On 3 May 1979, United Kingdom voters elected Margaret Thatcher and the Conservative Party (aka 'the Tories') into power, which she then held for 11½ pivotal and glorious years. Thatcher was tasked with fixing the mess and havoc left by, effectively, 15 years of socialist Labour and their militant unions.
By the end of the 1980s - still under the sage stewardship of Britain's first female Prime Minister - the UK was enjoying:
- strong productivity and economic growth
- massive deregulation
- lower and more competitive taxes
- successfully bringing inflation and government finances under control
- a smaller and more service-oriented public service
- radical unions (particularly mining and publishing) restrained
- welfare benefits and recipient numbers brought to heel
- great synergies with the equally-sensible U.S. Reagan Administration
- the Berlin Wall dismantled, and
- a Soviet Union on its last legs, unable to break the resolve of the 'Iron Lady'.
Lady Baroness Thatcher's strength, conviction and policies as Prime Minister transformed the UK and Europe like no other UK politician of the post-War era. In fact, when Labour finally returned to power in 1997 (under Leader Tony Blair), they dared not return to their former "economically socialist" and blatantly pro-union policies. They pursued "social" policies instead - open-borders, multiculturalism, green gestures and identity politics, to help import and/or cultivate their future voter bases, rather than earning them on results, efficacy and merit.
Celebrate and commemorate this fine day in conservative politics by:
- saluting the Iron Lady - one of the UK's most sensible, principled, conviction-based politicians, since WWII
- watching these videos of the "Iron Lady" and baroness in full cry
- reading further about her life, impact and legacy
- reflecting on the socialist mess Labour and the unions had visited upon the UK in the 1970s
- researching her key policies, attitudes, speeches and sayings that affectionately became known as "Thatcherism"
- buying a Maggie Thatcher souvenir or some paraphernalia for display, and/or
- sharing this Action Plan post on social media with family, friends, conservatives, libertarians and socialists alike.
