Still not for turning
Margaret Thatcher, the former British prime minister, was feted Thursday in London on her 80th birthday. The baroness, ailing but unbowed, was praised by eminences of all political persuasions, but the outgoing Conservative leader, Michael Howard, perhaps captured the spirit of the occasion best: “ What Churchill did in wartime, Margaret Thatcher did in peacetime ... we all owe her an enormous debt.” Indeed we all do — not just Britons.
The enduring influence of Lady Thatcher —her commonsensical commitment to limited government, to free markets and to democracy — respects no national boundaries. It is felt as profoundly today as during her time in office. If anything, it has grown in potency, as the full economic benefits of her revolution have become plain.
It is hard today to remember the sorry state of Britain, and the world, when she came to power in 1979. Britain was in the thrall of a serious economic malaise caused by a failed experiment in social democracy. Under the sway of powerful and radical trade unions, with pervasive state ownership of major industries, productivity had fallen to levels far lower than continental Europe’s, taxes were a crippling burden, inflation was rampant and the British unemployment rate, at 7%, was much higher than the OECD average. The affliction even had a name: “British disease.” There is another term for it: national ruin.
Lady Thatcher, however, had the traits of character needed to defeat the trade unions and push through necessary market reforms: moral clarity and a will of iron. When doubts were raised about her tough reforms within Tory ranks, Lady Thatcher declared: “ The lady’s not for turning.” It is an understatement to describe her legacy as substantive and sustained. She transformed the British economy, which has emerged as one of the world’s most successful, and along the way dramatically improved the standard of living for average Britons.
What is remarkable is that her domestic success was matched in foreign policy. In 1982 her government dispatched a Royal Navy task force to retake the Falkland Islands, and South Georgia, from Argentine invaders. She cultivated a special relationship with the U. S., and formed a close personal bond with Ronald Reagan, staunchly backing U. S. policies of deterrence against the Soviets, which contributed directly to the end of the Cold War. She was also the first Western leader to recognize the potential of reformist Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, saying famously, “We can do business together.” And it was Lady Thatcher who urged George H. W. Bush, then U.S. president, to evict Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s army from Kuwait, declaring it was “no time to go wobbly.”
Even her opponents have been forced to admit Lady Thatcher is one of the towering figures of our time, indeed of any time. She has even given her name to an - ism: Thatcherism. She altered the course of modern British history and of world history, and we are all the better for it. Happy 80th birthday, Ma’am.