Remembering Thatcher
I have no intention of writing about politics here. Nor do I think anyone is much interested in my thoughts, it’s just that Thatcher was never a good role model and I needed to remember why.
The evening of the Brexit referendum, I was hosting a party for San Joan on a terrace in Barcelona. It’s a festival that celebrates casting off old burdens and celebrating new hopes. I was so sure my compatriots wouldn’t be so foolish as to leave Europe, I had hardly paid any attention to the politics. But by the early morning hours, I was in tears facing the prospect of this retrograde step in British history. Much has happened since to diminish the United Kingdom and there is still a long way down to go.
Now that I live in the United States, I have just witnessed another act of national self-harm, where those likely to suffer most from the policies of the powerful and the wealthy have ushered in a leader who cares the least for their welfare. Already this new regime seems to be making some worrying decisions and picking on the most vulnerable to sacrifice in its particular brand of gestural politics. And the gestures, as we have already seen, are ugly, harking back to a time in European history, we hoped we would never see again.
When I look back at Brexit, I realise now that those of us on the liberal left, characterised as the metropolitan elite, slept walked right into it. We made assumptions about our fellow voters around the country, that they understood the reality of what the anti-progressive, conservative right stood for. We assumed that people who face the disadvantages of poor health, lack of attainment, low skills, worklessness and bad housing would recognise that the left had their best interests at heart. That they would remember the hugely positive changes brought in by New Labour. But they did not and rejected such a simplistic political purview. Indeed, when faced with a Labour party leader on the left who claimed to represent the working class, they rejected him and his policies, preferring instead an avaricious, mendacious, upper class buffoon with a mocking ability to make himself look like a man of the people while holding those same people in contempt. Trusting him, cost them and the rest of the country real economic decline, reduced international standing and paved the way for a form of nationalist populism we have yet to contend with.
America has just done the same thing. I think it is generally agreed that they are facing a period when some of the richest men in the world, conspiring with the most reactionary political groups and an unprecedented level of social and religious conservatism, will usher in some of the most divisive and retrograde policies ever seen in that nation’s history.
Britain is one election away from the same circumstances. Super rich tech billionaires fund a right-wing, nationalist party waiting in the wings. These quasi politicians make up sound byte friendly ideas to satisfy the impatience of people who, after years of failed political agendas, think they have nothing to lose and seem hungry for significant upheaval. Despite a Labour government driving positive changes around health, housing and taxation, the people suffering most feel they have no time to wait, so they will keep listening to the dangerous whispers of nationalistic, selfish politics. Once again, if we are not vigilant, the very voters who stand to benefit from the implementation of progressive politics that will help to make Britain better, will most likely vote for a party championing ideas that hurt the vulnerable and least well off and further enrich the wealthy and powerful.
My life has been full of political disappointments. The first was Thatcher winning the leadership of the Tory party in 1975. I was ten years old. Even then there was something about her defiantly set hair, tweed suits and pearls that I found ugly. She was determined and cruel and had no care for the working people of Britain. She just saw her journey from grocer’s daughter to politician as a model for how life should work for everyone else. Society itself was decimated, industries, traditions and communities were destroyed and the development of liberal diversity was criminalised in her wake. She was never a good role model. Yes perhaps more people became rich and owned their homes but the country became far, far poorer in so many other ways.
Allowing that kind of destructive force loose in the shape of a far-right political party will be a disaster for Britain. Now more than ever, we need to defend our principles of fairness, equal opportunity, social justice, diversity and inclusion, compassion for the vulnerable and care for the environment. If we leave it too late, Reform will take advantage of people’s impatience and the rhetoric of ultra conservatism, nationalistic xenophobia and anti woke populism will drown out the good work that is beginning to happen under a government that holds positive values and ideals. We shouldn’t leave it too late to stand up for decent, dignified democracy or we might be mourning like so many of our cousins across the pond.