ABSTRACT
Joseph left the House of Commons at the general election of 1987 and was raised to the House of Lords, being made a life peer. He died on 10 December 1994.
Sir Keith Joseph was not a great success as an administrator, was a modest Secretary of State for Social Services, and a poor Secretary of State for both Industry and Education. Indeed, it was suggested in the mid 1980s that there was nothing he was incapable of destroying. Since he was open-minded and almost publicly anguished over his decisions, his critics saw him as indecisive. Indeed it was said of him that he was ‘a lion in opposition and a lamb in government’. Nevertheless, Joseph had a creative talent and was a mentor to both Thatcher and Thatcherism, and upset the post-war consensus to such an extent that even in 2001 one is aware, through the actions of the Blair Labour government, that there has been a sea-change in British political opinion which Joseph in part influenced.
