Tories: Don’t ditch Thatcher
THERESA MAY has been warned not to abandon Margaret Thatcher’s free market economics as she prepares to reveal the most interventionist Tory manifesto for generations.
Cabinet ministers and advisers who served under Baroness Thatcher have told The Sunday Telegraph of their fears about Mrs May’s economic direction.
The Prime Minister has already announced an energy price cap and is expected to clamp down on executive pay and empower workers on boards. Her more interventionist economics, part of a strategy to win over traditional Labour voters, has triggered a backlash among some Tory grandees.
Lord Tebbit, who held the trade and employment briefs under Lady Thatcher, said Mrs May “would be wise” to “extend” the Iron Lady’s freemarket thinking.
“We should not be drawn to the Left in order to occupy the mythical central
ground between us and our principal opponent,” he warned.
Sir Bernard Ingham, Lady Thatcher’s long-serving chief press secretary, warned Mrs May “against a manifesto that ignores the past” when it comes to Government intervention.
Two other Cabinet ministers who served under Lady Thatcher were scathing of the Prime Minister’s energy price cap when speaking off the record.
One said it would create “incredible distortions” in the energy market, while another warned that Government cannot “force water uphill” by trying to stop free-market forces.
Many Tory grandees concerned by the apparent direction of Mrs May’s economic policy are holding their tongues because they do not want to cost the party voters at the election.
However, some hope that the Prime Minister can be convinced to change course if re-elected and may make clear their disagreements in the future.
The growing row comes with the Tories expected to unveil their election manifesto on Thursday.
Mrs May’s economic vision was little known before she became Prime Minister after years in the Home Office and a shorter than expected leadership race.
Over the last 10 months attempts to outline “Mayism” to voters has seen the Prime Minister adopt a number of ideas linked to Ed Miliband, the former Labour leader. She pledged to tackle boardroom excess by making companies publish pay ratios, give sharehold- ers a veto over salaries and give workers a better say at the top of companies.
Mrs May has also backed making developers use planning permission more quickly and in recent days prom- ised an energy price cap – much to the fury of energy companies.
Much of the thinking behind the policies has been credited to Nick Timothy, her co-chief of staff.
Mrs May has made an unashamed defence of intervening in “failing mar- kets” previously and said she is not ideological when challenged over the energy price cap.
But Tory grandees who served under Lady Thatcher have concerns.
Lord Tebbit said: “The further Labour goes Left, that would mean the further we go Left. We need to stick to sensible, Conservative economics.”
He added: “I took the view with… Margaret Thatcher that government has enough on its hand with its own functions. It shouldn’t be diverted from those with things that other people can do perfectly well.
“We know that Thatcher economics worked very successfully and we would be wise to extend that rather than moving away from it.”
Sir Bernard said: “She does sound more interventionist. But whether indeed she will intervene bearing in mind what the cost might be and the nation’s finances is another matter.
“I would warn her against a manifesto that ignores the past such as workers on boards, ignores the dangers of intervening in the way in which the system works and produces the money. But that doesn’t mean she shouldn’t tackle excess.”
A former Cabinet minister who served under Lady Thatcher said: “I’m hopeful she will be talked out of quite a lot of it eventually…
“I don’t like the energy price cap. I think it would lead to incredible distortions and I’m sure companies will find ways around it. I’m not at all in favour of it.”
‘We know that Thatcher economics worked very successfully and we would be wise to extend that’