The Life and Legacy of Margaret Thatcher

The Life and Legacy of Margaret Thatcher

On Monday 8 April 2013, I was sat in Wetherspoons awaiting my lunch and noticed a picture of Margaret Thatcher on one of the television screens the other side of the pub. I jokingly thought “what had she done this time”, after a bit of squinting to read the headline it turns out she had died. Ironically I had been discussing what I should do for my next blog post. I had decided but that one will be posted at a later date as the passing of a highly controversial politician is a topic that cannot be omitted from a political blog. There are two main aspects of this blog. The first aspect focuses on the media coverage of her death and funeral. The second section will look to my own personal research focusing on the results of a short survey I created shortly after her death.

Since the breaking of the news of Thatcher’s death the media has dedicated a huge amount of column inches to cover both the event of her death and her life and legacy. The headlines were predominately about her and the funeral arrangements. Only the Boston marathon explosions and the tensions caused by North Korea managed to take away some focus from 10 days of an almost monopoly of the British press given to the death of Thatcher in some way. The day after her death (9 April) every national newspaper showed the face of Thatcher on its front page. The only newspaper to not give extensive coverage or a pullout section on Thatcher was the left-wing Daily Star, who only gave four pages to the news. The other newspapers seemed to be in competition with each other to vie for sales to those who wanted to read about the historic event, a death of a prime minister which had last occurred in 2005 with the deaths of both James Callaghan and Edward Heath, by indicating their page allocation to the news on the front page. As the time progressed from the time of her death, the true views of the newspapers began to surface, either opting to herald her legacy or to highlight the divisions of the country over her death. By the 12 April, Thatcher only held the front page on The Telegraph and The Daily Mail, this changed over the weekend by the release of the song Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead (see below) and special editions on Thatcher which were released in the Sunday Times and Sunday Telegraph. It was not until Wednesday 17 April when Thatcher regained some headline pages and the day after her funeral when once again she held the front page in all national newspapers. The local press in Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and in mining communities did not hide the fact they were not sad to see the passing of Thatcher which reflected the mood across those areas who saw the majority of the economic hardship under Thatcher and have continued to struggle.

On the Monday of her death, the television coverage was overwhelmingly positive despite her obviously divisive legacy. Once the initial day had passed of the death of Thatcher, it seemed as it became more balanced in its coverage of both sides of the Thatcher debate, but focused on the extreme views held by those interviewed. As with the newspapers, television coverage was shortened with news of the Boston explosions and North Korea. In regards to other national news, there was little coverage of any story in depth. It seemed as if Thatcher was the only news coming from Britain for the whole 10 days between her death and funeral.  Key regions were targeted for interviews on the television, naturally Grantham (her home town), old mining towns and their neighbouring regions which were sympathetic to Thatcher’s policies. This was mainly to highlight the divisions between the two communities, those who had benefited from the reforms Thatcher implemented sang her praises; whereas, those who saw their livelihoods lost through mine closures were hostile. The television media was additionally used to condemn the street parties which celebrated the death of Thatcher. The coverage of the rising tensions over whether Thatcher deserved a funeral with military honours paid for by tax payers overtook the focus on Thatcher’s legacy after the news broke on the story. This television coverage differed to that of the national press, as it remained a constant presence as the main story.

Another interesting development after the death of Thatcher was the use of the Wizard of Oz song ‘Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead’ as a celebration of the passing of Thatcher which reached number two in the British charts selling 52,605 copies. The controversy surrounding the song, primarily the un-British way of celebrating the death of a person, led to a debate as to whether it should be played during the official chart show. A compromise was reached by playing a small section of the song, which was accompanied by a news report explaining why it was in the charts. This song acted as another medium for people to express their anti-Thatcher feelings across the country, especially considering when the pro-Thatcher song ‘I’m In Love With Margaret Thatcher’ only reached number 35 in the chart.

