Fifty years of Thatcher: What did she do with power?

Not Another One

Richards Green Montgomerie Martin

Prime Minister, Political Commentary, Number 10, News, Rishi Sunak, Political, Not Another One, Politics, General Election

4.7 • 566 Ratings

🗓️ 7 February 2025

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We begin episode two after the 1979 election when Margaret Thatcher became prime minister. Was she a radical with a pragmatic streak? What was the nature of the sweeping changes that she brought about? We focus on early monetarism and its consequences, the lifting of exchange controls, the sale of council homes, privatisation, the miners’ strike, the poll tax, and much more. Episode one began with her election as leader 50 years ago this month. The final episode will analyse her fall, the legacy and the continuing impact of her time in office.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to Not Another One with me, Steve Richards, Tim Montgomery, Ian Martin and Miranda Green.
0:17.4	Thank you for joining us for this, part two of our examination of the career of Margaret Thatcher, who became leader of the Conservative Party in February 1975, 50 years ago.
0:35.1	I can't believe it because I can remember the day when it happened. I was only
0:39.7	six months old, but I can remember the day when it happened. And we began in part one. If you
0:45.4	haven't heard it, it will be there on your podcast feed, looking at her rise from becoming
0:51.9	leader on that date in February to winning the 79 election. And in this
0:58.2	episode, we're going to explore what she did with power up towards the end. And then in the third
1:06.0	part, we will look at the fall and the aftermath. So here we are in 1979. And I wonder what she was thinking
1:16.7	as she won, because there is some evidence early on of pragmatism. She very quickly settled the
1:24.9	pay review bodies and accepted the pay review.
1:29.2	Was it Clegg?
1:30.2	The Clegg Commission, yeah.
1:31.5	She paid it out.
1:33.0	There was an early potential confrontation with the miners.
1:37.3	She didn't confront them.
1:39.3	She conceded ground.
1:41.4	But on the other hand, the economic policy was hard monetarism early on. And the first
1:50.2	budget of 79 was a radical one. There had been nothing like it. So who was she in May 79,
2:00.6	Miranda?
2:02.2	Well, learning on the job as prime ministers have to.
2:07.3	So at that point, she had not established herself.
2:13.0	A one, you know, an initial election victory when the opposition is in tatters and when, you know, Labourhood clearly sort of failed, one win is not enough to make a Prime Minister secure.
	...

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