Now & Then with Robert Saunders: Thatcher@100 – Her Legacy

Past Present Future

D&HR Media Ltd

History, Politics, News, Society & Culture, Philosophy

4.7 • 747 Ratings

🗓️ 30 November 2025

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today’s episode is the second part of David’s conversation with historian Robert Saunders about the life and legacy of Margaret Thatcher. What is the meaning of Thatcherism in the twenty-first century? Why is she still such a polarising figure? Was she a distinctively British political phenomenon? Which politicians can plausibly claim to be channelling her example today? If you are looking for Christmas presents, how about a gift subscription to PPF+? You can choose between 6- and 12-months subscriptions – giving access to our entire archive of bonus episodes, plus two new bonuses every month, ad-free listening and automatic sign-up to our fortnightly newsletter – to be delivered to the recipient of your choice on Christmas Day. All the details you need are here https://ppf.supportingcast.fm/gifts Next Time: Novelist Ian McEwan on imagining the present as a future past Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:45.4	Hello, my name's David Ranserman, and this is past, present, future, the History of Ideas podcast.
0:51.7	Today, it's the second part of my conversation with the historian Robert Saunders, marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of Margaret Thatcher.
0:55.2	And today we are very much focused on the legacy of her life and her career, but also
1:00.6	the ideas that she inspired.
1:03.5	What do we mean when we talk about Thatcherism?
1:06.5	How distinctive is Thatcherism relative to other political philosophies? And what is its purchase for the politics of today?
1:19.4	Robert, we're going to talk about the legacy of Margaret Thatcher, the meaning of Thatcherism today, what she means inside and outside, Conservative Party, the United Kingdom.
1:28.8	But I just want to start with where we left off last time. And in particular, this question
1:34.2	about some of the myths that have built up around the story of her career and her prime ministership,
1:39.7	you talked about the great damage that had been done to the Conservative Party by this belief
1:43.7	that her strength was her inflexible uncompromising, ideological stance on political questions about which
1:50.7	she was actually far more pragmatic and willing to compromise. So there was certainly damage done
1:56.0	to the Conservative Party by the belief that what they had in Margaret Thatcher was a leader who wouldn't budge.
2:03.6	But the other myth that built up around Margaret Thatcher does relate to the circumstances of her fall.
2:09.6	And again, this may be true of any long-serving Prime Minister or political leader, Bismarck in Germany.
2:14.9	You know, one can think of all sorts of where all careers have to come to an end,
	...

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