ABSTRACT
Margaret Thatcher's appointment as Education Secretary is a logical choice as it was the department which she had shadowed. In her memoirs Thatcher expressed the regret that she is interested in the inputs investment in new school buildings and more teachers than the outputs of education that emphasis on quality and attainment. Thatcher was at one with the party's right wing in instinctively wanting to pass tough legislation to restrict union powers and the memories of the Heath government's humiliation at the hands of the miners is still fresh. She promised to honour the findings of a commission on public sector pay by Professor Hugh Clegg, appointed by the Labour government. Ideology is subordinated to the task of winning the election. On trade union law there are proposals to limit secondary picketing to compensate the workers who are dismissed as a result of the closed shop and provide postal ballots for the election of union officials.
