A leader who made Britain great again

Nearly a quarter of a century on from her tearful final exit from Downing Street, Baroness Thatcher and her legacy still polarise the Conservative Party – and wider society – even after her death.

Yet, in assessing the record of this totemic leader, it would be remiss not to recall Britain’s parlous state when she came to power in 1979.

The task she inherited serves as context to today’s political, economic and social difficulties that have been exacerbated by Baroness Thatcher’s four successors, Conservative and Labour, who have all lacked the ideological willpower of this country’s first female premier.

During her tumultuous 11-year reign, she transformed Britain from the “sick man of Europe”, a country held to ransom by trade union leaders who had to be neutered, to a global power that played an instrumental role in ending the Cold War and defeating communism, perhaps her greatest achievement. She provided confident leadership while others, at home and abroad, dithered.

In short, this phenomenal political force put the swagger back into Britain with policies such as share ownership that rewarded strivers.

Inheriting a country teetering on the brink of economic calamity after the 1978-79 winter of discontent, she left it a far more confident and upbeat nation – albeit one still socially divided following the miners’ strike, needlessly prolonged by Arthur Scargill, pit closures and a decline in British manufacturing that she did little to halt.

This is borne out by the economic state of Yorkshire today. Those areas that prospered during the Thatcher era, and the new generation of home ownership inspired by the “right to buy” policy, have continued, largely, to fulfil their aspirations. Those areas left behind, like those mining and industrial communities left bereft of ambition or potential by the Tories, have struggled ever since.

Having won her second and third elections by a landslide, Mrs Thatcher started to believe in her own invincibility – and disastrous policies, like the poll tax, soon followed and hastened her downfall.

If only she had stuck to the inspiring words of St Francis of Assisi that she invoked so triumphantly outside 10 Downing Street after assuming power: “Where there is discord, may we bring harmony.”

Despite a reputation for striking fear into colleagues and opponents, Mrs Thatcher was initially a hesitant premier who struggled to win over her Cabinet as Britain floundered. Her harsh economic medicine, which finally kick-started Britain’s fortunes, came after unemployment spiralled above three million and Britain’s inner cities were beset by riots. The talk was about how long Mrs Thatcher could survive – even though Labour, under Michael Foot, was facing deep divisions of its own.

The irony was that her career was saved by the Foreign Office intelligence blunders, and defence cuts, that precipitated Argentina’s invasion of the Falkland Islands in April 1982.

From the moment Mrs Thatcher deployed the Task Force to the South Atlantic – a naval operation fraught with risk – she was an emboldened leader. Taking personal command, her resolve never wavered, even when the Ministry of Defence was riddled with doubt. Her steely determination and decision-making was of particular comfort to those skippering Invincible and Hermes, the two battleships that headed Britain’s fleet.

Yet Mrs Thatcher acted within United Nations guidelines at all times – a point that New Labour should have noted over the invasion of Iraq in 2003 – as she did when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in September 1990, weeks before her reign ended.

The mandate that she secured with President George Bush senior allowed Kuwait to be liberated, a task achieved with the considerable assistance of troops from Muslim countries, but did not sanction Allied forces entering Iraq. If only Tony Blair had similarly respected the authority of institutions such as the UN.

This is one reason why Mrs Thatcher’s downfall was 
regretted around the world – the so-called Iron Lady was a much respected figure despite her innumerable differences with the EU and with the Commonwealth because she was a conviction politician.

She also refused to yield to IRA terrorists who came close to assassinating her in the 1984 Brighton bombing, but she did sign the Anglo-Irish accord that became the precursor to the Northern Ireland peace process.

Indeed, there was a certain straight-forwardness to her leadership style that has been lacking ever since. While her admirers cheered when she thundered “No! No! No!” over the surrender of powers to Brussels, her opponents began to resent her domineering style that increasingly took little, if any, account of contrary views. A pragmatic European, how ironic that the EU was one of the issues which accelerated her political demise when Mrs Thatcher’s views on the euro – and closer integration – have now been vindicated by recent events.

The instincts that served the grocer’s daughter from Grantham so well began to desert her as 
she found herself at war with her party, her opponents and her foes in the EU. Even the economy, which had boomed during the 1980s, was heading towards recession before the deregulated financial services industry imploded five years ago.

She did suggest, in retirement, that her greatest legacy, was the creation of New Labour – testament to how she changed politics for her generation. Policies such as privatisation convinced Tony Blair and Gordon Brown that Labour had to embrace the centre ground if they were ever to govern.

Her impact can be measured by how Thatcherism became part of the political lexicon and by how few of her reforms were repealed 
by New Labour. She encouraged home ownership. She championed small businesses and the prevailing spirit of entrepreneurship. And she can certainly be credited with putting the “great” back into Britain. After 13 torrid years in opposition, the Tories only returned to power in 2010 once Mr Cameron realised that political parties are only electable if they are truly on the side of aspiration.

Decisive and divisive in equal measure, one thing is certain: she is without equal as Britain’s greatest ever peacetime leader. But, even as she is mourned ahead of a full ceremonial funeral, just mention of the name Margaret Hilda Thatcher will divide opinion – and will do so for many years to come – as David Cameron already starts to face pressure from his party to pay political homage to its iconic and historic heroine.