Abstract
It has been over one hundred years since Margaret Thatcher was born. Only a third of those alive today were adults when she left Downing Street in 1990, after becoming the longest serving Prime Minister of the twentieth century. This means that a considerable proportion of the British population did not live through the Thatcher premiership, and those reading about her era and impacts now will find that they are divisive and vast. Yet, the importance of understanding Thatcher (and Thatcherism) in modern Britain cannot be understated. It is hard not to find traces of her legacy in many current phenomena: the housing crisis, the rise of far right politics, climate change, deregulation, post-Brexit agreements, debates about the taxation of private school fees, and tensions in international relations – particularly with the United States.
The effects of Thatcher’s rule are deeply ingrained in our social, political, economic and legal conditions. Yet, her influence is rarely fully appreciated by the younger generations, posing barriers to understanding and addressing our current moment. Britain’s landscape today may appear established, but political ideologies rooted in individualism and neoliberalism were transformative movements integrated into society by Thatcher, not so long ago. Whether it be their flaws, merits, limits or unforeseen consequences, understanding the approaches that Thatcher pursued, in an era of similar economic and social decline to now, can teach us something about how we got here and where we want to go.
The need for a fresh reading of Thatcher and her impacts is shared by Iain Dale, author of ‘Margaret Thatcher: The Prime Ministers Series’. Dale is well-acquainted with writing about Thatcher, having previously edited numerous books about her. However, his ambition with this short biography contrasts with his (and others’) previous works, since it is targeted at the younger generation. The ‘younger generation’ that Dale is referring to is assumed to be those who were not alive during her time in office, but are beginning to live with the consequences of her decisions in Downing Street – such as those falling within Generation Z (born between 1997 and 2012). Those part of older generations would have grown up with Thatcher and may have their own (heroic or villainised) perceptions about her. However, by targeting a political biography towards Generation Z, Dale makes space for readers to question deeply entrenched ideals in politics and polarised perceptions of political leaders like Thatcher.
The book offers a structured overview of Thatcher’s life and political journey. The first four chapters cover her childhood and early progression through the Conservative Party, culminating in her leadership of the Opposition. Chapters 5 through to 11 summarise Thatcher’s time as Prime Minister, including her confrontations with trade unions, uses of the military in the Falklands, Anglo–Irish relations and her stance on the European Community. Chapters 12 and 13 examine Thatcher’s life immediately before and after her 1990 resignation. Chapter 14 focuses on her political successes and failures, and the final chapter attempts to debunk some common misconceptions about Thatcher.
As the above chapter breakdown shows, Dale covers the breadth of Thatcher’s life in a short biography. One of the merits of this succinct approach is that it enables readers to grasp Thatcher’s life and motivations in under two hundred pages. However, at the same time, this brevity can make the book inaccessible to its target readers as it is assumed, at some points, that the reader is well-versed in modern British politics. Without background knowledge, which cannot be assumed since younger readers may not ever study Thatcher in school, it can be difficult for the target readership to grasp the relevance of her actions and ideologies from Dale’s biography alone.
Thus, while a more ambitious goal for the book, it would have been desirable to explore the relationships between the impacts of Thatcher’s policies vis-à-vis contemporary issues – for instance, how Thatcher’s ‘Right to Buy’ scheme, which entailed the privatisation of local authority housing, might relate to the structure of the housing market today. This is mentioned in passing in the Introduction, but could be further unpacked in the main part of the book. This would help to contextualise Thatcher’s enduring relevance for younger generations. The connections made by Dale could present the complicated bodies of opinions that exist around Thatcher’s legacy, taking a similar approach to the final chapter on debunking myths about her life. As the book is currently presented, the reader must attempt to make these associations (and disassociations) independently, which is difficult to do without knowledge about British politics between Thatcher’s time and the present day, as well as an understanding of how ‘Thatcherism’, as an ideology, has developed since her time in office.
In a field rich with critical commentary on Thatcher, Dale seeks to do something different, which should be praised: the book offers readers new information and a different perspective on a divisive political figure. In Chapter 12, Dale concedes that a dispassionate assessment of Thatcher’s life is difficult, and that we need to understand political leaders in general as flawed. At the same time, he largely succeeds in presenting a more sympathetic perspective on Thatcher, which serves as one of his goals for the book. However, Thatcher’s emotional and kind qualities are mainly captured through anecdotes from her allies and colleagues. This approach risks Dale blinding himself to key elements that undermine the existence of such qualities, which are embodied within Thatcher’s individualist policies. Perhaps it is Dale’s intention to show that political leaders are complex, nuanced and often contradictory.
Overall, Dale’s book sets itself apart from existing, denser biographies by offering a digestible, approachable and well-structured introduction to Margaret Thatcher. Although Dale leaves it to the reader to contextualise the book’s contents within modern-day politics, the book has highlighted the need and appetite for more works that revisit the legacies of political figures to assist younger generations in navigating current political conditions. In addition, the book offers a novel insight into the emotional and empathetic qualities that are rarely associated with Thatcher, as well as responses to myths about her beliefs and motivations, which anyone who grew up or lived through her premiership would find interesting to explore.
