New Labour Margaret Thatcherism Analysis

Thatcherism v.s New Labour Margaret Thatcher’s conservative government highlighted the idea of “enterprise culture” (business-like decisions in the public sector). She developed a collection of policies encompassing the ideas of frugality, entrepreneurship, and society self-reliance. She enforced the idea that the government should have little involvement in the lives of the citizens. In other words, that citizens should be able to deal with their problems without significant aid from the government (self-reliance/responsibility). Thatcher, similar to United States President Reagan, was a proponent of the “conservative Christian” image, demonstrating why she focused mainly on family economic policies. Thatcher pushed for laissez faire economics, meaning that the government should not interfere with the economy (if the economy is stable little to no government regulation is necessary). She viewed government policy as a way to stimulate the economy without subjecting it to

In other words the Labour party was made up of strictly labourers and trade union workers. Blair was able to create the Third Way, which meant that his party was neither too right-wing nor too left-wing. The Third Way, allowed Blair to gain the support of the middle class (entrepreneurs), helping him develop his “catch-all” party (was able to bring women and minorities into his party and parliament). He pushed for a mix of conservative and liberal policies, some of which include making the Bank of England operationally independent, to allow for private investments and increased revenue (a conservative policy) and more liberal social policies (ex. Promoting new rights for gay people through the Civil Partnership Act of 2004). Although Thatcher and Blair’s governments shared some similarities, they ultimately differed greatly on their outlooks on society and government’s role in