• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

How do JREF Conservatives feel about Thatcher?

The thing I remember about Thatcher is when she was told that the gap between rich and poor was widening. She didn't deny it, she just said it was okay because everybody was better off -- and that's what counted. I remember her moving her hands up and down to show that both levels had increased. By how much, I don't recall.

I might not have agreed with her, but at least she was honest enough to express her actual viewpoint: the gap between rich and poor doesn't matter.

My impression is that Labour does think the gap matters. But they've not been able to close the gap.

After 13 years of Labour rule:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article7003694.ece

Gap between rich and poor 'at its widest since the war'

[...] Theresa May, Tory equality spokeswoman, called the report “truly shocking”.

At the very least, it will make uncomfortable reading for Labour, which has spent heavily on programmes such as Sure Start and early years education to try to narrow the class divide.

[...] At best, Labour has managed only to slow a growing class divide dating back to the 1980s.
Click to expand...

So, Labour were unable to reverse the trend and the Tories are now "shocked, shocked I tell you!".

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...and-poor-growing-fast-under-blair-551139.html

the report found that the rich and super rich have thrived under Tony Blair's premiership. Since 1990, the increase in the share of wealth held by the top ten per cent of the population has increased from 47 per cent to 54 per cent.
Click to expand...

From this, quoting Harriet Harman:
http://www.equalities.gov.uk/media/press_releases/harman_government_steps_up_ac.aspx

We know that disadvantage can come from your gender or ethnicity; your sexual orientation or from disability; your age or your religion or belief or any combination of these. But overarching and interwoven with this is the persistent inequality of social class – your family background and where you were born.

[...] We have made progress over the last 13 years – especially in tackling poverty - and halted the rising growth of inequality that dates back to the 1980’s and which we still see the effects of today. But we will do more to increase social mobility and tackle the barriers that hold people back unfairly.
Click to expand...

It's not actually clear that the aim is to close the gap between rich and poor -- rather than to give greater opportunity for individuals to make the transition from poor to rich.
 
The effect of tax has become regressive under the three Labour governments (no change in income tax rates until 2010, significant real increases in various spending taxes) so it would not be correct to say that their policy was to reduce income inequality. I think it would be hypocritical for labour politicians to claim otherwise.
 
FireGarden said:
she was honest enough to express her actual viewpoint: the gap between rich and poor doesn't matter.
Click to expand...

To be honest, I don't understand why the size of the gap is important. Surely so long as the people at the low end of the gap are doing okay, I'm not sure why what the people at the high end of the gap are doing matters.

I'm not a conservative, so I won't be offering my opinion of her.
 
There were a couple of years where, after work, I'd dash to my car at 5pm to catch the Radio 4 evening news, fully expecting to hear - one day - that the men in white coats had come for Thatcher to wheel her away to the funny farm.
 
Don't seem to be many 'JREF Conservatives'; or if there are they're keeping their cards close to their chest.

I should imagine they would praise her beating down of the unions, her encouragement of the little man to buy his own home and the routing of a tin-pot dictatorship in the biggest morale boost for Britain since WWII.
 
commandlinegamer said:
Don't seem to be many 'JREF Conservatives'; or if there are they're keeping their cards close to their chest.

I should imagine they would praise her beating down of the unions, her encouragement of the little man to buy his own home and the routing of a tin-pot dictatorship in the biggest morale boost for Britain since WWII.
Click to expand...

Well, she gets my vote as best PM since the second world war.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom