Abstract
The aim of this chapter is to consider how the Heath premiership was used and abused by the Thatcher administrations of 1979–1990. The chapter adopts a framework grounded in narrative theory to explore how, from the early 1980s onwards, Thatcher re-wrote recent British history to present herself as a radical break with an era of consensus. Moreover, the chapter assesses the significance of how Thatcher would present the ‘failure’ of the Heath premiership alongside her critique of idea of consensus. Ultimately, the aim of the chapter is to showcase how the reputation of the Heath premiership was strongly influenced by the negative rhetoric used by Thatcher. She created a clear divide between the failed consensual approach of the Heath premiership and the successful conviction style of politics associated with Thatcherism.
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Notes
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In February 1980, Hall appeared to contradict himself when he argued that elements of Thatcherism’s radicalism were identifiable in the Heath programme of 1970 (Hall 1980: 26).
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On the contrary she tells World in Action that she wants Heath to want to be part of her cabinet (Thatcher 1978). This interview is, however, better remembered for her declaration that the United Kingdom was ‘rather swamped by people with a different culture’—though, as the editorial comment which accompanies the archival manuscript states, it was reported that Thatcher had said the United Kingdom was ‘rather swamped by people of a different culture’ (Thatcher 1978, emphasis added).
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See, for example, the 1976 document produced by Sherman, to mark the CPS’ second birthday, which states: ‘a good deal of our work has related to questioning the post-war consensus, based on a misunderstanding of Keynes, which must carry much of the blame for our inflationary regression and stagnation’ ((Sherman MSS, Royal Holloway Library, Box 7, ‘Note on the role of CPS (Out Second Birthday Party. Two Candles to Shed Light”) [trailblazers not a private army]’, 20 May 1976).
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Their manifesto emphasised how, back in 1979, Britain was described as ‘ungovernable’ and was in the grip of an ‘incurable British disease’, meaning that it was ‘heading for irreversible decline’. It also boasted of how Thatcher had demonstrated that ‘the people were not ungovernable, the disease was not incurable, the decline has been reversed’ (The Conservative Party 1987).
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Mullen, A. (2021). Margaret Thatcher and the Heath Premiership: Recent History Re-written. In: Roe-Crines, A.S., Heppell, T. (eds) Policies and Politics Under Prime Minister Edward Heath. Palgrave Studies in Political Leadership. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53673-2_17
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