There are plenty of things Margaret Thatcher did which progressives are right to have opposed. Support for Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet abroad, the casual disregard her government showed to the unemployed at home, the emasculation of local government and the introduction of Section 28.
There are plenty of things Margaret Thatcher did which progressives are right to have opposed. Support for Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet abroad, the casual disregard her government showed to the unemployed at home, the emasculation of local government and the introduction of Section 28 to name but a few.
She also brought in a few progressive measures, though. Here are five:
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The abolition of corporal punishment. Under Margaret Thatcher’s government corporal punishment was abolished in 1986. Mrs Thatcher did not vote herself (she was entertaining Nancy Reagan at the time), and several pro-caning Tory MPs missed the commons vote – which was won by 231 votes to 230 – because they were stuck in traffic caused by preparations for the wedding of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, which took place the following day.
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Took action on HIV/AIDs. It was the government of Margaret Thatcher which started the fightback against the spread of HIV/AIDS, launching a number of campaigns to draw attention to the spread of the disease and promote safe sex as the 1980s epidemic gained ground. Mrs Thatcher had serious misgivings about mounting a campaign at all – she wanted the traditional family to be reclaimed as the backbone of British life, therefore any “deviant” behaviour was to be condemned – but her government broke the ice in talking about sex – safe sex.
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Took climate change seriously. For some Margaret Thatcher was a climate change pioneer. Mentioning climate change at the Royal Society in 1988, she told scientists that climate change warranted government action to diminish pollution and promote sustainable development. She also threw her weight behind global efforts to phase out CFCs.
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Promoted European intergration. Despite the Conservative Party’s strained relationship with Europe, Margaret Thatcher signed Britain up to the Single European Act, which created the European single market, signaling greater European integration by making it easier to pass laws, strengthening the EU Parliament and laying the basis for a European foreign policy.
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Liberated the Falklands from a fascist junta. Despite her uncomfortably close relationship with Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and the fact that she denounced Nelson Madela’s African National Congress as terrorists, Margaret Thatcher sent British forces halfway around the world to defend the self-determination of the islanders against an aggressive government of the far right.
54 Responses to “Five progressive things done by the governments of Margaret Thatcher”
Stephen Latham
Re climate change: Remember, in her book Statecraft (2002), she described her later regret
in supporting the concept of human-induced global warming, outlining the negative effects she perceived it had upon the policy-making process. “Whatever international action we agree upon to deal with environmental problems, we must enable our economies to grow and develop, because without growth you cannot generate the wealth required to pay for the protection of the environment
Ian Doyle
With you on these – 2 out of 5 in 11 years, and 5 is a classic Tory “protect British soil at all costs”, not anti-fascist by any standards. I suppose any at all is a surprise …
Philip Conway
1. Well done, you watch QI too! This passed in spite of the Tories not because of them. Are you congratulating the Tories for *losing* that vote?
2. She was PM for the entirety of the 1980s, of course she was the first British PM to do something (not enough) about AIDS!
3. What leader doesn’t *claim* to take it seriously? Not a big deal. The CFC thing was another story. British businesses were among the first to develop technologies to replace CFCs so there was a straightforward profit incentive to pursue that.
4. Not ‘progressive’ in any meaningful sense; it was trade centred. All to do with business.
5. Any British PM would have done the same. It has nothing to do with being progressive.
If your point was that she didn’t do anything at all progressive the whole time she was in office: point well made!
Mark Cassidy
I think we should accord her credit on climate change. There was far from clear scientific consensus in 1988. Plus it plays out well in making the the case to reactionary global warming deniers.
Not persuaded she personally supported 1, 2 or 4, and fundamentally disagree that Malvinas war should be seen as ‘progressive’.
There is something missing from your list though. She faced down the Loyalist threat of power strikes against the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985. Perhaps the only British politician of her generation with the spine to tell them where to jump off.
Sassan
People can say a whole lot about Margaret Thatcher but no sensible person can deny her intelligence, wit, and influence. The fact is that she was Prime Minister for 11-years as a woman in the years of 1979-1990. She stood up to totalitarianism and was a force one did not want to reckon with. She was truly a transformative and vital leader of our time. Like her or hate her, the Iron Lady has her place cemented in the history books..