The Elizabeth Ages
As a young man I watched the battles between the last vestiges of dinosaur socialism as displayed between militant trades unionism most notably the NUM and the dynamic new brand of conservatism that became known as Thatcherism. A solid belief in the virtues of capitalism and free markets.
Could I have foreseen the consequences of those battles then, I would have made the decision to leave the United Kingdom and seek opportunities abroad as a young man.
The seventies were a miserable drab time , unbelievably the TUC congress warranted full BBC coverage such was their importance in our lives.
The defeat of militant socialism and I mean the utter defeat was telling. Not many people are going to like what I am about to write but the victory of Thatcherism did have dire consequences.
Firstly all power shifted to a few offices in Whitehall and Westminster. Mainly because the battlefield included local government , the GLC was abolished , other authorities were and still are neutered. Reversing the progression of strong local government for the people stretching back four centuries.
My own family in Melton Mowbray were persecuted by commissioners of the first Elizabeth for setting up a local corporation in the early seventeenth century to maintain bridges and repair roads and other such ‘innovations’ central government did not provide. This persecution went on for four decades against a back ground of a corrupt court where monopolies were created to line the pockets of favourites and courtiers. This dissolved into the conflict between the Court Party and Country party that led to Civil war
As a side note , the pleasure of touching the signature of an ancestor who signed the Melton account book for 1598 was indescribable
Having shifted all power to Whitehall , Thatcher while unleashing the economic power of the British people and with it a programme of reform to benefit the individual, the power that undermined local democracy fell into the hands of a very small gene pool that started to look upon the Thatcher Revolution with horror.
Inevitably Thatcher fell from power in a Palace coup and in twenty twenty the gene pool has produced a succession of inadequate and weak prime ministers and coterie of Ministers like Hancock who suffer from God Complex. I am perhaps not the only one who cringes with embarrassment at Boris’ Churchill impressions and anger at Hancock’s authoritarianism
The only way back is a return to strong local and regional government with a pride in localism. This is Libertarian Party policy , trust in honest men and women in local government including local small taxation not handouts from central government
Andrew Withers
Wessex Coordinator
General Secretary of International Alliance of Libertarian Parties