In one of my classes, Political Economy of Britain since 1945, the focus this week is on one person from Britain’s political history. Simultaneously one of the most popular and most loathed prime ministers in Britain’s history, Margaret Thatcher certainly played an important role in the transformation of Britain’s economic policy and structure from the late 1970’s to late 1980’s.
Large amounts of unemployment and staggering inflation plagued Britain’s economy in the 1970’s. And several prime ministers in that time were unable to do anything about it. That’s where the Iron Lady came in. She pledged a hard line when it came to taking action and she would not back down. And she certainly stuck to her word.
One of the most visible of her hard line encounters was with the Miner’s Strike in the mid-1980’s. She held a hard line for the 359 day strike and was eventually victorious, though the miners were certainly not her fans. This is evident in the musical our group saw on Saturday in London, Billy Elliot. One of the musical number is “Merry Christmas Maggie Thatcher”, and anyone who has seen it knows that it is NOT a song that portrays PM Thatcher in a positive manner.
Day one of my week with Margaret has been completed, and I will continue to make updates as the week goes on. Dr. Martin Holmes has been doing an excellent job with the class so far.