Liam Fox: Thatcher’s values can still show us the way out from trap of benefits culture

Here was a grocer’s daughter telling people who would never have previously had dreams of joining the Conservative Party that all they required to be “one of us” was to share in the same beliefs and aspirations for our country.

I was drawn to that vision for Britain, when millions of people who had never cast their ballot for the Conservative Party before took us to four consecutive majority Conservative governments.

I, too, did not come from a wealthy background – my father was a teacher, we lived in a council house, I went to the biggest comprehensive in the country – but I went on to become a doctor, a Cabinet Minister and chairman of the Conservative Party – something that would have seemed impossible to my grandfather who was a miner.

But although I didn’t come from a wealthy background, I did come from a privileged one – one where the values of loyalty, hard work and family were paramount. And that’s what counts.

Liberation Conservatism therefore must be blind to colour, social background and religion. It should not matter what your parents did, where you went to school or what regional accent you have.

All that should matter is that you share the same values, aspirations and goals for the sort of Britain that we want to see – strong, proud and free. We need to break away from the focus on the superficial.

It is no more relevant to today’s Conservative Party that David Cameron went to Eton than that I, or William Hague or others, went to a local comprehensive. Conservatives who dwell on this are falling into their own trap of stereotypes. What we should concentrate on is why our beliefs are the right ones.

The Left can never offer the sort of liberation we seek for one simple reason – their objective is not equality of opportunity but equality of outcome. The difference between these two concepts is monumental. The Left will alter the circumstances of the individual and manipulate any aspect of society in order to achieve their preconceived end point. In the socialist world, individuals are made to fit the system and all too often the outcome is equal access to mediocrity. Conservatives, on the other hand, believe that the system should accommodate the individual.

The Left measure their success by the relative gaps between individuals and groups in society. Not for them the challenge and rigour of absolute achievements. But they have failed to understand – and continue to fail today – if you hold back the brightest pupils, it doesn’t make the less bright more clever; if you hold back the risk takers, it doesn’t make the rest more secure, if you make the wealthy poorer, it doesn’t make the poor wealthier. It is clear from today’s Labour Party that they have learned none of this. Ed Miliband makes Michael Foot look positively modern.

Conservatives believe that talent should be free to flourish – that exceptionalism, innovation and excellence need trailblazers. We also believe that these trailblazers should not be held back by punitive taxation, and that people who work hard, who have ambition, who are driven to succeed should be free to spend their money however they please. It is not for politicians to tell them that they are wrong to do this.

Nor is it for politicians to offer people the opportunity to live on the taxes of others. The welfare dependency created by the last Labour government is not only unfair to those who work hard for a living, but also economically disastrous.

By locking whole sectors of society in a state of dependency, we developed a situation where there is no incentive to succeed, to innovate, and to prosper.

How absurd is it that someone who contributes nothing to the economy would be rewarded more than someone who has grafted hard? This is what the alternative to a liberating Conservatism is — enslavement by welfare and the State.

However harnessing the talent of our nation is not simply a case of eradicating dependency. We must also provide a vision of the future that inspires. People must be rewarded when they work hard. By allowing millions of citizens to participate in a property and shareowning democracy with the sale of council houses and the privatisation of monolithic state-owned industries, Margaret Thatcher built a society where the best and brightest had a reason to shine. She allowed aspiration to turn into success – a success that was shared by all.

But social mobility has ground to a halt in recent years. Today, Britain is one of the least socially mobile OECD countries. What Lady Thatcher started has been stifled. This was an engine for change, unleashing the power of competitive spirit, but the spend and depend culture of the last Labour government pushed it off course and so we must recommit ourselves to an empowering vision for all our citizens. People with drive and motivation must be allowed to succeed, for the good of themselves, for the good of society, and for the good of the nation. It is wrong for the state to prevent this.

The National Institute for Economic and Social Research estimated that as a result of this debt, children growing up today will have to pay £200,000 in taxes over their lifetime just for the same public services we have already had.

By 2015, more of our budget will be spent paying the interest on our debt than on educating these children.

Indeed, by 2015, our sovereign debt may even outweigh Gordon Brown as our greatest national embarrassment.

*Dr Liam Fox is a former Cabinet minister and Conservative MP. His book Rising Tides: Facing The Challenges of a New Era is published by Heron Books, price £20.