ABSTRACT
Enough time has passed since ʻthe fall ʼ to make at least a preliminary evaluation of the impact of Margaret Thatcher. Two things can be said with certainty. First, even after the sharpest-edged memories of a famously divisive decade in British life have faded, Thatcher remains as controversial as she ever was. No one can seriously dispute that she mattered – more so than any other twentieth-century politician with the exception of Winston Churchill and, perhaps, Lloyd George. She was one of the very biggest players on the political stage. Second, she cast a long shadow over the actors who followed her. The second half of chapter will investigate whether Tony Blair in particular, and New Labour in general, follow more a Thatcherite legacy than an old Labour one.
