ABSTRACT
It might be thought that the business of the Conservative Party is to conserve. One of the main criticisms of Margaret Thatcher has been that she broke with Conservative traditions by leading the party in dangerous new directions. One of Thatcherʼs monetarist gurus, Milton Friedman, asserted – more, it has to be admitted, on a knowledge of economic theory than of political history – that she is not a true Conservative at all, but a nineteenth-century Liberal.1 Her misleading assertions about Victorian values (see Chapter 12) might seem to offer support for this interpretation. The Conservative Party, however, has not historically been a party of narrow reaction. It has usually been receptive to new ideas, whether generated from within or outside. Looked at from this perspective, Thatcherʼs period in office, however much it shook up the country, hardly represents a betrayal of Conservative values.
