@A1200

Quote:

We can talk about the conservatives moving boundaries to improve their election chances, but Labour have made such changes in their parliament so that point is moot.

Prior to Thatcher, we didn't have such ridiculous changes as when she split Birmingham up so that one minister represented about 350,000 mainly working class people and another represented 16,000 mainly middle class people.

Like the US today, only a few key areas were/are needed in order to win being that they have far more MP's per head of population that anywhere else and rather conveniently they are right leaning. "New" Labour was created with the main purpose of making the party look appealing to them.

Quote:

What is a shame is that labour never had a credible alternative in the 3 terms of Thatcher's conservative government. So you could say the people were as much to blame for the conditions arisen from Thatchersim, maybe not in the first term but in consecutive general elections, she got in through popular support.

Other than the election that followed the Falklands War, she never had the popular support. The problems of the opposition weren't that nobody was voting for them, it was because there were too many parties to vote for that and any vote was split.

Various alliances were formed, most notably the Social Democratic Party (SDP) to try to address this but all they really did was reinforce the split. John Smith's great achievement was to unite the left so that the traditional Labour voter would give them a strong solid base, then he set about trying to make the party appealing to these few key seats. Though he didn't live to see it, he created a party which Tony Blair rebranded "New" which won two landslide victories.

Quote:

I wonder if she didn't have a leadership rebellion if she had got another election victory or was her time up?

She was kicked out because it was apparent to all she would not win another election. The walls were already crashing down around the country as the effects of her policies could no longer be covered up by selling off public utilities and increased taxation of the poor and the fragile nature of the Free Market of which she promised to much was exposed for all to see.

John Major was seen by all as a calming measure. With peoples fortunes on a knife edge, there wasn't a mood for a sea change so people were of the mind, better the devil you know. Had she remained though, she would only have served to unite people against her. The majority of the country (including the middle classes) were happy to see her go.

It just goes to show you what a unique specimen Maggie was. People didn't identify her as the Conservative Party, she was Maggie Thatcher, Iron Lady. When she went, the Conservative party got a clean slate.

Look at the difference in the way people reacted to Bliar becoming unpopular. When he lost the support of the public, so did his party. A party I might add that had the largest share of the vote than any other party in history. It didn't matter (though it certainly didn't help) who replaced him, New Labour WAS Tony Bliar. However much he wanted to be her, a cheap fax copy is a cheap fax copy.

Maggie Thatcher was gifted a very rare opportunity of events coming together to create the perfect storm. Had she appeared at any other point in history, it's doubtful anyone would remember her. Had Ronny Ray Gun not been in power, had the unions not been so unpopular, had the left not been so fragmented, had the IRA not tried to assassinate her, had Galtieri not grown impatient... Everything came into place for her to do what she did and keep her there. That's why she in unique.

Outside the context of the time, it's hard to understand how any of this was allowed to happen. I guess the saying "you had to be there" is particularly true in this case. Otherwise it sounds like fiction.

_________________
"Anyone with a modicum of reasonableness may realize that it is like comparing the ride in the world to descend the stairs to catch the milk in the house."

Google Translate

@SpaceDruid

That last peice is a good conclusion SD and I think you are pretty much on the money there.

Right where's that gay marriage thread?

_________________
Amiga A1200, 3.1 ROMs, Blizzard 1230 MKIV 64MB & FPU, 4GB DoM SSD, Workbench 3.1

@Franko

Got to agree with you there, I lived through that Sh1t too....

Now just have to wait for the other Evils to go..... Bush, Blair , and that twit from Israel.


Wol

_________________
It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder.~Albert Einstein

@Wol

_________________
www.loriano.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk

@Wol

Quote:

Now just have to wait for the other Evils to go..... Bush, Blair , and that twit from Israel.

Now I don't see why you have to bring Jesus into this, he's already dead.

_________________
"Anyone with a modicum of reasonableness may realize that it is like comparing the ride in the world to descend the stairs to catch the milk in the house."

Google Translate

@ Fred

To all those Tory supporters (all two of you ) and anyone else that got a wee bit upset with my two previous videos and thought I was being unfair to Maggie, then here's a nice wee video I've made to help make up for that...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liS72K1VTis

_________________

@Franko

+10 points for reminding me of The Beat. So many new bands remembered in recent years has squeezed some of the older ones out. Can't believe I'd forgotten them!

_________________
"Anyone with a modicum of reasonableness may realize that it is like comparing the ride in the world to descend the stairs to catch the milk in the house."

Google Translate