IT can be tempting to draw comparisons between Prime Minister Theresa May and the country’s first female PM Margaret Thatcher, but their gender is not the only similarity between them.
Many of us who lived through the 11 years of Thatcherism following the winter of discontent in 1978-9 still recall the dogmatic political philosophy that spawned the selling off of state-owned utilities; her constant, and ultimately successful battle to neuter the trade union movement; the Falklands War; and the hated poll tax, aka the community charge.
May is battling to cling on to power as Parliament this week faces a series of crunch votes on Brexit – Europe also played a key role in the Iron Lady’s downfall.
In the mid-1970s, Thatcher campaigned for the UK to remain in the then European Economic Community and, a few years later she argued for a common European approach to defence.
However, her support for Europe began to dwindle as premier and in 1980 she called for UK contributions to the bloc to be adjusted – warning that she would withhold VAT payments if there was no movement.
She won what turned out to be an almost four-year battle, but saw relations with other European countries irrevocably damaged.
The Westland affair followed when Thatcher insisted that the US firm Sikorsky should take over the helicopter company which Michael Heseltine wanted to go to a European consortium.
Thatcher won that battle, Heseltine quit and pro-Europe Tories frowned.
In Bruges in 1988, Thatcher spoke out against a “European super-state exercising a new dominance from Brussels” – a speech that horrified her pro-Europe lobby but delighted her party’s right wingers.
But her anti-EU views led to supporters of Europe within the Tory party to oust her and she quit as PM and party leader in November 1990 after Heseltine launched a leadership challenge.
May came to power after being elected party leader when David Cameron resigned as PM and, as a former Remainer, had to begin the task of withdrawing Britain from the EU. She triggered Article 50 in March 2017 and the following month called a snap General Election aimed at strengthening her hand in negotiations over Brexit – a move that backfired when she lost the Tories’ overall parliamentary majority.
This was what prompted the confidence and supply arrangement with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which has cost her government dear thus far. She also survived a vote of no confidence from her own MPs last December and a parliamentary no confidence vote in January and, although she has said she will not lead the Tories into the next General Election – scheduled for 2022 – May has not ruled out leading it into a snap election.
So, with her own backbenchers openly discussing her departure, is May finally running out of time?
Her former Downing Street director of communications, Katie Perrior, thinks so.
Writing in The Times Red Box, Perrior said: “Maybe it’s time to stop finding scapegoats and admit that Theresa May and her lack of leadership has made a bad situation worse.
“With great sadness, it’s time for her to swap her departure date in return for the deal.
“It’s the least she can do.”
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