Anthony Seldon - Britain under Thatcher

BRITAIN UNDER THATCHER

Britain under Thatcher

ANTHONY SELDON and DANIEL COLLINGS

First published 2000 by Pearson Education Limited

Published 2013 by Routledge

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Copyright 2000, Taylor & Francis.

The right of Anthony Seldon and Daniel Collings to be identified as authors of this Work have been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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ISBN 13: 978-0-582-31714-7 (pbk)

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Seldon, Anthony.

Britain under Thatcher / Anthony Seldon and Daniel Collings.

p. cm. -- (Seminar studies in history)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-582-31714-2

1. Great Britain--Politics and government--19791997. 2. Thatcher, Margaret. I. Collings, Daniel, 1978 . II. Title III. Series.

DA589.7.S43 1999

Such is the pace of historical enquiry in the modern world that there is an ever-widening gap between the specialist article or monograph, incorporating the results of current research, and general surveys, which inevitably become out of date. Seminar Studies in History are designed to bridge this gap. The series was founded by Patrick Richardson in 1966 and his aim was to cover major themes in British, European and World history. Between 1980 and 1996 Roger Lockyer continued his work, before handing the editorship over to Clive Emsley and Gordon Martel. Clive Emsley is Professor of History at the Open University, while Gordon Martel is Professor of International History at the University of Northern British Columbia, Canada and Senior Research Fellow at De Montfort University.

All the books are written by experts in their field who are not only familiar with the latest research but have often contributed to it. They are frequently revised, in order to take account of new information and interpretations. They provide a selection of documents to illustrate major themes and provoke discussion, and also a guide to further reading. The aim of Seminar Studies is to clarify complex issues without over-simplifying them, and to stimulate readers into deepening their knowledge and understanding of major themes and topics.

Readers should note that numbers in square brackets [5] refer them to the corresponding entry in the Bibliography at the end of the book (specific page numbers are given in italics). A number in square brackets preceded by Doc. [] refers readers to the corresponding item in the Documents section which follows the main text.

Preparing a manuscript on such a controversial, yet fascinating, subject as Margaret Thatcher has not been an easy task. The authors thus owe a considerable debt to those who have helped with the project in various ways. Many involved in the Thatcher government, at either a ministerial or civil service level, have given invaluable assistance with this book but must remain anonymous: we are nevertheless very grateful for their help.

John Barnes, John Campbell and a third reader have offered shrewd and knowledgeable comments on earlier drafts of the manuscript. We are very grateful to them for generously giving up their valuable time: the finished product has been greatly enhanced by their efforts. Annemarie Weitzel exhibited her usual professionalism in typing selected sections of the text and valuable research work was carried out by Alex Sabine and Peter Snowdon, who both showed considerable judgement and determination. Our thanks also to Seven- oaks Prep and headmaster Edward Oatley for generously allowing us access to their office facilities.

Daniel Collings is fortunate to have benefited from the intellectual insight of Dr Tim Jenkinson and Dr Larry Siedentop, tutors in economics and politics respectively at Keble College, and Dr Jonathan Snicker, tutor in politics at Exeter College, Oxford. He would also like to thank everyone at Keble who has offered their advice, in whatever area, especially Laurence Norman and Ivan Stoyanov, whose incisive analysis helped him to clarify many previously unclear issues. His family also deserve many thanks for their support and help during this project. For help with proof-reading thanks to Paul Thomas, and to Richard Hooper for the index.

The responsibility for any errors that remain lies with the authors alone.

The publishers would like to thank the following for permission to reproduce copyright material:

The Conservative Party for the poster Labour isnt working; Harper Collins Publishers Ltd for three extracts from The Downing Street Years by Margaret Thatcher, and extracts from Collected Speeches by Margaret Thatcher; The Thatcher Foundation for extracts from Mrs Thatchers speech at the 1980 Conservative Party Conference; extracts from The View from No. 11 by Nigel Lawson, published by Transworld, reprinted by permission of the Peters Fraser & Dunlop Group Limited on behalf of Nigel Lawson; Random House and the Peters Fraser & Dunlop Group Limited for extracts from Mrs Thatchers Revolution by Peter Jenkins; The Controller of Her Majestys Stationery Office for Ian Gows memorandum [our ].

Whilst every effort has been made to trace the owners of copyright material, in a few cases this has proved problematic and so we take this opportunity to offer our apologies to any copyright holders whose rights we may have unwittingly infringed.