‘Socialist
governments fail because they always run out of other people’s money’
Margaret Thatcher
THERE IS A MEAN SPIRITEDNESS at the heart of the Left;
a cruel nastiness that negates the traditional values at its core. Values
embodied by solidarity, brotherhood, equality and comradeship, have given the
Left a sense of self-righteous inevitability
that their cause of socialism is historically predictable; despite the pounding
it has taken by history.
The
mean spiritedness of which I write has been on display ever since the tragic
death of Baroness Thatcher was announced. It is said that if you cannot speak
well of the dead, you should keep your mouth shut - at least until after the
funeral; thus allowing the family a few day in which to grieve.
I
can remember reading, when the late John Smith’s death was announced to
parliament and a Tory standing beside the Speaker’s chair clapped. He was quickly
set upon by his party colleagues standing near him, and was rebuked.
I
honestly believe that had it been Tony Benn’s death that had been announced yesterday,
the Baroness would have shown more grace and compassion to her political enemy
in his death than those hate-filled figures on the Left who have been dancing
on the Streets of Glasgow, London and Bristol. She would no doubt have been
measured and respectful, even if the deceased had been George Galloway.
IN THE 1980s I stood four square
behind those who today turn what should be a time of respect for the dead, into
pantomime; and a piece of street theatre. I shared their hatred of the ‘Wicked Witch of the West’. Margaret Thatcher was always loathed by us at the time - even more so than the modern
Left; but she turned a dying country around (if only temporarily); and even
today’s Guardian, of all papers, acknowledged
as much.
The
UK has been blessed throughout its history in producing the right individual to
make their mark whenever the nation faced a crises of survival. In modern times
(I use the term loosely) we have had the great fortune to produce such great individuals;
among whom we can count Elizabeth I, Oliver Cromwell, John Churchill, The First
Duke of Marlborough, Winston Churchill, and Margaret Thatcher. Of course, such
greats as Wellington and Nelson, were are also part of the same litany, as well
as other heroes of the nation, but the list is too long to reproduce.
Many
of those paltry figures on the Left who enact their phoney dance of detestation
for Baroness Thatcher, are too young to have ever lived in the 1980s; they
instead live off the prejudices of Thatcherism that have been drummed into
their heads by their parents. They may be joined by many others in the coming
week leading up to (and, no doubt, including) the great lady’s funeral.
THE AGE KNOWN as Thatcherism,
like any great age, displeases as many as it pleases, and so it is with that
period of governance of Margaret Thatcher.
But in the end what must be asked is, did the Thatcher years save and advance
our country or help further the decline we find ourselves in today. Or did she literally
save our nation’s soul, which has always been trade and enterprise? Then surely
the answer is yes.
She
was a species of politician rarely seen today – she had conviction, a goal, and
the will to see it achieved despite being surrounded by feckless nail-biters
within her cabinet who feared the loss of power; and a stuffy civil service to
whom caution would be a motto had it a herald’s coat of arms. She was what the
country needed at the time, and you only have to understand what came before
her to see and appreciate what she achieved.
So then, what came
before her? Well, from the mid 1960s, and throughout the 1970s the country was
being undermined by union power. It is hard to believe today but trade union
leaders acted like puppet masters to various Labour governments that held
office during this period. They could be seen, almost on a daily basis,
entering the lair of an elected Labour prime minister to make their demands.
This behaviour even brought from prime minister Harold Wilson the reprimand
that they should, ‘get their tanks off of my lawn’.
Some
hope; for this was a period when Downing Street entertained various Labour
prime ministers. During the Winter of Discontent (WOD) 1978-1979, the public
sector almost crippled the nation’s public services stretching from waste
collection to the burial of the deceased. But the WOD was only the final straw
in a short decade long history of union hegemony. Before the WOD, British
industry was being slowly crippled by union action. During the decade there
were power cuts due to striking miners; while car workers at British Leyland
were the perfect comparison to those belligerent and bloody minded trade
unionists in the film, I’m Alright Jack
made in 1959.
What
better soul mate for British Leyland’s ‘Red’ Robbo’ than the communist trade
unionist, Fred Kite. The workers (as well as the weakness of its management) at
British Leyland eventually destroyed this country’s ability to mass market a car;
and as is always the case with the unions, there actions lost more of their
members than they were ever to gain again.
During this period
both Labour, and latterly a Conservative prime minister under Ted Heath, tried
to reach a compromise with union radicalism. The Labour Party came up with ‘In Place of Strife’, followed by Ted
Heath’s ‘Industrial Relations Act’.
Both of which met with union contempt; and in the latter case a 100,000[1]
people march in London, which I joined.
The unions were on
a roll and they saw nothing on the political horizon that they could take
seriously. They were in command. The people’s vote no longer mattered; just as
today it matters little because of Europe.
BUT THEN IN 1979, the Tory party
produced a leader that history was destined to promote to greatness. For all
her faults, and they were indeed many, Margaret Thatcher turned our economy
round. She put capitalism back on its right footing through confronting the
unions, and by defeating Arthur Scargill
and his miners; as well as the privatisations of the various state owned utilities,
along with the Big Bang that liberated the City from its ‘old boy’ network that
could be compared with the closed shop; and advance it to a sector that today retrieves
some £20 billion in taxes each year.
What Margaret Thatcher did was give this nation another chance to prosper as it had
always done from the Industrial Revolution and the beginnings of Empire. Such
success had been procured by great individuals. Individuals of the type we no longer seem to produce;
infatuated as we are by the cult of celebrity.
I
believe that Margaret Thatcher brings to an end those statesmen, monarchs, and
military leaders who have popped up at the right time to keep our nation’s sovereignty
intact. She was the last of a breed that kept this island nation afloat, and
independent from any kind of absorption into a federal union with the rest of
Europe. Something which those who wielded their knives at the time of her demise,
truly believed in and still do to this day despite Europe’s decline following
the euro. It seems that the Iron Lady has had the last word despite her
juvenile disclaimers who will seek to dance at her funeral.
[1] A contentious
number as always, but if it were five times greater, it mattered little to what
followed.
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