UK: The next British prime minister will be chosen from among two candidates, but Margaret Thatcher is ahead of the race.
The late former prime minister, who ruled Britain in the 1980s, left behind an important and controversial legacy. His detractors portrayed him as a staunch thinker whose free market policies broke social unity and destroyed the country's industrial communities. But Thatcher is a hero, an inspiration and the spirit of the presidency of the ruling Conservative Party that made Britain fit for the modern era.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and former Treasury chief Rishi Sunak both argue that they represent the principles of Thatcher, who died in 2013 at the age of 87, succeeding Boris Johnson as Conservative Party leader and prime minister. In the fight to make.
Who was the best prime minister to serve Britain? Both candidates name Thatcher without hesitation. Sunak gave an important speech at Grantham, the birthplace of the late leader, in which he declared himself an advocate of "common sense Thatcherism" as his wife and children posed in front of a bronze statue of the Iron Lady.
Speaking of her humble beginnings, Truss has drawn comparisons to Thatcher's grocer's daughter and adopted the uniquely similar pose and dress (bright blue dress, Pusebo blouse) of Britain's first female prime minister.
Truss is an "Instagram Thatcher", according to historian Richard Winnon of King's College London.
According to Victoria Hahnemann, associate professor of British politics at the University of Leeds, Thatcher is "an amulet" for conservatives. According to Robert Saunders, professor of modern British history at Queen Mary University of London, she "has become a creature of myth."
On the Unheard website, Saunders wrote, "Like Thor's hammer, Thatcher's handbag can bestow divine powers on those deemed worthy to carry it."
Thatcher determination makes sense in a sense. He never lost a vote, leading the Conservatives to three consecutive electoral victories. After 11 years in power, he was eventually overthrown by his own party, just like Johnson. This happened in 1990.
According to Winan, author of the book Thatcher's Britain, "every conservative leader since Margaret Thatcher has failed."
Three leaders who followed John Major kept the Tories in opposition after the party lost its majority in 1997. In 2016, Prime Minister David Cameron bet on a referendum that resulted in Britain leaving the European Union against his will.
After months of ethical scandals, Johnson has been fired by Conservative lawmakers. His successor, Theresa May, was ousted due to Brexit infighting.
The decade Thatcher spent in power, which saw war and peace, a boom and a bust, provided plenty of options for acolytes. She was a leader during the war who conquered Argentina in the Falkland Islands dispute, a democrat who opposed the Soviet Union and ended the Cold War, and a capitalist who attacked unions and unleashed the power of financial markets. .
Thatcher would have supported the decision to leave the European Union, according to today's conservatives, who are in favor of Brexit.
It is almost sacrilegious to mention it, according to Winan, but Thatcher was pro-European for most of his time in office.
Thatcher's economic legacy is also in question. Although both Truss and Sunak claim to offer Thatcherite economics, their approaches differ greatly. To ease Britain's living woes, the truce has promised to increase borrowing and cut taxes, but Sunak argues that the nation must first bring its skyrocketing inflation rate under control.
About 180,000 members of the Conservative Party, many of whom consider Thatcher a hero, will elect Britain's new leader. Millions of other British voters have different memories of him.
Thatcher sold public housing, privatized state-owned businesses, and overpowered Britain's coal miners after a bitter, year-long strike. Under his leadership millions of people lost their jobs and industries closed down, especially in the north of England.
Johnson won a significant election in 2019 by persuading voters in post-industrialized towns in northern England, who had never previously considered backing the Conservatives, to change their minds. Johnson's conservative hero is Winston Churchill instead of Thatcher.
If Johnson's successor wants to keep the northern districts where people still discuss "closing factories and mines" and the impact on their communities, the way people's lives have been fractured Heinemann advised him not to praise Thatcher too loudly. ,
For Truss, 47, who was a teenager when Thatcher stepped down, those memories are not as clear. In 1990, Sunak, who is now 42 years old, was only 10 years old.
Candidates were warned against "overdoing it" with Thatcher worship, however, as did 84-year-old Conservative veteran Norman Fowler, who served in Thatcher's administration and later served as speaker of the House of Lords.
Fowler stated to Times Radio, "I was in her Cabinet, shadow and real, for 15 years." She wasn't flawless in every way, even in my opinion. Therefore, the party does not have to completely emulate her. I would therefore rest it.
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