Thatcherism and Brexit as Political Projects

Abstract

Thatcherism was a very astute political project from the beginning—monetarism removed the need to do deals with trade unions in order to manage the economy and thus resolved the political problem which had dogged Conservatives through the 1970s. Andrew Gamble is right to identify a free economy and a strong state as complementary political principles—a credible economic policy was key to the difference between the Falklands and Suez. Now, the Conservative Party has once again shown its agility in responding to economic discontent by becoming a party of Brexit and assembling an election winning coalition of the excluded and the insulated. Age has replaced class as the crucial political divide. A political party can focus on older voters provided that it continues to recruit new voters as they go through the life cycle. But it is risky if it is actually an appeal to an ageing cohort of voters without recruiting from succeeding generations. The Conservative Party needs to appeal to younger voters, and offering the prospect of property ownership would be one way to do this. A belief in fairness between the generations unites different age groups.