Friday 14 September 2007

The Last Straw

I never thought I would see the day that a Labour Prime Minister (a Labour Prime Minister!!), would welcome Margaret Thatcher to 10 Downing Street. The woman who did more than anyone else to destroy the labour movement and the working classes. The woman who wrecked the industrial manufacturing base of the country, created a service economy dependent on foreign imports, smashed the unions, wasted huge North Sea oil revenues to maintain millions of unemployed, sold off state assets into the ownership of foreign powers, renounced the concept of society, created a social underclass the like of which not seen since the Victorian era, destroyed the regions and ran economics and political policies which favoured her south east power base. The list of her economic failures and vindictive assaults on working people is endless.

The misery she wrought was total and it is an insult to the memory of the people whose sweat and toil built both the country and Labour movement, notwithstanding the present party membership and support. I am not bothered that the Prime Minister is playing politics designed to embarrass and undermine Tory support. It is enough that the Labour government has maintained and developed Tory policies but to hob-nob with the woman who tried to break the Labour Party itself is simply too much to tolerate. This is, I am afraid, the straw that broke the camel’s back!

4 comments:

skipper said...

I'm sure you'll find a swathe of Tory bloggers who agree with you re the heinous nature of the meeting. But Brown is only playing politics and there is an alternative analysis to your which says Thatcher, might have caused suffering but she hauled the British economy back from the brink through ending overmanning, subsidies to loss making industries and privatising hugely loss making nationalised industries.

Witchfinder General said...

"Thatcher, might have caused suffering but she hauled the British economy back from the brink through ending overmanning, subsidies to loss making industries and privatising hugely loss making nationalised industries"

Skipper - You can't tell me that you believe the contents of your comment.

Liam Murray said...

I think Skipper's just trying to point out that we should avoid generalisation where we can.

In a western liberal democracy it's a nonsense to suggest that any party that's in office for more than a couple of years can have a wholly bad (or good) legacy. From my point of view (and I'm a moderate Tory) Thatcher's purpose was served by c.1985 and I personally really disliked the woman and concede she did a lot of harm. I also recognise that in the very early 80's she made some structural reforms to our economy that were effectively essential and needed doing.

For all the differences Skipper & I have I suspect he concede as much as well, whatever the rest of her reign brought...

Witchfinder General said...

Cassilis - thanks for your comment. I recognise that some change was necessary, re: union power, but her structural reforms summounted to desolation and converting the country into an indebted, service driven, net importer. But perhaps her ‘greatest’ legacy is the ‘Americanised’ societal problems with which we now suffer.