Hello, my name's David Rundsman and this is past, present, future, the History of Ideas podcast.

Today, it's the return of our occasional series that we call Now and Then with the historian Robert Saunders,

in which we explore notable political anniversaries and their significance for today.

It's just over a month since the 100th anniversary of the birth of Margaret Thatcher,

one of the most remarkable, one of the most contentious politicians

that Britain has ever produced. Over two episodes, Robert and I are going to explore her life,

her legacy, and the meaning of Thatcherism. She is one of those rare politicians who gave birth

to an ism. But today, it's her life and career, her prime

ministership. Just how different from other politicians was Margaret Thatcher, and what did she do

with power when she got it? Robert, we're here to talk about Thatcher at 100. Thatcher means both the life, the person,

but also the ideas. There is a thing called Thatcherism. It's still a phrase that gets used

quite a lot, I think, actually, much more than many other isms that have disappeared from the

lexicon. I want to start with a big question, which is, in a way, the question that we're going to be

exploring through this conversation.

When you think of Thatcherism now, do you primarily think of the person?

Do you necessarily associate it with her life and her career?

Or do you think of a set of ideas, a program that is

independent of her life and career, that it's possible to talk about Thatcherism without really

connecting it to the woman herself? Well, there's a paradox here, which is that famously Margaret

Thatcher is the first prime minister of the 20th century, who gives her name to an ism.

We don't talk about Churchillism or atliism or asquithism, even though those are all prime ministers with quite strong intellectual compasses.

But in many ways, that's quite odd, because Margaret Fatcher was many things.

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