which she treated the working classes.
Ah, you hit the nail on the head, many people unfortunately do have short memories. Many of those hold Thatcher in high esteem weren't even born, or those who didn't suffer under her insidious policies.
If the Daily Telegraphs appraisal of Thatcher is taken seriously, their YouGov poll states clearly,
“Even one in 10 of Labour voters, for whom she was a hate figure, acknowledged her greatness, as did 75 per cent of Tory voters.”
As I pointed out, that if the poll is examined closely the poll actually shows:-
90%of labour voters didn't acknowledge her greatness, neither did 25% of the Tory voters.
Now if we combine the two and take the overall figure of the poll.
57.5% did NOT acknowledge her greatness compared to the
42.5% who did.
She introduced the POLL TAX which only favoured the rich, certainly not the poor as some claim. The tax caused such high dissatisfaction that thousands of British people demonstrated and rioted in the streets. A nurse living in a single room would be paying the same tax as someone living in an enormous house. Fair? I think not.
Her arrogance resulted in the escalation of violence in Northern Ireland, leading to even more innocent deaths.
Her privatisation of public services which resulted in her “profit before people” policies which once again only benefited the rich with the resulting degrading of public services and drastic increase in the unemployment figures.
The unions required taming, everyone agrees on that, but she destroyed them, taking away the only voice that the ordinary working man had. Thatcher had no regard for the unemployed whatsoever, it simply wasn't one of her priorities.
As a result of her policies the British Industrial base was destroyed resulting in the highest unemployment figures in years. Having to rely on imports of military equipment and supplies is not only scandalous, but a very dangerous position to be in. A fact highlighted during the Falklands War when Belgium refused to supply ammunition.
Her party was set on reducing the already degraded Royal Navy to even further degradation by selling off the only two remaining aircraft carriers despite Royal Naval objections. If the Falklands War had occurred after the carriers were sold, Britain may not have been able to take the Islands back. Yet despite this, she attempted to escalate the cold war. Not only was she arrogant in the extreme, she was dangerous.
Her own party realised that she was a liability and demanded her resignation.
Around the world she was regarded as a joke, the once “Great” Britain was fast becoming a 3rd world backwater.
Its a cold hard fact, that without the victory in the Falklands, Thatcher would not have won the 1983 election,.An election held early to capitalise on the recapture of the Falklands thereby using mens lives to further her political agenda.
The jury is still out on whether the Falklands War could have been avoided, if Gordon Browns does release government papers Regarding the Thatcher years, I think people are in for a hell of a surprise, and not a pleasant surprise at that.
Britain which once was a proud industrial nation, producing consumer goods and exporting around the world, is now only a shadow of her former self thanks to Thatcher. THATS her legacy, a legacy that will take many generations to repair.
In conclusion, with the evidence produced and taken into account, Thatcher was not the wonderful person and PM and some clearly like to make out.