As well as the media coverage, my own research has led me to deeper knowledge of peoples’ beliefs about Thatcher. Due to the online nature of the research, the main demographic of the respondents were unable to vote. This enabled the division of respondents into four distinct categories, between those who were and were not eligible to vote and those who were supporters or opponents of Thatcher. My postgraduate research into voting patterns between 1945 and 1970 showed that the British economy became increasingly worse throughout the period. There is no secret that in the 1970s that the economic climate deteriorated further, culminating in strikes which left rubbish on the streets and the dead left unburied. This was the economic climate in which those who were eligible to vote for Thatcher grew up, prior to this period was of course the war and inter-war period which was equally as difficult economically. This contrasts greatly to those who were not eligible to vote for Thatcher, who were born after June 1969 and although they were alive during the 1970s, their main memories would have been the 1980s boom, the recession in the early 1990s and the economic boom which followed up to 2008. The responses to the survey highlight differences between these two groups, irrespective of whether they would or not voted for Thatcher. Those who were eligible held a more hard line view of Thatcher and her policies than their ineligible to vote, the most striking of which from someone who voted for Labour during the Thatcher Premiership wrote ‘I have no positive views of Margaret Thatcher or her policies’ and ‘She directly caused a setback to the entry of women into parliarmentary [sic] politics and their progress within parliament were they elected. She was anti-Europe, hawkish and dogmatic; her concept of free market economy impacts negatively on everyone who isn't entrepreneurial [sic] enough to make the system work for them. She despised the less fortunate and contributed to the notion than anyone on benefits was a “scrounger”.’. This contrasts with someone ineligible to vote but who would not have voted for Thatcher who wrote ‘Allowing greater market powers and the 1980s boom’ and ‘The brutal, d[i]sgusting way she treated and killed the mining communities’. On the other side of the views a voter for Thatcher wrote ‘she stood up to the unions and did not allow them to hold the country to ransom’ and ‘Her forceful approach did not help her to gain a peaceful resolution to any problem’. With someone who would have voted for Thatcher, had they been eligible, wrote ‘She has more backbone in her little finger than our current government has in their entirety’ and ‘That she went a little too far’. From these four sets of responses it is clear that those who were eligible to vote during the Thatcher Premiership are more polarised in their views than those were ineligible. This can be accounted for by the aforementioned economic situations separating these two groups, up to the Thatcher Premiership the whole country was suffering economically with Britain being called the “sick man of Europe”. When Thatcher became Prime Minister it was seen that of those who benefitted from her policies became her advocates but they were also able to see her flaws. Those who continued to suffer, especially in the mining communities, saw little justice in Thatcher’s policies and as a result had little to say about the benefits of her Premiership. On the other side of the divide, those who would have voted for Thatcher seemed to be less knowledgeable of specific policies and saw her more as a female role model but were more critical than those who had voted for her about her flaws. On the other hand, those who would not have voted for her were much closer to their eligible counterparts, presumably because the communities which they grew up in were still affected by Thatcherite policies as was highlighted by the media coverage.

As well as being asked their personal opinions of Thatcher and her policies, the survey respondents were asked to indicate their positions in relation to nine statements on specific aspects of Thatcher and her policies. The results are highlighted in the table below:

	Completely Disagree	Strongly Disagree	Disagree	Agree	Strongly Agree	Completely Agree	Unsure
Margaret Thatcher rescued Britain from its economic problems	7.7%	7.7%	3.8%	26.9%	23.1%	11.5%	19.2%
Margaret Thatcher only helped those who were well off	0.0%	7.7%	46.2%	11.5%	3.8%	11.5%	19.2%
Margaret Thatcher bettered Britain's position within the European Union	11.5%	3.8%	15.4%	26.9%	7.7%	11.5%	23.1%
Margaret Thatcher's relationship with America helped Britain	0.0%	11.5%	3.8%	42.3%	11.5%	7.7%	23.1%
Margaret Thatcher's unwillingness to compromise damaged Britain	7.7%	15.4%	23.1%	19.2%	7.7%	7.7%	19.2%
Margaret Thatcher was out of touch with the problems which faced ordinary people in Britain	7.7%	7.7%	23.1%	23.1%	0.0%	19.2%	19.2%
Margaret Thatcher's policy of buying council housing helped improve Britain	7.7%	3.8%	26.9%	19.2%	19.2%	3.8%	19.2%
Margaret Thatcher was a key individual who bought about the end of the Cold War	11.5%	3.8%	11.5%	15.4%	23.1%	3.8%	30.8%
Margaret Thatcher, overall, was one of the best Prime Ministers Britain has ever had	23.1%	7.7%	11.5%	3.8%	26.9%	7.7%	19.5%

As the results of the survey are outlined in full it is not necessary to analyse each section separately. What is interesting from the results is that the majority of the respondents were towards the centre of the spectrum, generally leaning towards the positive side of the response. When looking at individual responses, however, divisions can be drawn along similar lines to the previous paragraph. Those who voted Labour are the most extreme in relation to the statements, there is a more moderate view held by those who voted for Thatcher and those who would not have voted for her had they been eligible leaning to their respective sides of the divide. The most interesting group of all are those who would have voted for Thatcher had they been eligible, they were more likely to have more responses in the unsure category (one respondent answered all unsure) than any of the other groups and if another category was chosen they tended to answer with the middle responses.

There seem to be two conflicting views between the media portrayal of Margaret Thatcher and the survey responses I received. The media tended to attract more extreme views of Thatcher in both television reports and in newspapers. This may be a result of those who were willing to be interviewed held stronger views on Thatcher or those who gave non-committal responses were less likely to be included in reports, as the media strongly highlighted the divisions that Thatcher’s legacy has caused. The newspapers were filled with images, special supplements and filled many of their leading pages with articles on Thatcher predominately after her death and around her funeral. The national newspapers were far more supportive of Thatcher in their reports initially than local newspapers, especially in regions negatively affected by Thatcher, were more likely to print negative articles about Thatcher. Those who opposed Thatcher did make their voices heard through the release of ‘Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead’ and the street parties, but overall were condemned by many as they were celebrating the death of someone. The survey highlighted a lesser polarised view than the media, except for that of those who voted against Thatcher who were more extreme in their views than any other group from the survey. The life and legacy of Margaret Thatcher are still a highly divisive topic. It is possible that the division within Britain will never be bridged so long as there is an economic divide within the country.

*Many thanks to all those who took the time to fill out the survey which helped form the second section of this blog, it would not have been possible without your support*