Impact of Thatcher's approach to politics

• The Conservative Party had already begun to change before Thatcher rose to the leadership of the party in 1975
• Edward Heath had moved the Party away from the donation of elite aristocrats such as Macmillan and Douglas-Home
• He tried to modernize the Party and to steer it rightwards but ended up returning to the familiar post-war consensus
• Heath had promised to steer it rightwards but ended up returning to the familiar post-war consensus
• Heath had promised to implement free-market policies, including no government interference in setting prices and wage rises, and no bailing out of 'lame duck' industries in financial trouble
• When inflation hit 15% in 1971, Heath was forced to retreat back to the 'prices and incomes' policy of the previous PM Harold Wilson, whereby the govt kept a close eye on inflation and would step in to limit price and wage rises where necessary
• When Rolls Royce and the Upper Clyde shipbuilders came close to collapse, Heath decided to bail them out with public money, a complete reversal of his original policy
• Although Thatcher and other right-wing Conservatives hated Heath's U-turn, they were careful not to criticize him before 1974 to avoid splitting the party
• Once Thatcher became leader she was aware that her neo-liberal views were a minority taste in 1975, fiercely supported by a few think-tanks but given a cool reception by a party that traditionally preferred pragmatism to radical political or economic theory
• She was careful to not alienate the more traditional 'one nation' Conservatives (wets) and enlisted one 'wet' William Whitelaw to help keep them on side
• However, her caution had limits: she set out to save Britain from 'creeping socialism' and needed the Conservatives to take the fight to Labour rather than continue to court consensus
• By 1976, she was already claiming to have 'changed everything' about the Conservative party
• She saw herself as a 'conviction politician', a champion of 'middle-class values' and wanted to inject some vigor and self-belief into the Conservatives
• Thatcher was careful not to ignore Conservative backbenchers or the rank-and-file party members; indeed, on occasions where she faced opposition from her cabinet or the parliamentary party, she was adept at seeking out and securing wider support for her course of action
• She used her press secretary, Sir Bernard Ingham, to leak information to newspapers that would damage the reputation of ministers who opposed her
• Thatcher loved party conferences and saw them as a valuable annual opportunity to reaffirm her strong connection to the views of ordinary members
• Some commentators saw her performances, followed by long standing ovations, as symptomatic of the growing Americanisation of British politics